Final Score: 59-0, Michigan by 59 over UConn SP+ Projection: Michigan by 50.8 (+8.2) CD Projection: Michigan by 45 (+14)
FIVE FACTORS
GAME 3 RECAP vs. UConn
This was the third consecutive sharp performance for Michigan in all three phases of the game.
Blake Corum snagged the headline this week with five rushing touchdowns. JJ McCarthy nearly duplicated his performance from a week ago, completing 15 of 18 passes for 214 yards. Probably the most important aspect of this game was a solid performance from Ronnie Bell. Bell had 7 receptions for 96 yards. He still looks very fast and shifty after the catch, and nearly pulled in another one-handed circus catch in the end zone in the first half.
The defense finally got their shutout this week. In the first two games the backups gave up meaningless scores, but today the Wolverines protected the goose egg. Junior Colson and Kris Jenkins led the way with five tackles each. Mike Sainristil continues to flash some greatness after switching to DB from WR. He added three tackles, with one Tackle For Loss (TFL). In total, UConn could only muster 110 total yards for the game, and picked up just six first downs.
The special teams returned to stellar form after a so-so performance last week. AJ Henning cashed in a 61-yard punt return touchdown. This is the first punt return TD since 2018 when Donovan Peoples-Jones found pay dirt. Jay Harbaugh also drew up a punt block, and senior special teams ace Caden Kolesar delivered by getting a hand on the ball.
This team is firing on all cylinders, but all of the weak opponent caveats apply to all three games. Let’s see how the Big House can get rocking when the Maryland Terrapins come into town next weekend to kick off the B1G conference schedule. Onward!
Final Score: 56-10, Michigan by 46 over Hawai’i SP+ Projection: Michigan by 54.6 (-8.6) CD Projection: Michigan by 54 (-8)
FIVE FACTORS (Garbage Time Removed)
GAME 2 RECAP vs. Hawai’i
The story is the QB competition…again. Last week Jim Harbaugh was thrust into the spotlight for criticism of his “unfairness”. This week, people are singing a different tune. In the preseason, and still leading up to this game, my feeling was that Cade would still be the starter in 2022, with an increased role for JJ. Those feelings have changed.
JJ McCarthy truly seized his opportunity to prove he should be the starting QB. McCarthy went 11-12 for 229 yards and three touchdowns. The one incompletion was an inexplicable drop by Ronnie Bell. My questions were all centered around JJ running the full passing playbook, not just the read-option series. He did that today, and looked masterful. With all that said, I expect JJ to start again next week. And, I also expect Cade to get a significant number of snaps to work through the funk he’s in. There will be a role for McNamara on this team. But right now the offense looks much smoother with JJ McCarthy at the helm.
The starters were overpowering again in Week 2, but didn’t fill up the stat sheet in the same way. The Wolverines only collected 1 sack against the Rainbow Warriors, and forced 0 turnovers. However, Hawai’i’s first half drive results were an Iowa fever dream: Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, End of the Half. Well done, Jesse Minter.
Special Teams were surprisingly pedestrian. The “hidden yards” are really hidden deep in a 46-point blowout. But Brad Robbins averaged just 41 yards on four punts. AJ Henning looked explosive on an early 35-yard return, but still seems a little shaky reading the ball in the air and catching the punt before it bounces. I have faith in Jay Harbaugh and the rest of the special teams, and we’ll see AJ Henning as a weapon on punt return more than once this season.
All in all this went according to script. It was a fun game, but never should have gone past the midnight hour. AND, don’t even get me started on skipping the tradition of touching M Club banner in pre-game to save time. That was an unforced error by the admin.
Final Score: 51-7, Michigan by 44 over Colorado State SP+ Projection: Michigan by 31.5 (+12.5) CD Projection: Michigan by 35 (+9)
FIVE FACTORS
GAME 1 RECAP vs. Colorado State
I am going to avoid overreaction to the best of my ability. The Michigan defense looked a step ahead of where I expected, but who knows how good the CSU offense is? The offense was effective, but left a little bit to be desired in terms of crisp execution. Special teams were solid as always, and I think I heard a sigh of relief from the Big House faithful when AJ Henning was back deep on punt return instead of Ronnie Bell.
Offensively, we know all the attention will be on the QB race. Cade McNamara got the start and led 8 drives, but JJ McCarthy came in on the 8th drive and scored a rushing touchdown. There were 3 FG drives, 2 punts, & 2 touchdown drives before the McCarthy rushing TD. Today is not enough information to make a decision, but if you had to score this round like a boxing match, I would say JJ 10 Cade 9. There is still a long way to go.
The Wolverines dominated on defense. Michigan racked up 11 tackles for loss, including 7 sacks. The longest drive for the Rams was 7 plays for 33 yards and ended in a turnover on downs as the clock turned to the 4th quarter. The most encouraging piece of this defensive performance is the number of players, especially young players, that got onto the field. That was true even in the first half before garbage time.
Another big thing to remember in 2022 is to be grateful for the special teams excellence that we have in Ann Arbor. Jake Moody pounded every kickoff into a touchback, and both of Brad Robbins’ punts were returned for 0 yards inside the Rams’ 20 yard line. Moody was also 3/3 on field goals. All in all it was a great day to be a Michigan Wolverine. Onward!
Final Score: 34-11, Georgia by 23 over Michigan SP+ Projection: Georgia by 5.8 (-17.2) CD Projection: Michigan by 1 (-24)
FIVE FACTORS
GAME 14 RECAP vs. Georgia – Orange Bowl
This turned into the nightmare scenario for how Michigan was approaching the game. The Wolverines won the toss and deferred. Georgia marched 80 yards in 7 plays for an opening touchdown on a well-scouted and perfectly scripted drive. When Michigan turned the ball over on downs at the Georgia 41 on their first possession, it was clear the Wolverines were going to play from behind. That is not where you want to be against a historically good defense.
Offensively, Michigan had their identity snuffed out. The Bulldogs dominated Michigan’s hard-nosed, smash-mouth running attack. With garbage time removed, the Wolverines managed just a 23% Success Rate on called run plays. When the offensive line did create creases for Haskins, Corum, and Edwards the Georgia linebackers were tremendous tacklers and gave up next to nothing after contact.
The Bulldogs also generated more pressure on Cade McNamara than previously seen this season. McNamara was sacked 4 times, and never settled into a rhythm throwing the ball. He also threw 2 interceptions. This was the antithesis of how Michigan’s offense had functioned in 2021. At the end, Jim Harbaugh inserted freshman QB JJ McCarthy because his scrambling ability was a necessity just to survive down-to-down versus Georgia’s front.
On the defensive side, the Bulldogs also ran circles around Michigan. The first 4 Georgia drives were all scoring opportunities, resulting in 2 touchdowns and 2 field goals, yielding 5.0 points per scoring opportunity. On the fifth drive, Georgia QB Stetson Bennett found Jermaine Burton for a 57-yard touchdown strike that felt like the exclamation point.
To Michigan’s credit, they kept battling despite the lopsided score. Josh Ross again led the team with 11 tackles, and sophomore DL added 7 tackles. Dax Hill returned from an unknown injury or illness and threatened a handful of passes on the edge.
But, in the end this was Georgia’s day. Michigan needed to play another near-perfect game to push this game to the brink. The Bulldogs avalanched the Wolverines early, and gave very little chance for Michigan to claw back.
Instead, most fans turned to a New Year’s Eve mentality for most of the evening. We spent a lot of time reflecting and appreciating the great year that was 2021 for Michigan Football. Then, Michigan started making resolutions to build a better 2022.
Final Score: 42-3, Michigan by 39 over Iowa SP+ Projection: Michigan by 11.1 (+27.9) CD Projection: Michigan by 18 (+21)
FIVE FACTORS
GAME 13 RECAP vs. Iowa (Big Ten Championship)
Football is an emotional sport. It’s very difficult to play the game well without wearing all your passion on your sleeve. However, you have to harness that emotional power. Players have to use their emotion as fuel.
Coaching football is a very interesting high wire act. You have to inspire your players to bring the maximum emotional energy, but you yourself have to try to stay balanced. You have to be a model of how to wield that control over your emotions. Coaches love to preach about not getting too high, or too low. Peaks and valleys ideally have very little space between them, in a coach’s eyes.
Being a fan is almost the inverse of all that. It is pure unbridled emotion all the time. It’s constant emotional escalation, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The valleys get excavated to greater depths. The mountains are stacked upon to push the peaks higher into the stratosphere.
I try to be much closer to objective than most fans. It helps me modulate my own emotion to dive into the numbers immediately. In the press box, I don’t know how well I could contain myself if I wasn’t plunking away on my keyboard recording the play data. That is why this recap is coming out the day AFTER the Big Ten Championship game. Last night, I couldn’t focus on the numbers. I was up in the clouds with the rest of the Wolverines. Sorry, not sorry.
Offensively, Michigan was near perfectly balanced. With garbage time removed, the play calls were 50/50 run to pass. Michigan amassed 461 total yards: 250 yards passing (54%) and 211 yards rushing (46%).
Hassan Haskins carried most of the workload with 17 carries, but it was the Zoom half of the #BoomAndZoom combo that set the pace. Blake Corum kicked off the scoring with a 67 yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Donovan Edwards followed that up on the next offensive snap on the ensuing drive. Edwards caught a swing pass on the edge, and then uncorked a beautiful 46 yard spiral to Roman Wilson for a 75-yard touchdown.
Iowa showed a lot of guts by staying in the fight and battling through the entire 2nd quarter, and most of the 3rd. But eventually the dam broke and 21 points came like a tidal wave in the 4th quarter.
On defense, Michigan made the key plays when they had to. Aidan Hutchinson was relentless for the entire game, and earned Big Ten Championship Game MVP honors for his efforts: 1 sack and 7 QB pressures.
Josh Ross led the Wolverines with 9 tackles while Michigan absolutely strangled the Iowa rushing attack. The Hawkeyes could only muster an 18% Success Rate on run plays, with garbage time removed. They ended with 32 carries for 114 sack-adjusted yards, 3.5 yards per carry,
The special teams units put the cherry on top of the championship sundae. Brad Robbins flipped the field as Iowa was grasping for their last breath in the 3rd quarter. His 64-yard punt moved the ball from Michigan’s 13 yard line to the Iowa 23 yard line. The Hawkeyes never moved back into Michigan territory.
After that next Iowa possession, Jay Harbaugh unleashed another punt block. Cornelius Johnson, the Wolverines’ leading receiver of the season, blocked his 2nd punt of the year. A couple JJ McCarthy runs, a Cade McNamara dime, and a Haskins plunge finished off the sequence to provide a perfect microcosm of Michigan’s brand of complementary football.
Kudos to the Michigan Football program. The players have been a joy to watch. The coaches had to envision this path before it could be reality. Aidian Hutchinson spoke in the post game about the connection between Michigan’s 42 points and Oxford HS junior Tate Myre’s #42 jersey. “God works in mysterious ways,” said Hutchinson. I pray we can all pull together like this program has. They have been a true inspiration.
Hail! To the Victors: the 2021 Michigan Wolverines, the greatest Michigan football team of this generation.
