Michigan football, Big Ten thoughts after a big weekend — final MSU thoughts, PSU vs. OSU, tiebreakers, and more

Michigan hammered Michigan State, 49-0, handing the Spartans the worst loss in Spartan Stadium history. That the bludgeoning occurred after MSU got a heads up from the Big Ten that the Wolverines might know their signals eliminated any after-the-fact excuse MSU might have for the loss.

Simply put, this was just a case of men against boys, especially the Michigan defense vs. the MSU offense. It was clear early that MSU wasn’t going to be able to run the ball — and to their credit, they did vs. Iowa, a tough defense. Watching the network feed, analyst Todd Blackledge said he thought Michigan State might have better success on the ground, but this Michigan defensive line is just too strong, the linebackers too good and fast.

If this was a game they were asking Katin Houser to win, they were in trouble — a young kid making his second start against one of the nation’s top defenses. First off, he doesn’t have the arm strength. It was clear on his first few throws the ball just wasn’t getting there fast enough, and the Michigan DBs had way too much closing time. Michigan sophomore corner Amorion Walker could have had a pick six on one out route on which he could have made a sandwich and still had time … instead he made the sure play and broke it up.

But down 21-0, Houser was spooked. The Spartans would have had a better shot with Noah Kim at quarterback — more arm strength — and frankly, the last kid they threw out there, Sam Leavitt, looks to have a better future. He has a good arm and can move, and that ball gets there in a hurry. It will be interesting to see what he does there if he sticks around.

That it got chippy late shouldn’t have been a surprise. We’re glad the Wolverines got out of there without any injuries and got quarterback J.J. McCarthy out of the game when they did. Yeah, they could have put 60 or 70 on this team, but it’s about a season, not about making a point against an irrelevant opponent, no matter how much bitterness there might have been about last year’s tunnel assault.

We’ve heard MSU fans complaining about the last touchdown Michigan scored. The Wolverines wouldn’t have been in that position had it not been for yet another personal foul that set them up at the 5-yard line. To that point, U-M was running Alex Orji every play. It’s not like they were running Air Coryell (for the old timers). You let your fourth stringers play, too, in a game like this — which they did for about a quarter and a half, or you might have been looking at a Michigan – Rutgers 78-0 type beatdown. Good on jim Harbaugh for being the bigger man and taking his foot off the gas.

As for the Michigan offense — McCarthy is the biggest part of it right now, and that’s good and bad. He covers up a lot of warts (somewhat the way Devin Gardner did in a 41-30 win over Notre Dame several years ago). When you have a dynamic playmaker, you ride him. This was not an offensive masterpiece, as much as the score might indicate it. It took a lot (too many) third and long conversions to keep drives alive, and credit McCarthy for keeping plays alive and escaping blitzes, finding his second and third options, as well as his receivers for adapting and moving when initial routes weren’t there. The pass protection, too, was really good at times, allowing McCarthy to get to his second or third options.

As Michigan sophomore tight end Colston Loveland said after the game, the game plan wasn’t exactly to go to the tight ends so much. It just played out that way. And boy, did they eat. As good as the tight end play has been the last few years, this is another level. AJ Barner has to be pinching himself at the opportunities he’s been given, and he’s made the most of them. He’s a future pro, and Loveland a future first round pick.

The running game, though — not good enough (again). Credit Michigan State’s front seven. They won a lot of the battles up front — 12 “inefficient” runs for Michigan backs in non-short yardage situations — and while the Spartans’ defensive front (against the run) is its strength, it wasn’t good enough. That’s another reason McCarthy is far and away the Michigan MVP — he has to be. It seems late in the season for that to change at this point, which is disappointing. We don’t need it to be like the last two years (elite), but it still might need to be better to win a national title. There are good teams that will be much better suited to slow the Michigan passing game if U-M can’t run.

Overall, though, Michigan still hasn’t played anyone “good” yet — maybe decent, at best, so there will be bigger tests to come, obviously. Penn State and Ohio State was a rock fight, minus receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. He’s elite, and the reason the Buckeyes handled PSU and pulled away, providing just enough offense to win. OSU was without its best back in TreVeyon Henderson, along with a few other great players, but it’s tough to win in Columbus.

PSU’s defense is fast, and they kept the Nittany Lions in the game. But the Drew Allar hype was overblown. Right now, he looks like an inconsistent game manager with very little downfield passing game. If you hold their run game in check, which Ohio State did and we’d expect Michigan too, they’re going to struggle to move the ball. We feel much better about that game in Happy Valley than we might have a month ago.

The Buckeyes are mediocre on offense minus Harrison — quarterback Kyle McCord is average (about time we could say that about an OSU signal caller) — and have average backs minus Henderson. That one seems to be setting up nicely for the Wolverines. So … the plan here is to run the table and win out, not leave it up to tiebreakers. It’s entirely possible.

As the potential tiebreaker goes, though, it might still come down to what happens in the Big Ten West and what opponents of U-M, OSU, and PSU do. Michigan got help there when Minnesota won at Iowa (which we predicted here). Sorry, Hawkeyes, but the call on the fair catch overturning a game winning punt return for touchdown was a good one. You wave that arm like that, the ball is dead when someone touches it. They should be squawking more about their lousy offense, and head coach Kirk Ferentz’ nepotism. We respect the head coach and what he’s done with that program, love the Iowa fans, but that’s just a bad deal.

If you’re Michigan, you want the Gophers, Nebraska, and Purdue to keep winning, Iowa, Wisconsin, etc. (PSU and OSU opponents in the West) to lose. Minnesota plays MSU this weekend, so that’s an easy one to root for. OSU plays at Wisconsin, so the Wolverines will get help there either way (we don’t see the Badgers moving the ball on this Ohio State team, so don’t bank on an upset). And as Big Ten championship game potential opponents go, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska all have legitimate shots here (yikes), and there are many head-to-head games remaining or them all.

As for Michigan — a bye week to rest guys up for Purdue, which should be an easy one. Then the season starts with the game in Happy Valley. We won’t fast forward with this team. We’re going to savor every moment watching this special collection of talent, one that seems more and more like a legit national title contender.

Onward.

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