How will Michigan football’s offense look under new QB Alex Orji?
Hail Yes! hosts Tony Garcia and Rainer Sabin discuss what the Michigan football offense will look like with Alex Orji now at the helm.
The good, the bad and perhaps even the ugly − all of it was on display Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
At times, the Wolverines looked oh so good running the rock. Michigan football had nearly 200 yards on the ground in the first half alone (199), then it finished the game with a bruising drive that included eight rushes, 80 yards and a game-winning touchdown in the final minute from its new focal running back, Kalel Mullings.
The defense was superb, at times. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who got a game ball from head coach Sherrone Moore for his ability to mix coverages and pressures to make life miserable for a talented offensive play caller in Lincoln Riley and his quarterback Miller Moss. Martindale turned his guys loose as they lived in the backfield, breaking up passes, coming up with tackles for loss and forcing a pair of turnovers in the second half.
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On this weekend, all of it came together as Michigan held the ball for just long enough (losing the time of possession battle 30:42-29:18) to keep its defense fresh and its units complementing each other in a critical 27-24 victory over No. 12 USC to open up Big Ten play.
“We needed to be successful in the run game and keep their offense off the field,” head coach Sherrone Moore said postgame. ”Lincoln (Riley), have so much respect for him and what he’s done on the offensive side of the ball with that program. But we knew we could generate some yards on the ground and wanted to control the clock and keep our defense off the field as much as possible.
“Think our guys executed. There was a little lull in the third quarter, they made some really good adjustments, then we had to adjust so it was a chess match there in the run game … very proud of this team.”
A win, of course, is job No. 1. That said, things could feel very different right now.
Plenty of reason for optimism
When the units are working together, it’s easy to see how this team can get rolling with ball control.
Michigan opened the game going north and south and though it punted on its first two drives, Mullings ripped off what was then a career-long 53-yard run for a score on the third drive. Though Michigan’s next drive was a punt, it took four minutes of the clock and flipped the field (still seen as a moderate success for an offense that had 32 passing yards) before the next possession saw the second touchdown rush from more than 40 yards out, this time from Donovan Edwards.
“We know going in (teams are going to stack the box) but we have to run the ball anyway,” Mullings said. “It feels great to be able to do that and to be able to dominate another team like that.”
U-M finished the first half with 27 rushes for 199 yards and two scores, as it held the ball for more than 18 minutes.
SABIN: With Michigan’s season-defining 27-24 win over USC, everything is back on the table
At the same time, Michigan stifled USC in the run game. The Trojans had just 16 rushing yards at the break, which forced Riley to try and move the ball through the air. In the first few weeks, Michigan played offenses that pass quick, however, USC runs a pro-style attack and allows its QB to make plays. Finally, Mason Graham said, it was an opportunity for the line to get after it.
“The first three games we kind of didn’t have enough time,” he said. “That’s what teams give us, but USC, we knew they’d drop back. … gave us opportunities to make plays and that’s what we did today.”
As a result, almost everybody on the defense got a chance to make a play. Jyaire Hill had six tackles, two pass break ups and one tackle for loss; Graham had six tackles including one for loss, Zeke Berry had five tackles including 1½ for loss while Josaiah Stewart was a one-man wrecking crew with four tackles, three for loss including two sacks.
As a team, Michigan had 10 quarterback hurries, eight tackles for loss, eight pass breakups, four sacks, one interception and a forced fumble.
Cause for concern
As much as there was to like, if Mullings didn’t have a heroic, tackle-breaking 62-yard run in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Michigan would very likely be sitting at .500 right now with the majority of the blame falling on the passing game, or lack-there-of.
Once the Trojans adjusted to Michigan’s style from the first half, the entire game flipped. USC went 12 plays and 75 yards down the field to open the half and it was only thanks to a Will Johnson 42-yard pick-6 that U-M scored any points in the first 29 minutes of the second half, which made it 20-10.
After the break, Michigan went three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, fumble. The Wolverines simply couldn’t pass the ball as Orji completed 5 of 8 attempts for 32 yards, but none of the passes were more than 5 yards down field.
Once the wheels started to fall off, things snowballed. The Trojans made it 20-17 on a 16-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, then after a critical Donovan Edwards fumble in U-M territory, the Wolverines gave up a go-ahead touchdown on third-and-24 with 7:01 to play in the game.
While Orji insisted after the game he’d be “crying” if he’d thrown for a million yards in a loss and would always rather throw for fewer yards in a win, there would be reason to have some concern over being this one-dimensional long term.
That is, unless you are inside the locker room.
“Yeah, always something you can get better at, but whatever’s necessary, whatever it takes to win, we’ll do it,” Max Bredeson said. “We will play however we have to play to win games; we know we can throw the ball, know we can do anything, just happy to get wins.”
Michigan shouldn’t just be happy, it should be ecstatic to have claimed this win. Not only will it likely vault the Wolverines somewhere near the top 10, but it kept the dream alive for a fourth consecutive trip to the (now expanded) College Football Playoff. But the Wolverines also have to be honest with themselves.
Saturday was the fewest passing yards in a Michigan victory since 1987. That’s all fun when the rushing attack racks up 46 carries for 290 yards (6.3 per attempt) and three scores, but could be quite dicey should U-M not begin a game up by two scores.
“Up and down, up and down” Moore explained of his in-game emotions. “Adversity strikes, what are you going to do? There’s so many things that go on in this game of football; it’s exciting, it’s crazy, it gets you all over the place. But again, our players never flinched and that’s what I’m really proud of, the way the players responded in those situations.”
This is who Michigan is. This is the formula. Time will tell if it’s enough to get this team where it wants to go.
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Publish date : 2024-09-21 23:10:00
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