Is the Michigan pass rush enough to beat OSU? And is it the defense, or the schedule?

Michigan is beating opponents up the old school way, dominating the trenches on both sides of the ball. The running game is elite, and so is the defense — now No. 1 nationally in total defense, scoring defense, run defense, long rushing plays allowed and top 5 or 10 in several other categories. 

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Still, the Wolverines aren’t getting their due in some areas, in part because of the schedule. While it’s been ranked high in most seasons since Jim Harbaugh arrived to coach, this year is an exception. 

It’s one of the reasons some national pundits don’t like Michigan as much as the computers do.

“Look … you can control some things [regardless],” Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “I think the No. 1 thing you can control is how you play against whoever you play against. So … I’m certainly pleased with the guys’ effort, the guys’ mentality, the guys’ mindset, and how we’ve been able to play. There’s stuff every week that you go into the game nervous about, worried about, [but] the guys have just done a good job of focusing on every single day trying to get a little bit better.

“Knowing that … yeah, the way the schedule falls, no matter what the order of schedule is, you want to be playing your best football at the end of the season.”

So, you try to evolve and get a little better each week, he noted, and that’s been the case. The Michigan defense given up 3 points total in the second halves of the last five games, and Minter likes how they’ve improved in each.

Illinois probably won’t tell us much, unless Chase Brown comes in healthy. Michigan hasn’t seen a back like him this year. 

No, as Minter said, the story is “far from being written” on this group. As he noted, “we’ll find out a lot in the next couple of weeks.”

Particularly Nov. 26 when the Wolverines face Ohio State in Columbus. The Buckeyes have been rolling, but they haven’t faced a defense like this Michigan group. Notre Dame would probably be closest, and that was the first game of the year. 

Also, for all the angst about “pass rush” and getting to OSU quarterback C.J. Stroud, keep in mind that this year’s team is on pace to have more sacks, even with Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo back. Much of the defense has been the same, but the pressure is coming from other places. 

“We’ve certainly done some things different,” Minter said. “To pinpoint, our blitz rates might be different, or the way we pressure at times might be different. But overall, it’s a lot of the stuff that we had in our playbook over the years.”

Keep in mind, too, that the Irish weren’t exactly getting a lot of pressure on Stroud. They sacked him only once. They mixed up their defenses like Michigan’s Mike Macdonald did a year ago and confused him, making the offense look pedestrian in a 21-10 loss. 

The Buckeyes will no doubt have different looks for Minter and the U-M defense. At the same time, the U-M coaches will have things up their sleeves, too. 

We know — Illinois first. But Nov. 26 figures to be a fun day.

Sherrone Moore has earned his accolades

The Michigan offensive line should be in contention for the Joe Moore Award despite going with six or seven different starting combinations in 10 games. The ground dominance has been astounding, and they’re also doing a solid job protecting quarterback J.J. McCarthy, no matter who’s playing.

Minter said it was eye-opening seeing the group all the way back in March.

“All the way back to spring ball, you sort of saw it coming in … okay, this is the O-line that won that Joe Moore Award. What am I getting myself into?” he said. “And it’s a tremendous opportunity for us every day to compete against, to get good against, to get better against [it]. And then you add in Olu [Oluwatimi], a guy like that …

“I wasn’t here. I don’t really know what it looked like [last year], but I know right now they’re humming and they’re dominating.”

He called them the “best O-line in the country. More than that, he believes — like many — that they’ve got an elite position coach.

“I think Sherrone Moore is one of the best football coaches — at any position — I’ve had a chance to be around,” Minter praised. 

“Sherrone is — just from a personality standpoint, from a leader standpoint, like just how he leads men — very, very consistent in his approach. He brings a tremendous amount of energy. Not that he doesn’t coach his guys hard, but I think he coaches from a very positive mindset, which I think the guys really appreciate.”

It’s fun to watch him work every day, Minter added. Given how his young players are meeting the high bar set for them, it appears he’s fun to play for, too.