Keys to the Game: Michigan vs. New Mexico

By Chris Balas

As Michigan football openers with butterflies go, this one doesn’t really register. Over the years, we’ve seen fantastic first games with Notre Dame, Miami (Fla.), Colorado, etc., in which the adrenaline was such that fans couldn’t sleep at night, they were so excited. 

This ticket, though, remains a pretty hot one for one big reason — the start of the Bryce Underwood era. The Michigan quarterback might be the most anticipated true frosh at any position in program history. In fact, we’d take the “might” out of it. Everyone in the country, but especially in Ann Arbor, wants to see what the hype is about. 

New Mexico has a lot of new faces, and this Michigan defense should be a nightmare for a team with a ton of question marks. It won’t be (or had better not be) close, but there are still things we’d like to see before the Wolverines head to Norman, Okla., to take on the Sooners a week later. Our keys to Saturday’s opener:

Michigan Key No. 1: Clean offensive line play  

We’re not looking for perfection here. There are a few new starters, a left tackle moving from right in Evan Link who struggled mightily last year, and a couple veterans in Giovanni El-Hadi and Greg Crippen who have more to give than they showed last year. 

What we really want to see — very few missed assignments and dead ball penalties (false starts), huge holes in the run game you’d expect against an overmatched opponent, and winning most of the one-on-one battles in pass protection. Last year, a few guys up front were literally getting run over and ended up on their butts against bull rushes, and that just can’t happen. 

“You feel like you’ve got a really deep group, and you’ve got a group of guys that can go in and help you win a ball game,” head coach Sherrone Moore said. 

Here’s hoping, and we’ll know much more about this group and their ceiling in week two, but this is where it starts.

Michigan Key No. 2: Explosive plays, please … and limited turnovers

It’s been a while since we’ve seen receivers running wide open in the secondary or backs breaking long touchdown runs (though we’ll always have the last few games at Ohio State to remember fondly). Though we can’t point to that one receiver who can consistently get behind a defense on speed alone, Donaven McCulley is a potential big play guy, and they now have a quarterback who can get the ball there on a dime. There are also two backs who can take it the distance if given room.

One thing we’ve heard about Underwood this fall is his penchant for throwing into tight windows when it looks like there’s nothing there — also called the “no, no … yes!” throws. He’s going to take some chances, and it hasn’t always worked out for him. 

A few big mistakes probably won’t matter in a game like this, but it could absolutely be the difference next week on the road. We’d like to see a clean game from the frosh, too, though again, there will be some mishaps.

“We’ve got to be patient … there are going to be growing pains, because he’s a freshman,” Moore said. “He just turned 18 like two weeks ago.

“There’s going to be something that he’s going to do that we’re going to be like, ‘why? Why’d you do that?’ And then there’s going to be something you’re like, ‘don’t throw it … oh, that’s a nice play.’ Both of those are going to happen, so we’ve just got to take it play by play and coach him from there.”

The less, the better.

Michigan Key No. 3: Wear ‘em down on both sides of the ball

This team’s DNA is the same as it’s been the last several years — “smash!” In big games, owning the fourth quarter is about dominating the trenches in the first three, and that’s going to be a big part of the game plan. We will see a heavy dose of Jordan Marshall and Justice Haynes in the run game.

“You feel like both of those guys can run inside and out, and Justice has shown to have that home run hitter ability … he’s done it multiple times here,” Moore said. “He’s also shown that he can run you over too, where Jordan’s that super violent runner that we saw in the bowl game, and he continues to be that.”

As for the defense — this shouldn’t be an issue. The Wolverines are going to rotate 10 bodies up front, and we’ll be stunned if the New Mexico offense isn’t begging to leave town by game’s end.

The breakdown: Michigan football vs. New Mexico

It’s a new era for Michigan football, and there is plenty of reason for optimism. Some close to the program believe this is the year the Wolverines get back to competing for a playoff berth before taking off the next two seasons with Underwood at the helm, and the schedule offers that possibility.

There are four swing games on the schedule that should determine this team’s fate, and Saturday night isn’t one of them. There’s still plenty we can learn about this team, though — especially if things go wrong (which, to be clear, we don’t expect) — so we’ll be watching closely. 

The gut feeling here is that the offense looks improved over a year ago (not saying much, we know), but it’s the Michigan defense that overwhelms an opponent that simply can’t match up physically. 

“We’re deep. We’re strong. We’re fast. We’re violent,” Moore said. “The big thing we talked about is tackling and running to the football with effort. 

“[Michigan coordinator] Wink [Martindale] will change it up. He’ll have different looks and different things that he wants to put out there. And I trust him, trust the staff and what they’ve done. But I just want to see him play hard and play physical.”

The Wolverines should breeze to a win to set up a “litmus test” game at Oklahoma a week later.