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Podcast: Michigan leans on run game, defense in win over Michigan State

Anthony Broomeby: Anthony Broome3 hours agoanthonytbroome

EAST LANSING – The Michigan Wolverines moved to 6-2 on the year with a 31-20 win over Michigan State in primetime on Saturday night in a performance that was uneven, but mostly dominant in the second half.

Still, there was some meat left on the bone in the rivalry win, discussed by TheWolverine.com’s Anthony Broome and former Michigan defensive end Ryan Van Bergen late Saturday night after the victory.

“It is a win in the Big Ten against a rival opponent, and you can never knock that,” Van Bergen said on the show. “That’s going to be something that is not easily achieved by a lot of teams. That being said, I feel like that was… we’ve talked a lot about on this podcast about this team being young and needing to mature and needing to progress. To me, that wasn’t that much better. I don’t think it was any better than the Oklahoma game, a better result, but offensively, a lot left to be desired outside of the running backs.

“Defensively. We played really well, but I also think the challenge of an offense that is dynamic, that’s just not what Michigan State offers. So happy to have a win. It’s just a bit of a cloudy day on a win.”

 Broome responded: “Which is weird to say when you get a rivalry win over Michigan State, but knowing that they had lost four in a row. But this is game eight now. Michigan is 6-2. And you and I come on here every week and talk about meat left on the bone. I’ve been talking about it for weeks where it looks like they’re really close to it all coming together, but something that worries me a bit [is offensive stagnation].

 ”But to walk out of a rivalry game on the road with a win is, first and foremost,a top objective. Hats off to Michigan. This is one you had to have after last week. This is one that you have to have to keep some of the goals you have ahead of you. But with the eight performances we’ve seen, I start to wonder if some of those goals are maybe [pie in the sky]. You may have just gotten Michigan State’s coach fired, if that’s worth anything to you. So I don’t want that to overshadow what ultimately was a pretty solid performance.”

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