Concerns from the Maryland game
Analysis of Michigan's narrow victory over the Terps
Historically, in the week before the Ohio State matchup, Michigan has struggled. This theme definitely persisted this past weekend.
Last year against Illinois, Michigan barely escaped with a last minute game-winning field goal. Again, this was the week before Ohio State. Michigan played a precautionary game today, and it showed.
A large part of the bad play today was because of McCarthy. He played an uncharacteristically bad game. Because of his struggles, Sherrone Moore did not seem confident in his ability to throw the ball, resulting in another run-heavy week. However, part of McCarthy’s struggles may be because of the impending Ohio State game next week. He was not allowed to scramble, to avoid taking too many hits. It seemed as though this threw off his timing. It’s also possible that his struggles arose from a lingering injury. Against Penn State, it was clear that McCarthy was banged up. Both likely factored into his questionable performance.
Another big problem was the injuries of the rest of the squad. Star WR Roman Wilson left the game early after taking a big hit to the head. He came back to the sidelines with street clothes on. He will be a very important piece for the Ohio State game. Myles Hinton, a backup offensive lineman, also went down. His injury looked more severe. He was replacing starting OL LaDarius Henderson, who was held out of Saturday’s game in preparation for next week. Michael Barrett also left the game with an injury, but was able to return. The only real concerns for next weekend are Hinton and Wilson, but hopefully they can both make it back by then.
Another interesting statistic: Michigan runs the ball 54% with Harbaugh, but runs 78% without him. However, it’s hard to know if this is because of Harbaugh, or if it’s simply a reaction to the back-to-back away games.
Blake Corum has offered some insight into this matter. He said that the philosophy behind all the runs was that they would eventually break one away for a big gain. This worked against Penn State, but not against Maryland.
The Defense and Special Teams were a huge part of this victory. Mike Sainristil came up with 2 big interceptions. He seems to always be able to make plays when the team needs them. The defensive line also produced several clutch sacks that backed up the Maryland offense. Kenneth Grant had an especially big game, with a huge sack at the end of the game.
The Special Teams also had a huge impact. A blocked punt early on led to a safety, and then Tommy Doman placed a beautiful punt down on the one yard line. 2 interceptions and 2 safeties in one game is a pretty nice performance by these two groups.
Next Saturday will maybe be the biggest game of the century. This team needs to be fully healthy and ready to win it. My family has a biannual tradition of going to the game, and I look forward to reporting about the in-game experience, just as I did with Penn State.