Michigan:  For Real or Not?

By Dave Shepherd  |   Friday, October 21, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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They beat a very talented Michigan State team at home - and then lose the Little Brown Jug to a much weaker Minnesota - and then they beat a previous unbeaten, and very good Penn State team. So let's spin the wheel - which Michigan Wolverines team shows up this week?

Round and round the little ball goes, where it stops, only Michigan knows. So just who is coming into play for the Wolverines? Who's going to tilt the advantage away from the house, and back towards Michigan? There's a long list, some who just want to turn the season around, and some who actually have the ability.

The scout team nickel back wants to turn the season around, but the odds of him actually doing so are rather low. So let's focus on who actually has control of the Michigan Wolverines' season… just who can help decide where that little ball goes? Well, as expected, it's the usual suspects.

Every offense starts with the quarterback. He touches the ball on almost every play (except for a direct snap), and he can make or break an offense. Look what happened to the Pittsburgh Steelers when Roethlisberger went down. QB Chad Henne has not had a bad year by any means, although he is still expected to perform better - that's mostly due to being the quarterback of a big name program. So far, he's completed 56% of his passes for nearly 1500 yards, and has an impressive 13 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio.

The next most important part of Michigan's offense is running back Mike Hart. He's a game changer, just having him available allows Michigan to do things they wouldn't normally be able to do. He's averaging 4.8 yards a carry, and has 4 touchdowns so far this year. He's also done decently out of the backfield, gaining almost 100 yards and a touchdown.

Of course none of this will matter if Michigan's defense doesn't perform, and that has been the problem before, most noticeably against Minnesota, where the Wolverines had a chance to shut them down and get the ball back in scoring position, but instead gave up a 61 yard run that lead to the game winning field goal.

Where will the ball land this week? Well, Michigan seems to perform in games where they aren't expected to win (Michigan State, Penn State), and most people don't expect them to win against Iowa, in Iowa. The ball has a chance to land on win… and if all three of those keys perform it very well could. Don't be surprised if the Wolverines lose, but don't be surprised if Wolverines pull it off.
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