A Good Shucking: Maize 56, Corn 10

What felt like the unexpected, turned out to be a whole lot more of the expected.

Michigan went into their Big Ten opener as 18.5-point favorites over an unpredictable Nebraska squad in dire need of a win. Not since the 1950s had a Cornhusker team opened the season with two losses. Granted, their September 1 battle with Akron was cancelled due to inclement weather, so take that trivial tid-bit with a grain of corn. Nonetheless, they are not a team accustomed to losing in the month of September.

The unpredictable aspect for Nebraska was at the signal calling position, normally a point of constant unpredictability for the Wolverines back in the pre-Shea Patterson days. True freshman Adrian Martinez was the pre-season choice of new Husker coach Scott Frost, whose name still frosts the buttocks of maize and blue fans old enough to remember when his lobbying helped secure a retirement gift for legendary NU coach Tom Osborne, and rob unbeaten and top-ranked Michigan of an undisputed 1997 national championship.

Martinez suffered an injury in the Cornhuskers' opening game, however, and didn't play in Nebraska's loss to Troy the following week. His replacement, Andrew Bunch, a walk-on whose only scholarship offer had come from none other than Eastern Michigan University, had struggled in his substitute role. Facing an 0-3 start no Husker team had experienced since 1945, just a few months after the end of World War II, Frost handed the ball back to his freshman phenom. Even if Martinez was not quite yet 100%, coach knew his offense needed a bunch more help than A. Bunch could provide.

As expected, Michigan's philosophy of run first, run second, and throw third only if necessary, would be in full force. Would it be enough to keep themselves a step ahead of yet another running quarterback hoping to pick apart a defense vulnerable to the big play? The answer was a swift and resounding "Hail yes!"

After surrendering a 32-yard third-down Martinez lob to Stanley Morgan that moved the Cornhuskers to the Michigan 42, the Michigan defense forced a turnover in the form of an interception by cornerback Josh Metellis, who stepped in front of Martinez's next pass at the 36. Three Karan Higdon runs later (see my pic), the Wolverines led 14-0. Nebraska wouldn't cross midfield again until halfway through the third quarter, with the scoreboard reading 46-0 blue.

How dominant was the Wolverine running game? After his third carry, Higdon had gained 92 yards. The offense outrushed Nebraska 131 to -22 after one quarter and 285-39 for the game. All told, the offense gained 6.3 yards per rushing attempt to the Huskers' meager 1.3.

One quarter was about all the offense needed anyway for Michigan, whose smothering front line made the afternoon generally unbearable for Martinez (see pic). At one point the young quarterback was called for a safety after a pass was deflected back toward him and rather than grab it surrounded by menacing blue jerseys, he shoveled it to the ground while standing in the end zone. At another point he was pulled from the game, bruised and beleaguered, only to have Burch leave clutching his knee after a takedown on his first play from scrimmage. Whereupon Martinez had to find his helmet and run back into the huddle once again for even more abuse.

So at the end of the day, Jim Harbaugh defeated the same school he faced in Tempe, Arizona on New Year's Day of 1986. But in sharp contrast to the junior quarterback's second-half comeback and 27-23 victory over the Huskers in the Fiesta Bowl, this time the head coach moved through Nebraska version 2018 with relative ease. Which, when you look at it, is pretty much what his teams have done with unranked opponents as heavy favorites in his three years at the helm of the Wolverines.

So resumes the tired chorus of "what have you done in the big games, Jimmy?" The 1997 debate aside, no one can turn the Nebraska game into Michigan State. As is the case with other satisfying September afternoons at the Big House, fans and followers have no choice but to be content and realistic with the outcome. An outcome that proves promising, but is filled with concerns. Most notably, if run-first is indeed the long-term strategy, how this offensive line will fare against some of the nation's strongest run defenses, four of which (Wisconsin, MSU, Penn State and Ohio State) await them later in the season.

Here's hoping an open-minded approach will open things up in the weeks ahead.

Predictable, as predicted: Michigan 45, SMU 20

The University of Michigan may be the winningest program in college football history. But it sure isn't the easiest to watch.

On Saturday the run-at-all-costs Wolverines played right into the hands of their decided underdog opponents from Southern Methodist University. If only the Mustangs had the horses to make them pay for 60 minutes, the maize and blue may have been in trouble.

As it turns out, they were able to slug their way to a 45-20 win that looked much better on paper than it did from any seat in the stands. A win that for nearly 30 minutes better resembled an extended attention exercise, with Michigan holding a slim 14-7 lead until cornerback Josh Metellus, who ten minutes earlier had been scorched on a 50-yard strike from quarterback Ben Hicks to wideout James Proche, jumped up to snare Hicks' pass and zig-zagged his way through SMU linemen all the way to the end zone (see my pic below) as time expired.

Those two plays and a 35-yard touchdown delivery from Shea Patterson to Donovan Peoples-Jones awoke 110,000 fans from a 25-minute slumber, brought upon by a scoreless first quarter and a monotonous Wolverine touchdown drive that included SIX plays from inside the Mustang 8-yard line--all runs of course (see my pic).

It shouldn't be this painful to watch this Michigan football team. It just shouldn't. A squad as loaded on both sides of the ball as this 2018 version of the Wolverines offense under former Florida Gator head coach Jim McElwain should be fast-paced, dizzying, prolific. Their dominance should be evident, not assumed. At the halfway point of the second quarter Michigan had a 17:00-to-5:00 time of possession advantage, yet led just 7-0.

Instead of mixing it up to open the field to their talents, the Wolverines attempted just 18 passes and kept it on the ground 41 times. Most of which the defense knew was coming, and much of the times they had the ability to stop the Wolverines because of it. Fans got the occasional tease of an impressive pass from their rifle-armed Ole Miss transfer without getting the feeling that they've actually seen what he's made of.

Worst of all, Michigan showed their punative side again, getting flagged 13 times for a staggering 137 yards. Just 60 yards shy of their entire rushing output for the day. Linebacker Khaleke Hudson was tossed in the second half for a dangerous hit he should have known better than to deliver, the second such ejection of a Wolverine defender in three games this season.

As was the case with its unimaginative offense, Michigan's undisciplined defense is a defeat waiting to happen. While they may be able to horse around with it against the Broncos and Mustangs and get away with a win, it's not a sustainable plan for their visitors from Madison and Happy Valley, much less late-season trips to East Lansing and Columbus. One need only look back a few weeks to see what the same establish-the-run strategy looked like against a solid defense.

Soon, the offense will be allowed to break out. Soon, the pass will be opening up the run. With one loss already in the books, there's too much to lose in waiting too much longer.