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.