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In a mostly innocuous play from a game most Michigan fans have probably already forgotten, you learned all you needed to know about the new Michigan Wolverines under Jim Harbaugh and friends.
With two seconds remaining in the second quarter, up 31-0 against BYU and just beginning to wipe the blood of the scythe, quarterback Jake Rudock rolled out right and heaved a 60-some-yard pass to the end zone in a Hail Mary attempt to tag more points on the board.
It fell innocently incomplete despite somehow man coverage on receiver Jehu Chesson, but it signaled a new culture at Michigan: bloodless thirst for keeping the foot on the gas.
These are your father’s Michigan Wolverines, the ones who won games with a punishing running game and ferocious defense. These are not the Wolverines we’ve seen since Lloyd Carr departed, where flashy spread offenses never took flight under Rich Rodriguez and whatever the offense was under Brady Hoke … a hybrid of bad and ugly … that never worked either.
Since losing at Utah in the season opener, Michigan has given up a total of 14 points in three games. Saturday’s dismantling of BYU was by far the most eye-opening of the bunch. The soon-to-be formerly ranked Cougars looked completely befuddled by Michigan’s offense, and Rudock often found players just running fancy free like they farted in a crowded room and everyone moved away from them on purpose.
Rudock also went a little Russell Wilson (to be frank, that’s a most impossible comparison) in running for two touchdowns. Though at times he seems to miss on a pre-snap read and still throw it anyway, he’s getting better in all phases of performance.
Harbaugh was firing up Rudock before the game, and it’s clear the point was driven home by a coach who is excellent with the Xs and the Os, but shines brightest in his ability to motivate. Rudock and the offensive line are night and day from what the Maize and Blue had at quarterback and offensive line around this time last season.
They’re an angry, punishing group that helped hoe for 254 yards of rushing.
The receivers sell out on their blocks.
The culture of buying in has happened, and happened immediately.
The Wolverines held BYU to a quarter of the yardage the Cougars are used to getting. They basically closed up shop at halftime, spending the second half as one long bleeding of the clock. BYU had not been shut out since 2003. The Cougars had only eight first downs and a total of 105 yards.
Michigan also didn’t turn the ball over, and the only sour spot in the game was when starting running back De’Veon Smith hurt his foot in the second half and left the field.
The larger point here, though, is that Michigan is not only improved, but rapidly so. The rest of the Big Ten had best start taking notice.
We said in this spot that Michigan was loaded with talent … it just hadn’t been coached up correctly, especially on offense. D.J. Durkin’s defense just looks different, and even though Michigan had strong defenses the last few years, the physicality around these parts this season is noticeable.
These Wolverines are what their fan base has been hoping to see. The next test will be winning on the road after dealing with what will be a week of national genuflection about how great they looked in thumping the Cougars. It’s always toughest when everyone’s patting you on the back, especially when you’re not used to it.
That said, make no mistake … Michigan is different, in a good way, and looking a lot like the powerful Wolverine squads that were fixtures in the top 10 to 20, year in and out. Old-school Michigan being new school is very cool, and if this arc continues, the Wolverines will be a force to be reckoned with way sooner than anyone else in the Big Ten had hoped.
We said here that Michigan would beat Ohio State in the summer preview. It was roundly scoffed at. After watching the evisceration of BYU, the idea that this team can defeat anyone is nothing to be laughed off.
Michigan is coming. Get ready, everyone.
