Michigan continues to hone in on its love of playing road games: Washington on deck

Trent Knoop | 3 Hours Ago

Michigan tight end Colston Loveland celebrates a play against Washington during the second half of U-M's 34-13 win in the College Football Playoff national championship game in Houston on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

For the first time this season, Michigan leaves the Big House after playing the first five games in Ann Arbor. It's not just any ordinary road game for the Wolverines on Saturday, it's a rematch of the National Championship Game between the Wolverines and Washington Huskies. It will be the first Big Ten Conference game played between the two schools, too.

Husky Stadium is known around the nation as the 'Greatest setting in college football' and while it only has a capacity crowd of 70,138, the stadium is known to get extremely loud. The Huskies are also having a Purple Out on Saturday where fans will all be wearing purple -- sort of like Penn State's White Out.

Head coach Sherrone Moore said two keys for his team heading on the road is to bring your defense and make sure the run game is rolling.

"Yeah, you gotta pack your defense first, obviously your run game," Moore said. "And you gotta be sound and be disciplined in everything you do. Obviously, the first time that we're on the road, noise. It's going to be a great environment. I think our players are excited to get on the road. It eliminates distractions, eliminates all the outside stuff, and you're kind of in your cocoon with your group. I've seen a lot of guys come by the office and tell them, 'Yeah, we're ready to get on the road'. I'm ready to take this show on the road. So I think packing your defense, having a good run game, and being balanced is going to be the main thing."

Following the Minnesota win last Saturday, there were multiple players talking in the postgame interviews about how they love road games. That's been part of Michigan's mantra the past three seasons -- how they enter hostile territory and make it their own. Think back to 2021 at Wisconsin. The Badgers historically play 'Jump Around' at the end of the third quarter, but on that day, Michigan made it its own.

Tight end Colston Loveland told reporters on Tuesday how much the Wolverines love playing on the road. Michigan has been pumping in loud music during practice to get used to playing in a venue like Husky Stadium. Silent cadence is going to be another key for the Wolverines' offense.

"It's gonna be exciting," Loveland said on Tuesday. "Everyone that's talking about the stadium said it's gonna be super lit. A lot of cool fans, the scenery is cool, they say. I've been to Seattle. I've never been to the stadium, but yeah, I'm excited to be there. First road game, we know we love the road games, so I'm excited to get out there.

"It hasn't been anything different. Still listening to super loud music, super loud noises, more practicing, which has been great. Haven't done that this year yet, so it was a little challenging for us today, which is good. Just gotta keep working on that, though — silent cadence. Be ready for whatever."

Reserve Edge rusher and special teams ace Kechaun Bennett was a little more direct when speaking about playing on the road against Washington. He says the team isn't too worried about the atmosphere in Husky Stadium. He has the belief that Michigan beat the Huskies last year, so the Wolverines can do it again this season.

"A W. Just a dub," Bennett started. "I don't think we're too worried about that [the atmosphere]. We just go out there and play football. It doesn't matter where we're at, who we're facing, we just go play football. We beat them once, we're just gonna beat them again.

"We kind of have a thing where we say, like, 'We're gonna walk in somebody's trap and take over your trap.' So, it's like, 'We're taking over your field, this is our crowd, this is our fans now, like, this is our stadium. That's really how it feels when we get a win in an away game."

Michigan will take on Washington at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and the game will be aired on NBC.

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