3 Things To Watch: Michigan Football Vs. Iowa
Mirage or Oasis: Michigan posted season highs last weekend in points scored (52), total offense (476 yards), passing yards (335), total defense (152 yards), rushing yards allowed (46), points allowed (0), first downs (28) and many more categories, too numerous to list them all.
Was the Wolverines’ success the culmination of three weeks of fall camp and five weeks of in-season practice? Or was it the benefit of the team U-M saw across the line of scrimmage … arguably one of the worst Power 5 programs in the country?
Was it a mirage in the desert or an oasis?
The answer: no one knows. And no one will know until Saturday when the Wolverines host Iowa.
The Hawkeyes are a formidable challenge. They rank 46th nationally in scoring (33.5 points per game) and 29th in total offense (465.0 yards per game) while sitting fifth in total defense (251.0 yards allowed per contest) and third in scoring defense (8.5 points per game).
Of course, Iowa hasn’t had the stiffest schedule yet, it ranks 110th nationally so far according to Jeff Sagarin’s rating system. But the Hawkeyes’ success should not be discounted. After all, Michigan has played the No. 97 schedule in college football, including No. 122 Middle Tennessee, and did not look nearly as impressive against the Blue Raiders as Iowa did (U-M did look a tad better against Rutgers than Iowa did).
All I’m getting at is the entire Michigan fan base, the media, and probably the coaches and players themselves don’t know if U-M is a good team or not, but that we will all have a far better grasp of things after the Hawkeyes come to town.
Quarterback Duel Part II: I said it two weeks ago when Michigan played at Wisconsin that Shea Patterson needed to be the best quarterback on the field to beat the Badgers. He wasn’t.
Patterson finished 14 for 32 for 219 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, but most of his “success” came late in the third and in the fourth quarter, with U-M trailing 35-0.
In fact, up until Michigan’s final series of the third quarter, Patterson had completed just 4 of 12 attempts for 47 yards, with an interception. A pass efficiency rating of 49.57.
On the opposite sideline, Wisconsin QB Jack Coan was completing 13 of 16 pass attempts (81.3 percent) for 128 yards while rushing for a pair of touchdowns. Advantage: Coan.
In his 17 starts at U-M, Patterson has outperformed Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke, Wisconsin’s Alex Hornibrook and Penn State’s Trace McSorley in big games. He has been outplayed by Notre Dame’s Brandon Wimbush, Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Florida’s Felipe Franks and now Coan.
Enter Iowa signal-caller Nate Stanley. While not one of the most prolific passers in college football, Stanley has posted a 155.5 rating this year, completing 64.4 percent of his attempts for 965 yards with eight touchdowns and no picks.
He currently ranks ahead of Patterson in completion percentage, passer rating, passing yards per game, touchdowns thrown and yards per attempt.
Patterson may have found his stride against Rutgers, posting season-bests in passing yards (276), completion percentage (73.9) and yards per attempt (12.0), and he has a fine opportunity to prove himself in the matchup with both Stanley and the Hawkeyes.
This isn’t a complete do-over for Patterson – he doesn’t get to erase the stinker that was the Wisconsin game – but if Michigan is to rally this season, he has to be the best QB on the field tomorrow and against Sean Clifford of Penn State, Ian Book of Notre Dame, Lewerke again and … well, we’ll talk Justin Fields and Ohio State when we get there.
Hand-to-Hand Combat: Preseason NFL Draft evaluations ranked Iowa offensive tackles Alaric Jackson and Tristan Wirfs among the top 40 prospects for 2020, each a potential first-round pick.
Jackson will return to action after battling through some injuries and the matchup on the outside could be a stalemate between Wirfs/Jackson and Michigan’s Josh Uche, Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson.
So what could tilt the game for the Maize and Blue? Their interior pass rush.
With the return of senior tackle Michael Dwumfour last week (he missed the first three games due to injury), Michigan now has a defensive tackle that is very good at getting off the snap and causing chaos in the middle of an offensive pocket.
In the form of redshirt freshman linebacker Cam McGrone, Michigan now has a middle linebacker with the type of disruptive speed and athleticism that can exploit the ‘A’ and ‘B’ gaps on blitzes (something senior WILL Jordan Glasgow has also shown a propensity for).
U-M has always had great success under coordinator Don Brown on pressure up the gut, but so far this year, the Maize and Blue have been lacking on interior pressure, allowing running backs and tight ends to focus on blocking help to the outside.
With Iowa’s guard-center-guard trio considered the weakest part of its offensive line, Michigan could have its greatest success getting after Stanley by attacking the Hawkeyes right up the middle … and if it works, Patterson should outperform Stanley … and if that happens, U-M should win.
