| Wherever Michigan's season goes from here, it was perhaps the win last year at Rutgers that put them in a place to have this success. The Wolverines had lost 3 in a row, one as a 4 touchdown favorite, and the other two in blowout fashion, were trailing Rutgers 17-0 late in the first half, with just a 12% chance to win, and probably a similar chance of Harbaugh being back in 2021. The season was completely off the rails. Instead Harbaugh decided to pivot away from his Cam Newton/Vince Young hybrid in Joe Milton, to Cade McNamera. McNamera almost immediately hit Conelius Johnson for a 43 yard touchdown pass, sparking a 48-42 triple overtime win. McNamera finished 27-36 for 260 yards, 5 touchdowns (4 passing, 1 rushing), and no interceptions. He had run off Milton, but was surely going to be supplanted by incoming 5* recruit J.J. McNamera, right? Nope. People act like he's some scrappy walk on. 247 ranked him as the #7 pro style QB coming out of high school, a 4* recruit who chose Michigan over USC. No, Michigan isn't winning BECAUSE of him, but he is certainly allowing them to win. Right now though, until someone forces McNamera to beat them, he will keep on picking his spots. Rutgers will try, but as bad as Washington is, their defense is still #15 in the nation in SP+. They held Arkansas State to 48 rushing yards on 2.1 ypc last week. Michigan ran 56 times for 343 yards on 6.1 ypc on them. And in the rain, with Michigan leading, and McNamera throwing just 14 passes, you know Washington was loaded up to stop the run. They just couldn't do it. As good as Rutgers is on defense, I'm not confident they are better than Washington, and now down their best cornerback, and another one in the rotation, just how confident is Greg Schiano in selling out to completely stop the run? My guess is less so than he otherwise would have. The Wolverines have their own issues at cornerback, so Noah Vedral, who has completed 80% of his passes over his last two games, is efficient enough to perhaps take some advantage to move the ball a little bit better than expected. Remember, Washington did move the ball a little better than the final score would indicate. Michigan is 3-0 against Rutgers in Ann Arbor, with an average score of 45-10. I think the game will be a little better this year. |
