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Opponent Watch 2023: Week 3 | mgoblog
mgoblog.comAbout Last Week Look, I’m not a tactical football genius. I’d be the first admit that. But I worry that Michigan isn’t utilizing its skill players correctly. If nothing else, Saturday made one thing perfectly clear: KRIS JENKINS NEEDS WAY MORE TOUCHES THAN HE IS GETTING. David Wilcomes Feed your playmakers, Sherrone. The Road Ahead Rutgers (3-0, 0-0 B1G) Last week: Beat Virginia Tech, 35-16 Recap: Virginia Tech outgained Rutgers 319-302 (albeit in a less efficient manner) and picked up 18 first downs to 14 for Rutgers, and they held Gavin Wimsatt to 2.9 yards per attempt. But Rutgers had the only thing in the game that really worked for either team: an effective running game. Rutgers ran for 256 yards at 7.5 yards per carry with 4 touchdowns. This team is as frightening as: Speed bump. It isn’t going to do anything you don’t generally expect. Take it at the right speed, and everything will be fine. But you won’t take it at the right speed, will you? No sir. You’ll take it somewhere between “just a little too fast” and “HOLY HELL I think I just shattered my coccyx and lost a muffler?” Unless you REALLY screw up, it won’t wreck anything, but you’ll be worried about that little rattling sound for several miles thereafter. Fear Level = 5 Michigan should worry about: Rutgers is finally figuring out how to use Wimsatt’s legs. He’s gained 146 yards on 27 non-sack carries, and Kirk Ciarrocca has taken page from the Denard playbook; he’s done a lot of his damage on designed QB leads with the back operating (quite effectively) as a lead blocker. Michigan can sleep soundly about: Wimsatt’s passing remains… well, I’ll let you be the judge: If you think you can beat Michigan with a straight running game — I don’t think Wimsatt is actually doing a lot of reading in the run game — you better be bringing a Kenneth Walker to the party. And while I like Kyle Monangai, he ain’t Kenneth Walker. Of his three career games against FBS opponents of over 5.2 yards per carry, two have been these last two games against defenses that would be best described as “plummeting airplane noise, explosion noise, siren noise, Undertaker’s entrance music.” When they play Michigan: Gonna be another game where the opponent’s passing game is “ahhhhhHHHHHHH THROW BUTTON THROW BUTTON THROW BUTTON.” Next game: @ Michigan, noon, BTN (Rutgers +25.5) [AFTER THE JUMP: Y’all ain’t seen a plane around here, have ya?]
Get your F-35 analogies before they’re dated!
One of my friends had told me we lost a raptor and while this isn’t much better, it’s about the only way to lay up “we just destroyed a 100 million dollar aircraft”