In 2021, Michigan football had a veritable blowout against a pesky Maryland team in College Park before upsetting heavy favorite Ohio State in Ann Arbor the following week. It was the first of four straight wins, but even as the Fox promo for The Game seems to slant toward the idea that it’s a forgone conclusion in favor of the Buckeyes, could history be set to repeat itself?
It’s fair to question if Ohio State has been tested. The only team that had a close game with the Buckeyes was Texas in Week 1, and the Longhorns have been up and down this season. But the Wolverines have been up and down as well, having lost to the two ranked teams on the schedule, and with the youth on the team, each game is something of an up-and-down adventure.
Health is a concern for both teams, but much more so the maize and blue. Running back Justice Haynes is already expected to miss The Game, Rod Moore has been out for several weeks and has shown few signs of returning, Ernest Hausmann missed the Maryland game under mysterious circumstances. Jordan Marshall was a game-time decision against the Terps and missed the game while Max Bredeson was injured in-game, after which head coach Sherrone Moore said ‘it doesn’t look good’ on the postgame broadcast. But last year’s Michigan team was similarly banged up, playing vs. OSU without Will Johnson and Colston Loveland, while a banged-up Kalel Mullings and an in-game injury to Donovan Edwards made it appear as if the Wolverines would have little-to-no chance against the three-score favorites.
But The Game has a funny way of working things out.
The team that runs the ball better has the tendency to win. More than recent history shows that. Though OSU has been much more effective in its run game as of late, Michigan is more established when it comes to pounding the rock. Against Maryland (and let’s be fair, it’s not a good rushing defense), the Wolverines trotted out third-string back Bryson Kuzdzal, true freshman Jasper Parker, previously injured Micah Ka’apana, and former walk-on Tomas O’Meara and managed 228 yards and four rushing touchdowns. No star players, still the same production.
And the pass game is picking up right when it needs to. Quarterback Bryce Underwood put together a much better game in terms of taking care of the football, still passing for more than 200 yards for the second straight game (215 vs. Maryland), but with no turnovers. Wide receiver Andrew Marsh continues to emerge as a veritable star, having more receiving yards since Week 6 than any other Big Ten receiver. Against the Terps, the tight ends got more involved, combining for 67 yards on five catches.
Perhaps the concern, outside of how the offense will do against the best defense it will have seen to date, is the defense, which has shown lapses against better passing offenses — Maryland included. But Ohio State hasn’t been pressured, hasn’t been as tested in a close contest as Michigan has. For Michigan, the goal has to be to keep things close for as long as possible and let the chips fall where they may.
The talk will be about how special this Ohio State team is, but that’s been true each of the past four years. The goal is to get the Buckeyes to play Michigan’s game, and even though OSU looks much more capable of doing so this year, the Wolverines are still showing that they set the standard for physical play.
Will they rise to the challenge? We’ll know in less than a week.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Injuries linger as Michigan seeks repeat of success before Ohio State
