Jordan Marshall didn’t hide how much Saturday bothered him.
The junior running back said he stayed up after Michigan’s opener against Western Michigan, then carried that frustration into the next day too. By Tuesday, he was still stewing over a performance he called “unacceptable.”
“I didn’t go to bed until five after the game,” Marshall said Tuesday. “And the next day, I still didn’t go to bed until really, really late.”
That kind of reaction tells you how high the expectations were for Michigan’s backfield entering the season. The running backs were supposed to be the steady part of the offense, the group that could take pressure off sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood and give the Wolverines a reliable first punch. Instead, the opener was messy from start to finish.
Michigan finished with 106 rushing yards and 4.2 yards per carry against Western Michigan. On paper, that’s not a disaster. For a group that had been talked up all offseason as one of the best in the conference, and maybe even the country, it fell well short.
The bigger problem was that the run game never really found a rhythm because the offense as a whole never settled in. Outside of an opening drive that worked and a final series that was described as a miracle, the Wolverines managed only 126 total yards.
“Even when we were out there, we weren’t good on third down,” Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday. “We just barely got over 100 yards, which is not indicative of (an offensive coordinator) Jason Beck offense.”
That’s the part that makes the sluggish start stand out. Last season at Utah, Beck and Whittingham helped build one of the nation’s most productive rushing attacks, finishing second only to Army. So when a Michigan offense stocked with returning offensive linemen, Marshall, Underwood and freshman Savion Hiter sputtered like this, the easy answers were hard to find.
Some of the blame does belong with the backs. Marshall and Whittingham both pointed to a lack of north-south running, which is not what Michigan wanted from a player known for a bruising style. The ball carriers weren’t consistently hitting the crease with force, and that mattered.
But the line didn’t help much either. Against a Western Michigan front that made life difficult all game, small breakdowns up front got exposed.
Michigan leaned on six-lineman looks and even added a fullback at times, giving itself seven blockers at the line and two backs behind them. That still wasn’t enough to keep the Broncos from loading the box and triggering linebackers and safeties downhill.
When Western Michigan’s defensive line kept Michigan from reaching the second level, there just wasn’t much room left to create anything.
Underwood’s role in the run game also came under the microscope. Whittingham said, “In the run game, the QB read aspect of it wasn’t quite as sharp as we need it to be,” and that showed in a few key moments.
For Michigan to get the most out of Underwood’s legs, he has to be quicker and cleaner on zone reads, making the keep-or-give decision in a split second. He also has to be sharper as a blocker. In the third quarter, Underwood tried to help spring senior running back Bryson Kuzdzal, but the play ended with a holding penalty that wiped out a first down instead of opening a lane.
Now the Wolverines have to clean it up fast, because No. 11 Oklahoma is next.
Offensive line coach Jim Harding wasn’t pleased with what he saw and told his group to “play with passion” and finish blocks. Marshall added that downfield blocking and late-play blocking were both lacking against the Broncos, which took away chances for explosive runs.
The talent is still there for Michigan to build the kind of rushing attack it expected. But the opener was a reminder that hype, praise from teammates and a good-looking depth chart don’t block defenders or create yards on their own.
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