Judging Michigan football Week 1 overreactions

The Michigan Wolverines fought tooth and nail in opposition to a scrappy Fresno State crew on Saturday evening on the Massive Home, and finally got here out with a 30-10 victory. It wasn’t fairly by any means, nevertheless it’s one thing to construct off with the No. 4 crew within the nation within the Texas Longhorns coming to city subsequent weekend.

And since it wasn’t fairly, there are probably some followers on the market with some main overreactions to the Week 1 exhibiting. Let’s undergo a few of these overreactions and see if there’s any benefit to them.

This offensive line is just not the identical caliber because the final three

The offensive line had, let’s simply say, a tough first half of the sport. New beginning proper guard Giovanni El-Hadi gave up a sack within the second quarter, and new beginning middle Dominick Giudice obtained pushed again on a third-and-one that resulted in Kalel Mullings getting stuffed on the line of scrimmage. Giudice cut up time with Greg Crippen after that, so it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how the road seems to be transferring ahead.

All in all, the Wolverines had 2.2 yards per carry at halftime, with Donovan Edwards having simply 5 carries and three yards. All of it evened out on the finish of the sport, with the crew averaging 4.4 yards per rush, however the play of the road was a bit regarding.

Nevertheless, I’m positively NOT going to say this line isn’t the identical caliber because the strains from the previous three seasons. Even the 2021 offensive line, which took residence the Joe Moore Award, took time to mesh. I’m optimistic Sherrone Moore and Grant Newsome will proper the ship; whether or not it’s in time for Texas subsequent week is a completely completely different query.

Reply: Overreaction

This U-M wideout room is the worst in a very long time

So yeah…the large receivers had a fairly dangerous sport in opposition to Fresno State — six catches for 34 yards cut up between Semaj Morgan, Tyler Morris and Kendrick Bell. There was additionally a dropped ball by Peyton O’Leary, and Fred Moore was focused on a deep shot that resulted in an interception. The alternatives had been there, however the gamers simply couldn’t make any large time performs on this one.

Look, to say a place group is the worst at Michigan in a very long time after Week 1 is clearly an overreaction. Nevertheless, I do perceive the priority concerning the place, and even share a few of these emotions myself. We’ve seen flashes and large performs from Morris and Morgan previously, so I’m not apprehensive within the slightest about these two, however everybody else is an unproven commodity. Michigan wants Morris and Morgan to carry their A-game each sport, or this overreaction may flip right into a factual assertion.

Reply: An overreaction…for now

Colston Loveland will lead the crew in yards/receptions

Loveland has been essentially the most talked about tight finish in American this offseason, and for good motive. He had a breakout sophomore marketing campaign and is the one returning starter on offense for Michigan. He has all the pieces you could possibly presumably need in a good finish, which is why he’s at present projected as a first-round decide in nest spring’s NFL Draft.

That is most likely a good response to have after final evening’s sport. Loveland is only a freak on the tight finish place, catching just about each ball that got here his method. He completed with eight catches for 87 yards and a landing. He’s clearly essentially the most dependable participant within the receiving sport, so if I had been a Michigan quarterback, I’d be eyeing him each play. It could not stun me if he led the crew in receiving yards by a couple of hundred.

Reply: Not an overreaction

Michigan has 2 QBs, which suggests it has 0 QBs

Davis Warren obtained the beginning for Michigan, nevertheless it was Alex Orji coming off the bench to throw the primary landing cross of the season. Nevertheless, that was Orji’s solely completion of the evening and he solely threw the ball one different time, which resulted in a poorly thrown ball that went proper into the bottom.

Regardless of Warren’s interception, I didn’t suppose he performed that dangerous. Professional Soccer Focus additionally shares my sentiment, grading him out because the fourth-best offensive participant within the sport with a 69.7 total grade. Warren went 15-of-25 for 118 yards, one landing and the one decide. He admitted in a postgame interview with Massive Ten Community he had some nerves “right here and there” — which is comprehensible contemplating all the pieces he’s been by — so I’ll give him a little bit of a cross for this sport.

I’m skeptical to say Michigan doesn’t have a quarterback proper now, however I also can see myself agreeing with this thought if the general play of the place doesn’t improve by the point we actually dive into the convention portion of the season.

Reply: Overreaction…for now