A pair of wins for new head coach Jim Harbaugh has assisted in lifting the spirits of his players and the fan base heading into this Week #4 non-conference test against a capable BYU squad.
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Multiple times Saturday, Rudock missed open receivers downfield; his longest completion was 12 yards. He’ll face a defense that’s the national co-leader with seven picks.
The running game for Michigan has been solid if unspectacular this season – although the bulk of the Wolverines’ touchdowns have come on the ground.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, UCLA figured out the best way to defend Mangum last week and squeaked past with a 24-23 win.
BEST MATCHUP: Southern Mississippi QB Nick Mullens against Nebraska’s secondary. As Michigan always puts on a good show and BYU is looking great this season, ABC will broadcast what we expect to be a very exciting game. He has a Big Ten-best six pass breakups and will get a chance to add to that total against a team averaging 40-plus passes, 300-plus yards passing and almost two TDs per game. The Cougars have benefitted in a big way by controlling the ball and the clock – keeping the defense off the field – but Michigan has been able to grind it out and keep things moving even better, keeping the ball for close to 33 minutes a game.
This strength carries over from last season.
The Cougars haven’t played in the state of Michigan since 1999’s Motor City Bowl. The Bowling Green-Purdue game features two of the nine FBS teams that have all five of their offensive line starters back…. Now I doubt that many people know what the hell a Lisfranc fracture is, but BYU did not worry about this lack of knowledge, as down to their backup quarterback, BYU said their hail marys, and were blessed with not one, but two hail marys in consecutive weeks to start the season 2-0. However, they lost as an underdog at Utah in the season opener. Watch out, Scarlet Knights. Penn State won 28-3.
The Huskers had a very good day when welcoming in South Alabama, so why not host another one of the South’s state’s southernmost universities? It’ll be interesting to see if Michigan goes for the block (like it did against Oregon State) or sets up more returns (as it did a week ago vs. UNLV) on punt defense.
BYU is 4-7-1 against teams now in the Big Ten….
Minnesota is desperate for more offense. One area that has looked strong has been their offense and if they can turn this into a shootout, they should have the edge at home.
The Sunday morning after the Ohio State game, a 21-6 loss, Schembechler was two hours late to his weekly staff meeting before storming in. In their first three games, BYU created eight turnovers.
“One of the worst-executed performances since we’ve been here, so we’ll get that corrected”, Meyer said.
Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner runs over Kent State corner… Coach Jerry Kill has offered no hint that will happen. I’m sure Rudock will be aware of him and may try to just avoid him altogether. “I really do”, Kill said. I’ll go with the home team that got some momentum from a QB switch and a huge near-miss comeback against Cal last weekend. They rank seventh in the country in total defense and outside of the opening loss at Utah have only given up a single touchdown the past two games. He also had good fortune when Boise State allowed his receivers to get behind the secondary twice for big gains of 84 and 70 yards, although his scrambling ability helped make these opportunities.
BYU’s defense has given up a lot of yards this season. The Hoosiers have given up an average of 544 yards and 35 points against undistinguished competition. In addition, he has thrown five interceptions. Coach Kirk Ferentz said those areas must be cleaned up. “That comes with whom we’re playing, where we’re playing them and where our team is”.
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– Michigan (2-1) is showing improvement under Jim Harbaugh, though the Jake Rudock-led offense isn’t almost consistent enough. The Cougars are tied for last in the NCAA with 12 sacks given up through three games, and that’s a risky trend against Michigan. “In both cases, though, we were comfortably ahead so it didn’t cost us anything”. The loss dropped the Rebels to 0-3 in 2015.
