And that’s a major concern for the Wolverines. Wormley has a sack already this season and he is a player to watch on Saturday.
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The Wolverines got the scoring started on a five-yard touchdown pass from Jake Rudock to De’Veon Smith with 9:30 left in the first quarter. While he is the most consistent of Michigan’s quarterbacks, which helped him beat out junior Shane Morris for the job, this isn’t the kind of consistency that Harbaugh had hoped for. Michigan converted the turnover into seven points and the game was never in doubt. If that trend continues, the Wolverines won’t contend in the Big Ten this fall.
Here’s the problem with Rudock: he’s a game manager.
The defense, particularly guys such as Hughes and senior safeties Blake Richmond and Peni Vea, have carried water for the better part of three games for an offense that keeps putting them in bad situations. Derrick Green added 35 yards and one touchdown of his own. De’Veon Smith had been the top back the previous two games, but Isaac led all rushers with 114 yards on eight carries, including a 76-yard touchdown run that gave Michigan a 21-0 lead late in the first half.
The passing game was also fairly effective early, but relied mostly on screens and short passes to get the game out of Rudock’s hands.
After a sluggish start to the season, Michigan has pieced together its second consecutive offensive outburst while at home in the Big House. Michigan has BYU next on the schedule after playing against UNLV and they will play Maryland, Northwestern, Michigan State and Minnesota after that. “They played fantastic football and darn near got a shutout….”
Multiple times Saturday, Rudock missed open receivers downfield; his longest completion was 12 yards.
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Overall, it was a sound game against a subpar team, and one that should include plenty of teaching moments for the Michigan football squad. The Rebels’ defense, which in recent history was the unit preventing victories, has played well enough to win against lesser foes, and the entire team keeps fighting until the end.
