Michigan’s offense has been a bit of a mess this season but the Wolverines broken offense may have a cure with a newfound run game.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before but Michigan’s offense is broken. This, of course, has been a recurring theme, or a nightmare for Wolverines fans, but Jim Harbaugh may have found a cure for what ails the team’s offense.
Michigan entered their Week 7 game vs. Illinois with the No. 100 rushing offense in the nation. That’s out of 130 FBS schools. Only 12 Power 5 programs were better on the ground than Michigan. The same Michigan football program who is famous for punishing run games, powerful offensive lines and running backs who shed would-be tacklers.
With the offense struggling to move the ball with Shea Patterson under center, Harbaugh and Michigan have tried and failed to get the ground game going. It’s essential to lighten the load on Patterson and put him in favorable down and distances to keep the chains moving and put points on the scoreboard.
That’s why it was so encouraging to see Michigan get back to the basics and run the football and run it with authority in the 42-25 win against Illinois.
Michigan ran for 295 yards on 48 carries for a 6.1 yards per carry average.
Freshman running back Zach Charbonnet ran for a career-high 116 yards on 18 carries and scored a touchdown for the second week in a row. Charbonnet is a big part of the Michigan offense and what they hope to accomplish in the future. Having him go off is key, especially after he was invisible in the loss to Wisconsin.
But Charbonnet had help on this Saturday afternoon with Hassan Haskins having the game of his life. The sophomore back had a career-high 125 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. He almost doubled his season production on this day. Haskins only had 14 carries for 64 yards before feasting on the Fighting Illini.
So all of this looks great for Michigan. They get their starting back going. They find a second ball-carrier who can be a battering ram and they got a nice win.
But does any of it matter because it was against Illinois?
This is an important thing to consider.
Illinois entered the game vs. Michigan with the nation’s No. 98 rushing defense, allowing an average of 183.2 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry. Only seven Power 5 programs have been worse at stopping the run than Illinois. Taking that into account, Michigan had to dominate on the ground or things would be really dire for the Wolverines offense.
At least they were able to do what they were supposed to do. Then again, that’s been what Harbaugh’s tenure in Ann Arbor has been. They do well against the teams they’re supposed to do well against and they do poorly against the teams that are better than them.
So did Michigan fix their broken offense?
It’s too soon to tell, but it is at the least an encouraging sign for Michigan to show signs of life on the ground. But the real test comes next week when they travel to Happy Valley to take on Penn State and the nation’s No. 3 rush defense.
That’ll yield the answer whether Michigan has fixed their broken offense. If it’s not fixed, there may be no solution to what ails the Wolverines this year.
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