Michigan Football's 4 Biggest Reasons For Optimism Going Into Big Ten Play

The Michigan Wolverines season begins in earnest this Saturday when they welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes to Ann Arbor for their first conference game.

The Wolverines are 3-0, and there has been some angst along the way to finding those three wins. They struggled for the duration of the game against Western Michigan and needed a hail mary at the final buzzer to secure a victory. Their follow up against Oklahoma saw the defense dominate against John Mateer and the Sooners offense, but Michigan’s offense still had some struggles of its own.

They struggled at times in the first half against UTEP Saturday before turning it on in the third quarter to blow away the Miners.

Their 3-0 record may not feel the way that you’d want it to, but it is a 3-0 record. That’s a better spot than a lot of teams in the country.

The good news is, there are things that Michigan can have plenty of optimism about heading into the teeth of their season. Things that should continue to improve and make them a more complete team as the season comes to a close.

What are those things? Let’s dive in.

Dominant DL

Kyle Whittingham had some eyebrows raised in his direction when he said that the defensive line looked like the strength of his team going into the season.

Through three games, he looks like a genius. John Henry Daley, Dom Nichols, and Nate Marshall are all off to excellent starts this season.

Carter Meadows and Tariq Boney have both flashed as freshman, and Benny Patterson has made some plays on the edge as well. Michigan can come at opposing offenses in waves on the defensive line, which is a scenario any defensive coordinator dreams of.

On the interior, Trey Pierce, Enow Etta, and Jonah Lea’ea have proven to be a solid trio of defensive tackles to slow down opposing ground games.

The degree of difficulty is going to rise, starting this week with a rugged Iowa Hawkeyes offensive line.

One thing appears clear. If Michigan gets opposing offenses into obvious passing situations, the opposing quarterback is in a lot of trouble.

Sticky Secondary

Defenses are at their best when the pass rush and coverage marry together in unison to create havoc for opposing offenses.

Michigan’s defense has been up to that task thus far this season. We just talked about the ability of this pass rush to make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks.

The secondary does not make things any easier once the quarterback has time to get the ball in the air.

Jyaire Hill and Smith Snowden are proving to be one of the better duos in the country on the outside. Shamari Earls has flashed in his time on the field. Zeke Berry has been his usual, solid self playing nickel. He is battling an injury currently, but if they are able to get him back to full strength, this group has been suffocating through three weeks this season.

The safety group has been a pleasant surprise with Chris Bracy emerging as a key pickup out of the transfer portal.

With as many good quarterbacks that are left on the schedule, this group will be tested. So far, they’ve shown they’re up to the challenge.

Bryce Underwood

Yes, the controversial quarterback is a reason for optimism. Yes, the first game of the season was about as bad as anyone could have dreaded going into it. Bryce Underwood has not fully delivered on the promise of a top recruit in the country who claimed he wanted to prove he was the best player to ever come out of Michigan.

No, he’s not a Heisman Trophy candidate or anything of the sort.

You know what he is doing? He’s getting better. The bar was incredibly low after the first game of the season, leading some to speculate whether or not he could get benched in the middle of the Oklahoma game if he played poorly enough.

That appears to have been an emotional overreaction. Underwood is their quarterback this season for better or worse. His last two games has been emphatically for the better.

Saturday’s game against UTEP needs to be taken for what it was, and who it was played against, but Underwood looked in control of what he was doing. He was rarely panicked. He made good decisions, and his special arm talent showed up in a big way.

He still needs to be more secure with the ball and limit his turnovers, especially this week against Phil Parker’s defense at Iowa.

He is, however, very talented and that talent is starting to shine through tremendously.

Dynamic Duo

The passing game does leave something to be desired at times, but Michigan’s wide receiver room is in a very good spot at the top.

JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh are both talented players, and showed on Saturday what that could look like with a full workload.

Both players made big plays down the field. Both players found the end zone. Both players have showcased an ability to make plays after the ball was in their hands as well.

Surprisingly, Michigan has not been able to lean on its ground game as much as it’d like to through the first three weeks of the season. With Jordan Marshall battling an injury, it’s likely that Michigan will have to make some adjustments offensively.

Regardless of Marshall’s injury status, Michigan is going to need more from its passing game in the biggest games of the year. They cannot afford to be one-dimensional.

Buchanan and Marsh both give them the opportunity to be more dynamic when the ball is in the air.

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