Opinion Roundtable: What Will We See Against Maryland — Heavy Run, More Passing Or A Balanced Attack?

Michigan just played its best game of the year against a solid Notre Dame team and absolutely blew the Irish out in Ann Arbor. This weekend's opponent, Maryland, isn't as talented as Michigan or Notre Dame and has been playing pretty poorly over the last several weeks, which should bode well for U-M again. With that said, we're all wondering what kind of offensive strategy Michigan will employ against the Terps.

Michigan took the field in a rain storm against Notre Dame and leaned heavy on the run game because of it. Will we see another ground and pound approach against Maryland? The Terrapins are terrible against the pass and it's supposed to be beautiful in College Park so maybe it'll be Shea Patterson airing it out? Maybe it's neither. Maybe Josh Gattis will keep the Terps guessing by being as balance as possible. We will know in just a few days.

Brandon Brown

I think we're going to see Michigan throw the ball quite a bit. Maryland is really bad against the pass and the weather is supposed to be perfect for a football game, especially compared to what the Wolverines battled through last week.

Jim Harbaugh seemed pretty fired up about Mike Sainristil's emergence last week and with Ronnie Bell potentially out, "Mikey" should be in the mix even more. Throw in mainstays Nico Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and, to a lesser extent, Tarik Black, U-M has way too weapons to not dominate a hapless Maryland pass defense through the air. Patterson hasn't thrown for 300 yards as a Wolverine but he just might this weekend. His best output in a winged helmet? 282 yards last year — against Maryland.

Steve Deace

I think you're going to see Maryland beyond sell out to stop the run and dare Michigan to throw it, gambling the Wolverines will be too stubborn to do so early. Thus letting the Terps hang around as long as possible. The Terps are 85th in giving up big pass plays — 98th when you just factor in conference games, so there will be big plays there for Michigan and the weather forecast for Saturday looks ideal for exploiting that. I think this is a game Jim Harbaugh lets Josh Gattis call the game aggressively against his former boss, and turns Shea Patterson loose with all that receiver talent. After rushing for 300+ yards last week, I think the Wolverines will throw for 300+ this week to show the offense really has hit their stride.

Michael Spath

I really think we're going to see a greater emphasis on running the football, similar to the breakout ground game on display at Illinois. That approach will be all wrong (and I'd like to be surprised by the coaching staff). The Terrapins are awful against the pass. They rank 115th nationally in allowing 273.6 yards passing per game. They rank 109th in pass efficiency defense and they rank 111th in yards per attempt (8.2). This is a Maryland team allowing close to four pass plays of 20 yards or more per game (29 in eight games) and this is the perfect opportunity for a Michigan offense that has attempted just two downfield passes in its last two contests to build up that part of the game.

Why is that so important? A year ago, U-M completely miscalculated on the Ohio State game plan, believing defense, special teams, field position and its running game would lead a 24-20 victory. Instead, the Wolverines got blown out of The Shoe after the Buckeyes put up 62 points. Ryan Day will almost certainly come out firing again, intent on scoring 42 or more. Michigan has to keep up and can't if the game plan is the same - run the football, win field position, rely on the defense.

This Saturday will be a sign of things to come. If the Maize and Blue spend most of the day honing their ground game, it will tell us all we need to know about the plan of attack for Nov. 30. If instead, they attack through the air and build chemistry and confidence in Shea Patterson with Nico Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Ronnie Bell (if healthy), Tarik Black and Mike Sainristil, there is real reason to believe Michigan could spring an upset of OSU in four weeks.

How do you think Michigan's offense looks this weekend? Will it be a big game for Patterson? Charbonnet? Haskins? The receivers? Comment below!!!