NFL
By: Joe Cardoso
Another Saturday fall home game for the Michigan Wolverines saw the SMU Mustangs visit the Big House. The offense continued to find itself and QB Shea Patterson is proving to be just what we thought he would be. Patterson tossed 3 touchdowns and missed on only 4 attempts, hooking up with Donovan Peoples-Jones 3 times. The team remains ranked 19 in the polls and looks to a home date next Saturday against Nebraska Cornhuskers.
One player who is emerging as a go-to for Patterson is tight end Zach Gentry who had 4 garbs for 95 yards. Standing at 6’8 he is just what we need in the RedZone or must have 3rd downs. Based on what I have seen in the last three games coach Harbaugh needs to take off the gloves of Patterson and call some aggressive calls, push the ball down the field. Look at the depth chart and it is clear the talent is there now is the time to let them play. People-Jones is showing he has the stuff to be the next great Wolverine wideout should get his shot to prove it. We see each week high powered offenses across the country letting it fly and lighting up the scoreboard. If Nick Saban could see 3 yards and a cloud of dust era was over so should ole Jim. Once again, the running backs came in and did a solid job and made the run a threat, which is what you want. Still, need more from the offensive line in the run gamer to keep teams honest. Like I said last week these last two games were good to work on things and get the depth chart in order. Now as we face our first Big 10 team it is go time for real.
The defense held it down in the first half and showed it will only get better with time. One area of concern is the struggle with mobile QB’s SMU really didn’t get things going until William Brown the SMU backup got in the game. He threw two touchdowns and ran well even though this was in garbage time the next 4 teams we face all have guys who can sling it and run. Sure, tackling and maintain the correct gaps will be super important. All Michigan fans need to enjoy all the future NFL players on that side of the ball.
Overall, I would say YES, the loss to Notre Dame hurt but nothing like some home cooking against lower level teams to get it right. Now that the meat of the season is underway we will see what lessons were learned over the last two weeks. I know we all had high hopes for an Ohio State loss to TCU this weekend but that didn’t happen. This is where we are Wolverine fans next up are the Cornhuskers and we keep marching towards our season goals. For more conversation follow me @JoeCardoso301 and as always GO BLUE
