this game scares me a lot for two reasons.
1) Harbaugh is a stubborn sob. He's going to try to force the run when he's got a QB who can really spin it. Which probably means the game will be closer than it has to be. Instead of coming out and letting Shea throw it all over the parking lot and try to score points fast- he'll probably come out and try to run run run, let Shea throw 20 times or less and run 45-50. Stupid. With a captial S.
I think we'll see that against the hardest games on the schedule. But the season is still young and Shea and the WRs clearly don't need to be broken in (you could argue that the OTs do, but it seems the passing game can work well enough with quick drops to mitigate that and unless we switch from Runyan/JBB to a younger guy or two, I'm not sure they can make the most of that opportunity to grow).
The run game by comparison has a lot more potential than it's shown and will be more important as the season goes on. So I want them to "burn downs" working on that. It's the only way. And in a game like this, that should be a luxury we can afford. No doubt UNL may keep it close or win (I don't expect this but it's possible). However, if that happens, then Michigan's goals for the season are in big trouble no matter the play calling.
2) The defense has been lethargic. They just aren't playing with the same kind of edge and the same kind of urgency that we've become used to seeing out of a Don Brown defense.
This game definitely worries me.
Now that the DTs are getting straightened out (Mone and Kemp are playing far better now as resetters of the LOS [in opponent-invariant ways] ... and that's before the actual starter, Solomon, comes back), my biggest concern for the defense is melting away.
ALL of the remaining concerns are in the defensive backfield, which has downgraded from an A to a B-level.
The trouble safeties are having with slants is frustrating and probably won't go away this year. And it can't really be fixed by putting another corner on the field. Because Don Brown's solution to jet sweeps is to bring a safety down whenever a WR goes into motion. Which means the offense could always just motion away from the third corner. The most realistic solution is more zone. Which is [sigh] fine, but anathema to date for Don Brown at Michigan.
The trouble that Lavert Hill is having is ... mind numbing. He's not obviously injured. And yet he's nowhere near the player he was last year when he and David Long earned the right to be the highest rated returning CB duo this year.