The Wolverines looked a bit sluggish on Saturday night.The Michigan football team kicked off its 2024 season on Saturday under the lights against Fresno State. The Bulldogs are a solid team, but the Wolverines were expected to win this one pretty easily. They ended up pulling away late, but it was a six-point game at one point in the fourth quarter. Michigan ended up closing out the game strong, but it wasn’t a pretty win by any means. There were definitely some things that we saw from the Wolverines that weren’t what we expected.Last season, the Michigan football team won the national title. Michigan has won the Big Ten three years in a row, they have made the College Football Playoff three years in a row and they are the defending national champions. The Wolverines have built a ton of momentum over the course of the past three years, but not many people outside of Ann Arbor are expecting them to be as good this season. Based off of Saturday’s performance, it looks like they could take a step back.Michigan football did lose a good chunk of their coaching staff, including head coach Jim Harbaugh as he is now with the Los Angeles Chargers. The Wolverines will have a new head coach, and they will have a new offensive and defensive coordinator.
Another reason why people aren’t super high on Michigan is the NFL departures. Michigan was loaded with talent in 2023, and that is obviously a major reason why they were the best team in college football. No school had more players drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft than Michigan.
So, yes, this Michigan football team is going to look a lot different this season. Not many are picking the Wolverines to win a fourth Big Ten title in a row, and there certainly aren’t many picking them to win another national championship.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Wolverines came out with a W on Saturday, and that’s all that matters. However, there were a lot of questions mark surrounding the offense heading into this season, and the inexperience definitely showed. Still, Michigan found a way to come out on top.
Things were a little more tense than Michigan football fans were hoping for on Saturday night. Fresno State is a good football team that has won nine or more games in each of the last three seasons, and they put the Wolverines to the test.
After everything that Michigan lost from last year, we knew that they weren’t going to look perfect in week one. However, it was a bit unexpected to see the Wolverines hold just a six point lead in the fourth quarter at one point.
The Bulldogs scored a touchdown to make it 16-10, but the Wolverines put together their best drive as a response. A pick-six by Will Johnson after that put the icing on the cake, and Michigan won the game 30-10.Michigan football ended up winning the game comfortably and the spread was 20.5. When you look at the final score, it looks like the Wolverines took care of business. However, that wasn’t really the case. The Bulldogs made it a 16-10 game in the fourth quarter, and they were also on the verge of scoring again late in the game before the pick-six as they were deep in Michigan territory. It definitely could’ve ended up being a 23-17 game there, and if Fresno State had then gotten a stop and gotten the ball back… things could’ve gotten bad in Ann Arbor.
At the end of the day, it was week one, and this Michigan football team has a ton of inexperience. The Wolverines should be able to improve throughout the season, but there are definitely some things to be concerned about as a huge matchup with Texas looms this weekend. Here are the three things that are the biggest concerns for the Wolverines right now.
Offensive line
One major strength for the Michigan football team during their dominant three year stretch has been their offensive line. The Wolverines have had the best offensive line in college football since 2021, but their entire starting line departed for the NFL in the offseason. The Wolverines have all new faces there this season, and there were some moments on Saturday when the unit struggled big time. They didn’t do a great job with protecting quarterback Davis Warren, and they didn’t pave a lot of holes for the run game. The offensive line needs to be better.
Donovan Edwards
The play of Donovan Edwards is also a concern right now for the Michigan football team. After strong 2021 and 2022 seasons, he had a bit of a letdown year in 2023. Michigan fans are hoping for a bounce back season from him this year, but things didn’t get off to a good start for Edwards as he ran the ball 11 times and he had just 27 yards. That’s good for just 2.5 yards per carry. Edwards has always been at his best in big games, however, so we’ll see if he can get things going against Texas this weekend.