ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For an offensive lineman, there’s no better feeling than creating the feeling of defeat.
And for Michigan’s offensive line, it’s a feeling they’re starting to get almost on a weekly basis.
It’s that feeling of “air,” as Sherrone Moore, the Wolverines’ line coach and co-offensive coordinator, described it Wednesday, while talking about the group that has paved the way for Michigan’s 10-0 start this season.
And it tends to show up in the second half of most of the No. 3-ranked Wolverines’ games, as Michigan’s relentless run game — play after play, series after series — eventually produces the defense's capitulation.
“Yeah, as an offensive lineman, you can tell,” right tackle Karsen Barnhart said. “When you're driving guys 4-5 yards down the field — or more — and then you see ‘2’ or ‘7’ just fly right past you, you can tell. Guys are just getting beat down.”
Last Saturday against Nebraska, on a cold, snowy afternoon at Michigan Stadium, that down-and-out moment probably came late in the third quarter of the Wolverines’ 34-3 rout. And it wasn’t just No. 2 (Heisman Trophy candidate Blake Corum) or No. 7 (Donovan Edwards) bursting through holes in Nebraska’s overmatched defensive line. It was third-stringer C.J. Stokes and Tavierre Dunlap and walk-on Isaiah Gash all getting into the act as well, as Michigan marched downfield on a 10-play, 65-yard touchdown drive to put the game officially out of reach.
In all, there were six different ballcarriers — quarterback J.J. McCarthy scored on a 3-yard keeper — as Michigan attempted just one pass and never once faced a third down, ripping off chunks of yardage on the ground, while tossing Nebraska’s competitive spirit into the wood chipper.
“I mean, put yourself in the position of the defensive line,” said Moore, a rising star in the college coaching ranks and an indispensable part of Michigan's success the last two years. “It's pretty demeaning. … You feel defeated a little bit. So for the O-line, when they feel that air, they want nothing more than to just keep doing it.”
Luckily for them, they have a head coach who’s eager to do just that. In fact, Jim Harbaugh has made a successful career of it, and if you didn’t know it already, all you’d need to do is see the way he lights up while talking about the way this team is lighting up the scoreboard. A run rate of 63% in this pass-happy era of college football? Who’s got it better than us?
“I mean, you're getting five yards a carry, six yards a carry,” Harbaugh said this week, practically grinning at the thought while scoffing at the implied criticism. “It's tough to just say, ‘Let’s throw it.’”
At the same time, though, it’s easy to overlook the group that’s giving Harbaugh what he has always wanted as Michigan’s head coach. A group that’s probably giving longtime U-M fans flashbacks to a different era, too. To find an offensive line that can match this one in terms of run-game prowess, you probably have to go back to the early 1990s. Or maybe the line from Michigan’s 1997 national-title team, though that team didn’t have a player like Corum in the backfield.
Regardless, a year after Michigan won the Joe Moore Award as college football’s top offensive line, even Sherrone Moore has to admit this version looks to be even better.
“I think to some points, yeah,” he said, citing the group’s overall experience — and depth — as primary reasons why.
Michigan had to replace two starters from last year’s line, and while seniors Trente Jones and Barnhart both have had their moments at right tackle, it’s an All-America candidate at center, Olu Oluwatimi, that has made the biggest difference. Moore called the graduate transfer from Virginia a “Christmas present for the coaches” back in August, but last year’s Rimington Trophy finalist is proving to be a gift that keeps on giving, as Michigan keeps hammering Big Ten opponents this fall. As impressive as he has been at the point of attack, Oluwatimi has been just as decisive prior to the snap, making him a huge asset to McCarthy, a first-year starter as a sophomore.
“If you look at any good offensive line, you’ll see a good center,” co-coordinator Matt Weiss said last week on the “Inside Michigan Football" show. “They’re usually the guys that make the whole thing go.”
And when things are going like this, who is to say where this team will end up? Fans and media seem to be fretting about McCarthy and the passing game, but if they've forgotten the 297-yard rushing day that finally dethroned Ohio State last November. the coaches haven't. And that's probably why they keep coming back to the same overriding thought now: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“It's like, ‘Why stop? Why do anything else?’” Moore said.
Michigan ranks fourth nationally in rushing offense (251.4 yards per game), and in arguably the biggest test to date, the Wolverines piled up 418 yards on the ground against Penn State — the third-highest total allowed by the Nittany Lions since they started keeping statistics in 1947. Two weeks later, that same Penn State defense held Ohio State to 98 yards rushing, with 41 coming on one play.
For the season, Michigan is averaging 6.0 yards per carry, excluding sacks, of which there aren’t many. The Wolverines have given up just 12 in 10 games, and even on those occasions, McCarthy has had an average of 4.6 seconds to throw.
Michigan also leads the nation in fourth-down conversions — they’ve failed just once in 11 tries — and that sort of ruthless efficiency has helped the Wolverines’ top-ranked defense stay fresh and mostly worry-free. Michigan ranks third nationally in time of possession (35:07 per game) and has led for every minute of the fourth quarter in all 10 of its games thus far.
“Just our ability to run the football, sustain drives and not turn the ball over, it’s a coordinator’s dream to be with this style of offense,” said Jesse Minter, Michigan’s defensive play-caller. “And it’s not only on game day. It’s playing against a physical style like that daily, how much better it makes you.”
And on that count, Moore certainly would agree. All good teams come to pass, and Michigan knows it’ll have to, eventually, but this run the Wolverines are on right now, “it’s fun,” he says.
“Our guys, they're molded like that, and that’s all they want to do," Moore added. “It's what you want. It's what you train for. It's a place you want to be.”
