Best: Crabby

The natural world is, in a word, "weird". And while this may not be as shocking to you, the reader, given *exasperatingly gesturing at the world* recent events, I think we still sometimes underestimate the degree to which nature will down a couple White Claws and see where the evening takes it. Case in point - apparently animals keep evolving into crabs, across both thousands of miles and millions of years. Specifically, scientists have conclued that at least 5 different times convergent evolution occurred and animals that were not crab-like creatures evolved into crab-like creatures. They even have a name for this phenomena - it's called Carnisation.

Now, this probably doesn't come as a complete surprise. The oceans that cover 70-ish percent of the Earth's surface are cold, dark, and deep, putting extreme atmospheric pressures on creatures while also robbing them of much light or nutrients. King crabs, one of the 5 instances where nature said "screw it, let's grow some claws and walk sideways", live anywhere between 100 and 400 fathoms below the surface; the best un-assisted dive (no scuba tank or atmoshperic suit) in recorded human history is a bit over 100 fathoms, and that guy had multiple strokes and apparently still has coordination issues years later. So it makes sense, on a practical level, for evolutionary trends that worked in one set of conditions to work in similar ones, to repeat the cycle that led to an outcome that not only survived but thrived in the world around it. The fact it led to an armored, 6-legged, two-clawed nightmare creature that one state liked so much they made it their State Crustacean is, I guess, more a feature than a bug.

So why bring crabs and evolution up in a game recap after Michigan blew the doors off a ranked Minnesota team to kick off this disjointed 2020 season? Because for so long Michigan has tried to fight against the natural evolution of college football. Every elite program has amazing amenities, top-notch trainers, and recruit nationally. Sure, there's a level of bagmen that Michigan won't quite step down to, but the era of Michigan just out-Michigan'ing teams to the most wins in college football history went out the window decades ago, and so Michigan's insistence on fighting the current of football philosophy out of some weird attachment to a bygone era stymied their ability to keep pace with the other elites.

Case in point: one of the most persistent complaints about Michigan football for decades now is that it failed to evolve alongside the other top teams in the country, that when everyone zigged Michigan doggedly tried to zag. Defensively, they never seemed to figure out how to stop mobile quarterbacks. I've said this before, but I still remember sitting in the stands as a freshman and seeing Jarious Jackson scamper away from defenders while throwing for over 300 yards, Michigan's salvation coming from ND being a yard short of a first down on a 19-yard completion on third-and-20 deep in Michigan territory. A couple years later it was Brad Banks and Iowa blitzing Michigan as 34-9, and then Troy Smith snuffed out their best shot at a title in 2006 as Carr was still seemed flumoxed with the concept of a player capable of both throwing and running with the ball and him not telegraphing that intent to the defense. The less said about The Horror and The Oregon-ing the better, and then any number of other times over the years where Michigan failed to recognize that mobile QBs were not a fad or a gimmick talent-deficient teams threw out there, but instead a systemic shift in how teams tried to win football games.

And so, when Rich Rodriguez came to Michigan after a clusterfuck of a coaching search, it felt like they had finally come to their senses, that they realized forcing opponents to account for all 11 guys on offense was the natural evolution of football. That...sorta happened, but then RR was out and Midwest Coach O was in and givng Al Borges a mobile QB and expecting him not to waste that talent is foolish. Harabugh arrived with the promise of a pro-style system that could, in theory, strain defenses the same way the spread did via formation imbalances and the threat of a semi-mobile QB. It worked in spurts, flamed out other times, and always felt like Michigan was trying to fight the gravitational pull of college offenses with all of their re-jiggering and scheming. They doggedly held onto this notion of an offense that (a) they didn't need to completely abandon (Ben Mason scored the only passing TD of the game, fergodsakes), but (b) limited their ability to keep pace with how other elite teams were attacking defenses. And so they hired Josh Gattis, co-architect of those Deep State offenses in Happy Valley, and it all felt like it was coming together. I talked about this last year after the first game of the season and, well, the fact I'm talking about it again tells you how that went. For numerous reasons, Michigan's offense never really got going last year, never flashing the big-play, anyone can score from anywhere style that we've were promised. It looked not unlike other Michigan offenses but with fewer wrinkles than those first couple of Harbaugh years, just a plodding unit that could out-talent most of the teams on the roster but struggled against the top defenses. And that was with an offensive line loaded with NFL players, talented WRs, and a fifth-year QB who had been one of the top recruits in the country. If they couldn't get it to work with that collection of talent, how the hell would they pull it off this year.

Now, it's been only one game and it was a Minnesota team that probably isn't all that good, but the offense looked light-years better than it did a season ago, mostly because it simply executed the plays you expected to see. Milton was a willing and capable runner at the QB spot, and Michigan used screens and sweeps to get the ball into guys' hands in space and with momentum. The backs consistently ran through gapping holes created by an offensive line that reset the LOS on seemingly every play. The receivers caught the balls thrown to them and made guys miss in space. In a season where it's clear offenses are a bit ahead of defenses, seeing Michigan do what they wanted to was still incredibly uplifting. And the great thing is, nothing Michigan did was particularly revolutionary; I'm sure there are wrinkles in the playbook but this offense looks like how it should when you have players set up to succeed. For one week Michigan looked like the part of an elite college offense, and hopefully it's here to stay.

Best: The New Guys

The focus after this game rightfully fell on Joe Milton's performance in the first start of his career, looking exquisitely competent while guiding an offense replacing a ton of pieces to 49 points on the road against a top-25 team. And while I thought Milton exceeded expectations for all but the most hyperbolic of fans, we really shouldn't ignore the fact that the offensive line replaced 4 of their 5 starters from last season, including a first-round center, and didn't skip a beat while bashing the Gophers to the tune of 8.7 ypc on the ground while giving up only a lone sack. I know the general sentiment coming into the year was that the offensive line would be able to competently reload but I've also been a Michigan fan for more than 10 minutes so I know better than to assume good things can happen. And it wasn't just that Michigan's new offensive line held their own; I expected to see at least a couple fumbled exchanges, missed assignments leaving defenders screaming through the line, and the various other mistakes that have been the hallmark of college football thus far. But not only did Michigan's offensive line keep Milton and the backs clean (only 3 TFLs all day, and 2 of those were short losses on plays that bounced outside the tackles), but they generally kept the offense on schedule and didn't take bad penalties or contribute to fumbled snaps. Now, Minnesota's defense doesn't look all that good, but Michigan has played "bad" defenses before under Gattis and not come close to replicating this type of dominance.

Do I expect this level of performance all year? Probably not, especially when they run into defenses capable of holding the line like Wisconsin, Penn State, and some other school whose name escapes me. There will be missteps, guys missing calls and plays being miscommunicated. But in a season where it's unlikely Michigan will be able to field their offense unscathed for all 8 games, knowing you have some coherence on the offensive line is a godsend.

On the other end of the field, both Michael Barrett and Gemon Green stepped into key roles on the defense with little discernible drop-off. Barrett was second on the team in tackles, picked up one of Michigan's 5 (!) sacks, and forced a fumble-turned-fat-guy TD by Jeter that made me involuntarily yelp to got my dog to run in from the other room.

On top of that, he also returned one of Minnesota's many awful kickoffs 66 yards, setting up Michigan for another short TD to stretch their lead to 21-10 late in the first quarter. Barrett came to Michigan as one of those "he's an athlete, let's just get him on the field" recruits a couple years ago, and conventional wisdom was he'd transition from QB to bruising running back while on campus. But starting last year you heard rumors of him making in-roads on defense, especially at viper, and he showed good athleticism on special teams as well as spot duty in blowouts. So I guess it shouldn't be a huge surprise he stepped into a more prominent role on defense and flourished, but this was still quite the introduction.

As for Green, he proved integral in answering the biggest question for the defense coming into the season. When Ambry Thomas made the decision to skip this year and prepare for the NFL (a very reasonable decision especially in light of his chronic health issue), Michigan had to replace both starting corners from last year with largely-unproven players. Vincent Gray saw the field extensively last year but did so mostly as the 3rd corner; rarely was he asked to match up against the opponent's best guy. But at least you sort of knew what you had with him. Green had been one of the many Ent-shaped corners Michigan picked up in the 2018 season to counteract a perceived deficiency in Michigan's defense to handle larger receivers. With Myles Sims already gone to Georgia Tech, classmate Gray set at one spot, and none of last year's recruits seemingly pushing through in their second years, Michigan desperately needed Green to hit at the other starting corner spot. It's obviously quite early, but I was impressed with Green throughout the game as he stuck with his receiver both in man or in zone coverage, rarely losing contact and successfully challenging balls (2 PBUs). Minnesota's offense didn't look nearly as dangerous as they did toward the end of last season, but he still found himself matched up on Rashod Bateman a couple of times and acquitted himself perfectly well. In fact, he swatted away a lob in the endzone to Bateman during the still-competitive part of the game that previous iterations of Michigan's defense would have made at least a bit more interesting. So early returns are that a couple of guys you really hoped would make the jump into more prominent roles on defense have done so successfully.

Worst: Refs in Midseason Form

Up front, I would like to note something really cool (if a bit depressing that it took until 2020 for it to happen). Before the game the Big 10 announced that this game was the first one in both conference and P5 history to feature an all-African American officiating crew, including one woman referee. That's a nice piece of history and I'm happy that Michigan could be part of such a momentous event.

Once the game started, though, the officiating wasn't particularly distinguishable from your typical midseason "holding is just, like, your opinion" performances. Michigan fans have a well-earned reputation for complaining about, well, everything, but despite Minnesota being down a couple of linemen and giving up 5 sacks to go along with 8 TFLs, not once were they called for holding despite some absolutely egregious examples. Especially early on you'd see a Michigan defender start to round the corner or burst through the line before suddenly being jerked backwards or yanked to the side, and the referees seemingly missed every one of them. Daxton Hill picked up a PI when a ball was so overthrown that Bateman basically jumped into Hill as it sailed over everyone's head, while one of Bateman's few long catch-and-runs was set up by Minnesota just absolutely picking Vincent Gray as he ran across the formation. Plus, Tanner Morgan was so off most of the night that a lot of his longer throws fell short and Michigan players got dinged for receivers having to come back to the ball. I've been a proponent of the defenders being given a right to their own momentum when defending passes for some time, and this game really drove that point home. I'm sure you could find examples in this game where Michigan got away with holding or PIs themselves, and the referees are equally trying to acclimate themselves to this season, but had this game been closer these asymmetrical calls could have had a much bigger impact on the outcome.

Best: Battleship Fast

In broad strokes, Joe Milton had about as good a first start as one could have expected. He didn't turn the ball over while averaging over 10 yards per attempt, the team scored 49 points while averaging 8.6 ypp, and other than the first drive either led Michigan to a TD or a very makeable FG attempt (which, because it's 2020, Michigan inevitably missed). Unlike last year, when Michigan seemingly couldn't hold onto the ball and failed to develop any cohesion offensively, this was a master class in pasting an overmatched opponent by keeping them constantly off-balance. And the differences were apparent from the jump; Michigan's first play last year was a fumbled snap by Patterson, while this year it was a little swing pass out to Blake Corum that was turned into a 24-yard pickup. That drive was the only one on the day to end in a punt, inauspiciously leading to a block punt and an immediate Minnesota score. But on the next play Charbonnet rumbled untouched 70 yards for a TD and that seemed to settle the offense down. An offense that struggled at times last year to score quickly rung up TDs on drives of 1, 2, 4, and 5 plays, the last covering 96 yards.

And unlike last year with Patterson at the helm, Milton provided a certifiable threat running the ball, repeatedly holding the ball on exchanges or picking up yards on passing downs when he didn't see anyone open. I remain somewhat of a Patterson apologist, but I'll admit that Milton looks like a much more willing and capable runner than Patterson looked at all last season, and forcing defenses to respond to that threat will undoubtedly raise the ceiling for the offense this year. I commented at one point that Milton isn't "fast" fast as much as he is "good lord, that battleship is coming at me" fast, and that's got to be terrifying for defenses. Plus, Gattis supplemented that threat with little swing passes to the flats, putting the ball in the hands of Corum, Jackson, and Henning and letting them get some room to run. The whole offense just ran smoother than it had most of last year, and a lot of credit should go to Milton for that.

That said, Milton still had issues that will likely be exploited by some of the better defenses on the schedule. He bugged out of a couple of clean pockets, and he lacks the wheels to pull away from the better edge defenders in this league when he does. Like most young QBs, he stares down his first read rather explicitly; a couple of times I noticed he telegraphed where he was going with the ball from the snap, and good corners are going to bait him into making mistakes. Similarly, and this is likely as much due to the conditions and the fact this was the first game of the season, but he threw a number of passes low and behind his receivers, limiting their chances to pick up yards after the catch. In particular, due to the fact he's so tall it sometimes looked like he was throwing "down" at his receivers on shorter routes. If there were any doubts of his arm (and good lord why would there be), Milton answered when he launched a couple of monshots downfield, including a flick of the wrist 50-yarder on the run that barely missed Jackson downfield and drew a moment of stunned silence from the announcers. But they were largely off-target, and the lack of downfield accuracy was one of the key hindrances to last year's offense really taking hold, and that was with Nico "Throw it to Nico Collins" Collins in the mix. Again, it's the first week of the season, but Milton's accuracy was a major concern coming into the season and so it remains an open question how he'll do throwing the ball downfield when he has to.

All that said, I'm far more optimistic about Milton at QB this season than I was coming in, and hopefully he can stay healthy (and COVID-19 free) so that Michigan's extremely limited depth at QB isn't stressed.

Meh: The Defensive Line

Michigan's defensive line is hard to pin down - on the one hand it features two early-round NFL ends in Paye and Hutchinson, and on the other it features a ton of question marks on the interior. Both Paye and Hutchinson had solid outtings against an admittedly-limited Minnesota front, include 2 sacks by Paye. But the interior underwhelmed somewhat: Carlo Kemp is a solid run-stuffer but with limited upside, while Chris Hinton is highly regarded and got the other start but didn't record a stat in the game. Kemp had some early success pushing into the backfield and nearly picked off a handoff in the first quarter, but as the game progressed Minnesota's Mohamed Ibrahim found consistent success running the ball inside, ending the day with 140 yards and 2 TDs on 26 carries. Some of those yards came later in the game when Michigan was well out in front, but still you'd have liked to see the defensive line hold up better against a bunch of first-time starters.

Michigan's struggles at recruiting and retaining elite interior linemen doesn't need to be relitigated, but Michigan can't rely on Hutchinson and Paye to carry this defensive line, especially when they play more experienced clubs. These next couple of weeks against MSU and IU will be interesting on that front to see if these issues persist or if Brown and co. can fix/compensate for them.

Quick Hits

• If you haven't already, please read the other diaries posted this weekend. Just a ton of good content.
• I had a whole section written in my unreleased preseason diary about how playing football during this pandemic is definitely weird and unsafe, but more than anything it creates so much uncertainty about the composition of a team week-to-week. Case in point - Wisconsin will likely be out their starting QB Graham Mertz for a couple fo weeks due to a positive COVID-19 test. That's a huge blow to a good Wisconsin team, and with Jack Coan out with injury they suddenly have to go play a feisty Nebraska team with their third-string QB. This is part of the reason I don't understnd the conventional wisdom that McCaffrey's decision to opt out of the season was due to being beaten out for the starting spot. It's highly likely that he'd see the field this year, perhaps for an extended period of time, and so not having that option puts a lot of pressure on keeping guys healthy off the field.
• It's early and all but I really hope the FG kicking issues in this game were one-off and not the beginning of yet another fun special teams rollercoaster year. I know it's weird to complain about special teams issues after watching Minnesota struggle to kick the ball in any direction for any distance, but for once it would be nice to relax on 4th down inside the 30.

Next Week: The Team Worse Than Rutgers

I'll have more to say later on in the week, but MSU is both better and worse than their game against Rutgers showed, and that's impressive on their part.