Michel Cohen
College football and college basketball writer
In late November, weeks before the coaches carousel redirected him to Louisville, then-Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm appeared on a Zoom call to preview the program’s maiden trip to the Big Championship. Ten.
The Boilermakers had won the league’s upside-down West Division, a group best known for losing nine straight title games to emerging challengers in the East. Bettors expected the same in 2022 making undefeated Michigan a 15-point favorite. And the more Brohm studied the Wolverines on film, the more he saw a team capable of finishing the season undefeated — college football playoff games included.
“To me,” Brohm said, “that’s what the Big Ten is known for: great defenses and great running plays. And if you can add the passing game, then you really have a chance. In this conference, you’re going to have at least a month of games in bad weather, and you need to be able to do more than just spread the ball out and throw it.
“So I think your best teams are statistically doing exactly what Michigan is doing. They can kick football. They can throw it at you. They have a lot of different sets. They can dispatch you when they need to. They play exceptional defense. And now they have the element of a really athletic and talented quarterback that allows them to throw the ball vertically. Lots of big plays in this passing game, throwing the ball over their head and taking advantage. So I think you just put it all together and you have a recipe for a national championship team. »
What should Buckeye fans think of Ohio State?
It was hard to dispute Michigan’s credentials on paper. The Wolverines entered the CFP ranked third nationally in rushing offense and had a defense that ranked in the top five in points, rushing, passing efficiency and first downs allowed. So when second-year quarterback JJ McCarthy opened up Ohio State for 263 yards and three touchdowns, finally rounding out the ground game with bonafide aerial prowess, it certainly seemed like Jim Harbaugh’s team had the total package.
But for the second year in a row, Michigan’s greatest strengths were neutralized on the sport’s biggest stage in a 51-45 loss to Texas Christian that exposed some of the same weaknesses uncovered in the Orange Bowl last season. last year. And when Ohio State fared no better in a 42-41 loss to Georgia later that night, questions regarding the veracity of a Big Ten team winning the national title for the first time since the Buckeyes did in 2014 surfaced one night. two southern schools rejoiced.
“When you put so much work and so much energy and so much time into something, and you’re there and you just don’t get the win,” the Ohio State head coach said. , Ryan Day, his voice trailing off in disappointment. “It’s a performance business, and you win or you lose – and we lost the game. It’s just what hurts our hearts. We are here to win, and that didn’t happen.”
There are two lenses through which the 2022 campaign can be viewed for Midwestern football fans. Donning a pair of rose-tinted glasses means enjoying the Big Ten as the second league to have two teams reach the national semifinals in the same year, a feat accomplished for the first time by the Southeastern Conference. Its two entrants — Michigan and Ohio State — lost the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl, respectively, by seven points combined, with both programs having a chance to win in the final seconds. And following two decades of regression, Harbaugh’s reclamation of his alma mater’s place in the college football pantheon is a boon for the sport.
“We fought with all our hearts,” McCarthy said at the postgame press conference before walking out following answering just one question. “There are a lot of things we might have done better. I can’t wait to watch the tape. But we will be back, and I promise.”
Another unremarkable non-conference schedule in 2023, coupled with the returns of star players like McCarthy, tailback Donovan Edwards and inside linebacker Junior Colson, means the Wolverines have a strong chance of securing their third consecutive CFP spot next season. But in order to avoid another loss, Harbaugh’s team will need to close some of the gaps — speed, strength, toughness and game planning — that were exhibited by Georgia and TCU, as Michigan learned the difference between simply reaching the semi-finals and overcome the hump.
How TCU flipped Michigan
There should be genuine concern for Harbaugh and offensive co-coordinators Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss that an offensive line crowned the best in college football for consecutive seasons was outclassed the two times it faced a high-ranking opponent. beyond the Big Ten. Last season’s Wolverines gave up 30 quarterback pressures, four sacks and seven tackles for a loss to a historically talented Georgia defense laden with NFL draft picks. This year’s Wolverines were beaten for 20 quarterback pressures, four sacks and 13 tackles for loss by an undersized TCU front that includes only one surefire pro.
The fact that Michigan entered the Fiesta Bowl allowing just 4.3 tackles for loss per game shows how poorly the offensive line performed, and the Horned Frogs found themselves with a 263-186 advantage in yards at floor.
Left guard Trevor Keegan, who said the Wolverines were overwhelmed, finished with his worst run-blocking rating of the year on Pro Football Focus. Left tackle Ryan Hayes and center Olu Oluwatimi, who won both the Rimington Award and the Outland Trophy, each posted their 10th best mark of the campaign. None of Michigan’s starting linemen produced scores that topped their individual season averages when their guards needed it most.
“We talked all week before the game regarding the importance of playing physically,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said in his postgame press conference. “And I thought we were definitely the most physical team on the pitch tonight.”
Equally concerning were the defensive breakdowns endured by both Big Ten programs, which underscored their substandard talent and speed in the second and third tiers.
The Wolverines, whose first-year defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was a finalist for the Broyles Award, fell with 11 missed tackles that were just short of their season high following a win over Illinois, according to PFF. Minter’s aggressive, blitz-heavy approach left his defensive backs vulnerable at the back, and cornerback DJ Turner smelled trying to bring down wides Taye Barber and Quentin Johnston on a pair of touchdown passes totaling 81 yards. In the running game, where the Horned Frogs average 6.4 yards per carry, the tandem of Kendre Miller and Emari Demercado combined to force eight missed tackles.
Nationwide, Georgia generated similarly explosive gains once morest Ohio State to extend the scrappy end to an otherwise exemplary first season for Broyles Award semi-finalist defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Day had snatched Knowles from Oklahoma State and made him one of the highest-paid coordinators in the nation, with a directive to build a defense that can beat Michigan and provide postseason ballast. to a perpetually explosive offence. But a handful of long touchdowns doomed Ohio State in its loss to the Wolverines earlier this season — a game in which the secondary proved beatable following Knowles stacked the box — and the Bulldogs capitalized. on this same weakness.
Seven different Georgia players caught passes for at least 20 yards on Saturday, capped by a 76-yard touchdown off wide Arian Smith that twisted safety Lathan Ransom into coverage. Quarterback Stetson Bennett completed 23 of 34 passes for 398 yards and three scores to outplay his counterpart, CJ Stroud, and keep the Bulldogs’ dream of back-to-back titles alive. Stroud played arguably the best game of his career, with 348 yards and four touchdowns, but will leave Ohio State without playing in a championship game of any kind.
“We dropped explosive games once more,” Day said. “And that’s something we spent a lot of time talking regarding, is avoiding the big play. I think the difference was, in this game, it didn’t demoralize us. We kept swinging and fighting, and we just kept going.
“But call it what it is: if we’re going to win these games, we can’t give up on these big, explosive plays. It’s hard to go back on that.”
Understanding the recipe for winning a national title is one thing. Amassing the right coaches and players to achieve this is another.
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Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with a focus on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
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