Keys to the game: Michigan football at Minnesota

Michigan hits the road again Saturday for a game at Minnesota, the latest matchup against an unranked opponent. We can’t remember the last time the Wolverines didn’t play a team ranked at least in the top 25 until November, but it appears that’s where we’re headed. U-M plays Indiana, Michigan State and Purdue before heading to Happy Valley Nov. 11 in what could be a matchup of top-10 teams. 

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But they’re sticking with the “one game at a time” cliché, as they should. Every year, it seems, there’s at least one game that’s much closer than it should be. Here’s what Michigan needs to do to ensure Minnesota isn’t one of them in the battle for the Little Brown Jug. 

Michigan Key No. 1: Stop the run and make Minnesota one-dimensional

Running back Darius Taylor, a southeast Michigan native, is questionable with a leg injury suffered against Northwestern. He’d been averaging 133 yards per game to lead the country and had been outstanding before going down. The Golden Gophers have some other capable backs, but Taylor is at another level. They need him to have a chance. 

Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis is completing 58 percent of his throws, and that’s after a 12-for-14 showing against Louisiana-Lafayette last week. He’s not all that mobile and has been pedestrian against defenses not close to Michigan level. 

“The quarterback’s really coming along and has a tremendous ability to run the ball,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Physical team … that’s going to be how they play. It’s an emotional, fired-up type of team.”

So was Nebraska until about 5 minutes into the game. If this one is on Kaliakmanis’ shoulders, the Golden Gophers are in trouble. At the same time, Michigan needs to …

Michigan Key No. 2: Tighten up the middle of the field in pass defense

The Michigan defense has given up a few big passing plays on slants over the last few weeks, including a long touchdown to Rutgers and a 56-yarder to Nebraska to open the second half a week ago. Several players in the secondary have been rusty due to injury and not playing, or playing sparingly. That’s something that needs to be tightened up, though, or teams will continue to exploit it (or at least try). 

Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter hasn’t been blitzing a ton and has been dropping ends into coverage at times. Co-DC/secondary coach Steve Clinkscale said Wednesday that’s a work in progress. 

“I do as much as I can to help those guys understand the drops and stuff [because] it’s not something they do all the time,” Clinkscale said. “They’ve done a really good job. 

“We were just watching a clip yesterday. Mikey [Sainristil] plays nickel, but in our base, our SAMs [linebackers] are sometimes in the same position he’s in, sometimes the same technique. They had a great example. I clipped it and I’m going to show it to the guys today about how staying big, not just reacting to the mesh or the quarterback.”

We expect that to be cleaned up this week. 

Michigan Key No. 3: Keep J.J. McCarthy clean, but don’t be afraid to use him in the run game

Let’s be honest — this is a key every week. Even bad teams can get to the quarterback and inflict damage if the offensive line isn’t on task. Last week, Michigan gave up a pressure that got McCarthy hit and had 330 pounds land directly on him. That simply can’t happen. While the Michigan quarterback is tough, it only takes one.

We like how the Wolverines are running him occasionally to keep defenses honest, as long as he’s getting down and not getting hit … and he seems to have gotten the memo there. We expect a few more big plays with the feet Saturday night and going forward, and maybe even more against better teams on the schedule later in the year. It’s a great complement to an improving run game.

The breakdown: Michigan football at Minnesota

There have been some Minnesota teams under Fleck that might have scared the big dogs. This isn’t one of them, especially if Taylor doesn’t play.

“No matter where we play, home or away, this is a focused bunch of guys,” Michigan co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Clinkscale said. “I think Cool Jim, as I like to call him, Coach Harbaugh has done a great job of getting the guys to understand the expectations for this team. We don’t talk about the other teams —we talk about this team. With the leadership we have, old or young, they all understand their responsibilities. So do the coaches.

“Most of the coaches have been here two or more years so everybody understands expectations. Road games are fun, but we definitely know we’re going into hostile environments. We’re going to get their best shot, of course, so we have to be prepared to hit people in the mouth right away and not flinch and do our job.”

Do that, and this should be another comfortable win on the path to the real schedule in November.