Keys to the game: Michigan football vs. Rutgers

Play time is over, and it’s time for Michigan to pick it up heading into the Big Ten season. Jim Harbaugh returns to the sidelines, and the head coach knows his Wolverines have work to do to reach their lofty goals. Rutgers isn’t the standard, but they’re well-coached and look improved. 

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“Tremendous respect we have for the Scarlet Knights, for Coach [Greg] Schiano,” Harbaugh said Monday. “The way they bring it when they play us, or anybody, and the way they’re playing this year … they’re playing really good defense.”

The good news — the Wolverines have another gear, and they’re close. The defense has been stifling, albeit against lousy competition, while the offense is still finding its way. Here’s what they’ll need to do to beat Rutgers and improve to 4-0 this year: 

Michigan Key No. 1: Make the most of every offensive possession

This sounds like a generality, but it’s really not. The shorter game due to the new first-down rules — and that’s the one Rutgers wants to play against Michigan — makes it more important than ever to make the most of every play. Turnovers and mistakes limited U-M to 44 offensive plays against Bowling Green — if it happens against the Scarlet Knights, you’re quite possibly looking at a fourth-quarter game. 

“I see we’re very close to getting there in areas,” Harbaugh said. “I think we’re really improved in a lot of areas. The run game is one where, man, there’s a Michigan play right there. All 11 are doing their job exactly how they’re supposed to be doing it. That was an 8-yard gain, and that’s a beautiful thing … just not enough of them yet … of those type of plays. It’s a matter of getting all 11. Sometimes it’s 9, sometimes its 10. We had one play where it’s like 6. That’s really bad.”

That’s unacceptable, really. And so are the turnovers. But we’d bet against junior J.J. McCarthy throwing 3 interceptions (or any, probably), like he did against Bowling Green. That was the anomaly. Hopefully, this will be the week the offense puts it all together. 

Michigan Key No. 2: Stop the run

Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt has completed less than 50 percent of his passes in each of the last two games, including 7 of 16 for 46 yards in a 35-16 win over Virginia Tech. In the same game, though, Wimsatt ran for 87 yards on 11 carries, including a 34-yarder. The Scarlet Knights will use him on designed running plays, and you know they won’t hesitate to do that by design … whatever it takes to move the ball. 

“Their physicality [stands out],” Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “They play a style of football to try and control the clock, gain yards running the football with pretty safe throws in the passing game. He’s a quarterback that has an element in the rushing attack, as well.”

Stopping the run seems to be what this Michigan defense is built for, however. The Wolverines will be down an important piece in sophomore defensive tackle Mason Graham, so it will be up to others to step up in the middle. We’d be disappointed, though, if the Scarlet Knights had a lot of success on the ground Saturday.

Michigan Key No. 3: Get off the field on third down

This goes hand in hand with stopping the run, of course. Limit the first- and second-down runs and face more third-and-longs … otherwise, Rutgers will continue to try to pound the ball with running back Kyle Monangai and run some clock. The offense is picking up first downs at a 47.8 percent clip as a result of facing several third-and-shorts. 

Getting Wimsatt and Co. into longer down-and-distance situations will be key in avoiding the shortened game the Scarlet Knights want to play. It will also be important to keep an eye on him and not let him escape the pocket on those third-down plays on which he drops back. This won’t be a game in which the line is able to pin its ears back and come after him. Passing lane discipline will be key.

The breakdown: Michigan football vs. Rutgers

In some ways, Rutgers has played Michigan as tough as anybody in the Big Ten the last two years. The Scarlet Knights were close to pulling off the upset in Ann Arbor a few years ago and actually led the Wolverines at halftime last year. In some ways, they emulate Michigan with their “wear them down and put them away in the fourth quarter” style.

“They’re very experienced now,” Minter said. “You look across their roster, their starting 11 on both sides, you see 22 starts, 33 career starts, 15 career starts, 14 career starts. They have a lot of guys that have played ball there.

“… They play tough and physical. Their style lends itself to sometimes keeping games close because of running the ball, playing really good defense, and being a really aggressive outfit and productive special teams outfit. I would just say that style lends itself to playing some close games.”

And if you get to the fourth quarter, anything can happen. But Michigan is more talented and will have Harbaugh back to lead them. We’d be surprised and disappointed if the Wolverines didn’t have this one in hand by the fourth quarter after playing their best game of the year.