Michigan vs. Arkansas State reactions: 'Expectations are now tempered'
The Michigan Wolverines moved to 2-1 on the season in a 28-18 win over Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon, but it was far from the clean performance some were hoping for heading into Big Ten play.
The story of Saturday’s game included starting quarterback Davis Warren’s benching, offensive line inconsistency, some undisciplined play from the defense and more.
TheWolverine.com’s Anthony Broome and former Michigan defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen discussed the outing, which may have cemented lowered expectations heading into next week’s game vs. USC.
“I’m glad we came away with a win, but I feel like it’s tough to be optimistic about how this team is going to look moving forward with what we’ve seen through the first three weeks,” Van Bergen said. “There were some positives from today. I do think the offensive line kind of got some rhythm in the second half and our running game got a little bit of rhythm in the second half.
“Defensively, we did a job. I don’t know how well we did it, but we did a job and my thoughts are kind of coming now to the realization that we have fallen from the top of the mountain a little bit in terms of the talent level we have on the field in terms of coaches that are familiar with who they have as their players and what they want to do with those players.
“My expectations are now tempered. I feel like each week’s going to be a new test, like you said, and see where we can grow, where we can develop. And I feel like we found a few things. This game wasn’t enough. There were some glimpses of an identity offensively and defensively. We played decent and I hope we can get up for USC because I think USC is going to be a huge test. We talk about each week being a test. This is a big one coming up and we need to show that we can be competitive in order to inspire some hope into this season.”
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