The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/201975
play more consistently, but the Maize and Blue were optimistic that with this change, they had remedied their woes up front. Struggles At Penn State Force Guard Makeover For a game, it appeared they had. Even though U-M averaged only 3.2 yards per carry in a win over Minnesota Oct. 5, the Wolverines had allowed just four negative running plays and a single sack. Michigan had produced runs of four yards or more on 16 of 35 total team rushes, but perhaps in a sign that improvement had not been made, the Maize and Blue had nine runs in the fourth quarter of two yards or fewer, including four stops behind the line of scrimmage. Still, Michigan traveled to State College with the same starting five and was confident the line would be able to create the push necessary to drive the Nittany Lions off the ball, setting up the play-action pass that would take advantage of burgeoning threats at wide receiver. However, Penn State stacked the box with eight and nine defenders, and U-M could not back the Blue and White off the line of scrimmage. Even when they did, the results did not come. What did transpire was a per formance that will live in infamy; Michigan tailbacks totaled 28 yards and averaged less than one yard per carry (0.9) on 30 totes. Late in the first half, Lewan went down with an injury, forcing a reshuffling — Schofield moved to left tackle and redshirt freshman Erik Magnuson came in at right tackle — while in the second half Bryant was benched in favor of redshirt junior Joey Burzynski. Lewan was set to return, but heading into week seven, at home against Indiana, Michigan was compelled to make changes again. "You go hard, but it's not knockthem-down football during the season against our own guys in practice, so when you get to Saturday it's a different level and they need to learn how to crank it up two notches," Funk said. "That has been an issue, and then the technique — you try to ingrain that in them over and over again, but some guys in the Michigan Starting Offensive Line Game By Game Opponent LT LG C RGRT C. Michigan Lewan Glasgow Miller Kalis Schofield Notre Dame Lewan Glasgow Miller Kalis Schofield Akron LewanGlasgow Miller Kalis Schofield Connecticut LewanGlasgow Miller Kalis Schofield Minnesota LewanBryantGlasgow Kalis Schofield Penn State Lewan Bryant Glasgow Kalis Schofield Indiana LewanBurzynskiGlasgow Magnuson Schofield Michigan St.* Lewan Bosch Glasgow Magnuson Schofield * Projected