Michigan football game day buzz: can the Wolverines right the ship in 2 key areas?

Last weekend, during the Wolverines’ home opener against East Carolina, Michigan football running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards had pretty quiet games. Michigan totaled a mere 122 yards on the ground on 31 carries, with Edwards and Corum totaling 110 yards and a single touchdown combined. Today, against the UNLV Rebels, offensive line coach and play-caller Sherrone Moore is back — can the Wolverines’ rushing attack turn things around? Here is our game day buzz for Week 2.

Michigan football needs more from the offensive line with Sherrone Moore back

A week ago, fans were mostly unimpressed with the Michigan football offensive line. It’s not that the O-line was bad; rather, they were just not as good as fans are used to. There are a lot of new faces along the offensive line this year — namely Drake Nugent (center) and Myles Hinton (tackle), who both started last weekend — so a slow start was somewhat understandable for the Maize and Blue.

This weekend, O-line coach and offensive play-caller Sherrone Moore is back on the field after serving his one-game suspension during Week 1. With his presence roaming the sideline, there is a good chance that Michigan football will be able to turn things around up front.

Can Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards turn things around?

We’ve asked this question a lot this week, but it is a fair area of concern after a slow Week 1 showing last weekend. Now, to be fair, East Carolina decided to force Michigan football to throw the ball by loading the tackle bow; however, the usual explosiveness of the offensive line and rushing attack was not present. This weekend, Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards could quickly turn things around and get the offense moving on the ground once again.

That said, if UNLV plays the same kind of ball as ECU and forces JJ McCarthy into passing the ball often, Blake Corum is confident that Michigan football will be able to adapt offensively. Last weekend, following the Wolverines’ victory, Corum emphasized that Michigan is a complete team — the Maize and Blue can run or throw on just about anybody.

“I mean, for me — and I just said this on the way over here — last year at the beginning of the season, people were like, ‘Oh, they can’t pass the ball.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, we can,’ just like JJ was saying, ‘Yeah, we can.’ We’re a complete team,” Blake Corum said. “If we need to run the ball, we’ll run it. If we need to pass, we’ll pass. There’s no, ‘They can’t pass or they can’t run.’ It’s none of that. We’re a complete team. And that’s what we do at practice. We practice really hard in the run game, we practice really hard in the pass game, and we have a great special teams, we have a great defense — we have a great team.

“So as a team, we’re complete,” he continued. “You know, there’s obviously work to do, but I don’t think there should be any type of words out there saying, ‘Oh, we can’t run the ball. We can’t pass the ball,” cause we’re complete.”

Michigan football vs. UNLV will kick off at 3:30 PM (EST) this afternoon.

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