Michigan Wolverines

Michigan Football vs Wisconsin: Parting Shots from the Wolverines' Win

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Michigan football team was in need of a test and it gone one against Wisconsin. Here are the parting shorts from the Wolverines’ 14-7 win.

We’re five games into the 2016 Michigan football season, we’ve got a perfect 5-0 record, we beat a team ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2008 (Rich Rodriguez’s first season at UM), we’re still on track to win the Big Ten championship and to make a strong case for the college football playoff.

So, that’s good, right? Remarkably, it’s all good.  No “yes, but.” No “we’ll have to see how things develop.”  We know right now that Michigan belongs among the elite football teams this year.

If you ask me, that’s huge.

After the tough, hard-nosed 14-7 win over no. 8 Wisconsin, we finally have confirmation that Michigan football is a fine team – with what turns out to be an easier schedule going forward than we thought (more on that in a minute).

Did we learn anything new with this week’s game? Maybe. We already knew, of course, that the defense is stingy and may well be the best in the country.

We already knew that Speight, who wasn’t especially sharp yesterday, is resilient. He doesn’t let mistakes nag at him, and he’s tough.

On the other hand, we discovered that the kicking game needs help. The punting was fine, as usual, but Kenny Allen missed two field goals, and walk-on Ryan Tice missed a third. With the score as close as it was, the lack of a reliable field goal kicker could have cost Michigan this game.

It’s not clear at this point what head coach Jim Harbaugh’s plan is. After the game he said, “We’ll have a little kicking competition this week, and it’ll be an opportunity for Ryan Tice.” Harbaugh has a demonstrated ability to turn quarterbacks into reliable performers. We’ll find out if he can do the same with kickers.

And then there’s the loss of left tackle Grant Newsome.

The Wolverines offensive line has been under a microscope since the beginning of the season, and the loss of Newsome is not good.

Newsome, a sophomore and a starter, was injured in the second quarter. He refused a ride in the cart, but Harbaugh admitted after the game that “it doesn’t look good.”

But here’s the good news: Wisconsin may have been the test that everyone expected Michigan State game on October 29 to be, and Michigan football – we now know – was more than up to the test.

Wisconsin turned out to be far better than anyone expected, having knocked off LSU in the season opener (and putting Les Miles’ job in jeopardy) and MSU last week in convincing fashion (30-6).

That game against MSU will still be tough for the Wolverines  – rivalry games always are. And MSU may be playing for littler more than pride at that point, but the Spartans may no longer be in the top 20 by the end of the month. And no one expected that at the beginning of the season.

One more thing. Remember the excitement about Michigan renewing the rivalry with Notre Dame, beginning in the 2018 season?

And remember that Michigan paid Arkansas to go away, to find another opponent so that Notre Dame could be back on Michigan’s schedule? Turns out that Notre Dame is off to a 2-3 start this year and had to beat Syracuse in the Meadowlands yesterday to find another win.

Michigan is once again an elite program, and Notre Dame is not. And at least this year, MSU isn’t either.

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