Real Kato Blog: CFB 2024: Week 5

Michigan holds off Minnesota, and travels to Washington next.

Michigan 27, Minnesota 24
Yes, this was the same score as the USC game, and there were some similarities. Michigan romped to an early lead by riding its defense and its running game; then the opposing offense seemed to get it in gear and make it close late.

In this case, though, it felt like Michigan had the game in hand, up 24-3 in the fourth quarter. But then Alex Orji threw a bad interception and the tide seemed to turn. Minnesota was aided by a questionable personal foul penalty on a fourth down play on the ensuing drive, and scored a touchdown. After Michigan went 3-and-out on its next drive, Minnesota had a 60-yard punt return to put them in position to score another touchdown.

With the score now 24-17, Michigan managed to put together a decent drive for a field goal. Minnesota then drove down the field again, converting two fourth downs along the way, to make it 27-24. They appeared to recover the on-side kick, but were flagged for an offsides penalty that looked dubious on replay. (They probably also touched the ball before it had traveled 10 yards, though, so really they can't complain too much.) Michigan recovered the re-kick and survived.

On the one hand, it was much too close a call against a team Michigan should have dominated. Michigan was the beneficiary of turnovers and short fields in the first half and fell apart when the situation reversed itself in the second. On the other hand, Michigan was missing two star defensive players (Will Johnson and Josiah Stewart were both out) and its best offensive lineman (Miles Hinton). So I dunno, maybe there aren't too many takeaways.

Did we see improvement from Alex Orji? Well, 86 yards is more than 32, but the passing game seems to have been extremely simplified for him, with zero- or one-read designs dominating the play-calling. And worse, there were very few designed runs or live read-option plays to take advantage of his legs. What are we even doing out there?

The defense: mostly good. Dominant up front as usual, and with Will Johnson out, we saw some promising play from the backups. I still don't understand how this secondary is being coached, though; there were too many receivers simply left wide open. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the play-calling or the technique, but either way, if Minnesota can rack up 258 yards passing, then I'm gonna hate to see what the likes of Oregon and Ohio State are going to do.

Michigan at Washington, 7:30 PM NBC
Like Michigan, Washington is in a bit of a rebuilding mode this year after losing a pile of players to graduation. Unlike Michigan, though, Washington has a stellar QB in Will Rogers, a transfer portal pickup who set records at Mississippi State. Whether he can remain upright against Michigan's DL, though, remains in question.

Washington is coming off an inexplicable 21-18 loss to Rutgers, a game in which they outgained their opponent 521-299 but missed three field goals and two fourth-down conversions. That suggests that perhaps a bend-don't-break, field-position-and-special-teams strategy might be effective here.

Of course, Michigan is going to need to show more variety on offense. Rutgers did manage to gain 184 yards on the ground, but minus two long runs for 77 yards, they only got 107 yards on 31 carries, with a lot of zero-yard stuffs in there. Despite the talents of Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards, we're gonna need some semblance of a passing attack, and for the love of God let's see Orji use his legs a bit more.

I don't like the way this lines up for Michigan. A trip to the West Coast, a night game, a hot Washington quarterback... all of that spells trouble.

Prediction: Washington 28, Michigan 19.

Notable Results
#4 Alabama beat #2 Georgia 41-34 in a wild display of offense by both teams. Alabama raced out to a 30-7 lead but Georgia got things in gear and made the game exciting.

#7 Miami rallied to beat Virginia Tech 38-34. VT seemed to have scored a miraculous Hail Mary touchdown to win the game as time expired, but it was overturned on replay.

Kentucky upset #6 Ole Miss 20-17.

#9 Penn State beat a good #19 Illinois team 21-7 in a defensive battle.

Arizona upset #10 Utah 23-10.

#13 USC was down 21-10 at the half to Wisconsin, but came back to win 38-21.

#16 Notre Dame beat #15 Louisville in a 31-24 thriller.

#23 Kansas State beat #20 Oklahoma State 42-20.

#25 Boise State handed Washington State its first loss, winning 45-24.

N.C. State got by Northern Illinois 24-17. Still a lot to clean up for the Wolfpack... the offense remains anemic.

Indiana is a surprising 5-0; they beat Maryland 42-28.

Nebraska beat Purdue 28-10. Purdue fired its offensive coordinator after the game.

Duke scored all of its points in the second half and beat UNC 21-20.

Games to Watch on TV
Friday, Oct 4:
Michigan State at #6 Oregon, 9:00 PM Fox

Saturday, Oct 5:
UCLA at #7 Penn State, 12:00 PM Fox
#9 Missouri at #25 Texas A&M, 12:00 PM ABC
Wake Forest at N.C. State, 12:00 PM CW
Iowa at #3 Ohio State, 3:30 PM CBS
#15 Clemson at Florida State, 7:00 PM ESPN
#4 Tennessee at Arkansas, 7:30 PM ABC
#10 Michigan at Washington, 7:30 PM NBC
#11 USC at Minnesota, 7:30 PM BTN

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Posted by Ken in: sports

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