Michigan Deflates The Ball, Pounds Washington Into Submission

Michigan is grounded and proud of it. After all, the Wolverines are 2-0 after a convincing 31-10 win over Washington on Saturday night, a victory in which they used the running game to barrel around and through the Huskies.

Michigan compiled 343 yards on 56 carries, with Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins leading the way. Corum was especially impactful, finishing with 171 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries. He had actually went for 231 all-purpose yards. Meanwhile, Haskins carries 27 times for 155 yards and a score.

But it was quite a different story for quarterback Cade McNamara. He threw just 15 passes, completing seven, and finishing with 44 yards. These are just the new Wolverines, who have clearly gone old-school in their approach.

“Going into the game, we’re not going to win by throwing the ball outside the numbers,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters. “Those corners are really good. We were going to fare a lot better running the ball (56) times than we would have throwing it (56) times. Our guys are good, and they came up with the plays when they had to. They didn’t stop the running game. Told you we were going to lean on Hassan and Blake, they’re that good, too.”

In other words, Michigan has no desire to switch things up until someone proves they can be stop the ground machine.

“We know we have good players in the passing game,” Harbaugh said. “We know our guys can catch the ball, run routes. We can throw it. It was just so good in the running game, we felt good — until they take it away.”

The Wolverines should be able to surpass last season's two-win total by the end of next week, when they host Northern Illinois. They have Rutgers the week after that -- as each of the first four games are at home.

And if things keep going the way they have lately, the Wolverines will run their way back to relevancy.