Michigan's Not Worried About Winning The Joe Moore Award, Focus Is On The National Championship

Through four weeks, Michigan has run the ball for less than 200 yards in three out of four games. For reference, during the entire 2022 season, the Wolverines ran for less than 200 yards in a game just five times. 

The Michigan run game wasn't just dominant because of having backs like Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, but the Wolverines' O-line was the best in the business last year. The maize and blue have won the Joe Moore Award in back-to-back seasons for having the best offensive line in the country. 

So what's different in 2023? Michigan has Corum and Edwards back, plus Michigan brought back three starting offensive linemen from last season. The combination of teams stacking the box in an effort to stop the prolific Michigan rushing attack, and the Wolverines are still trying to get cohesiveness from starting two transfers on the O-line.

Starting left guard Trevor Keegan says the team is still gelling, but he feels like Michigan is playing better football now. The Wolverines are still gelling up front and while a third-straight Joe Moore Award would be nice, Keegan says that's an afterthought. The main goal for the '23 Michigan Wolverines is to win the next game on the schedule and to ultimately win a national championship. 

"Yeah, I mean, I feel like we're playing good ball," said Keegan on Monday. "We're starting to really mesh well together. Obviously, there's still things we got to clean up. But I mean, the way we've been gelling in practice, we've been practicing together, it's going to click real soon. And honestly, we're not really worried about the Joe Moore right now. We're just worried about, you know, winning games. I mean, the last two years, we won that but we haven't won a national championship. So that's probably the only thing we care about right now. You know, winning the next game this week."

Keegan feels Michigan is playing better football -- mainly up front -- for the fact Michigan ran for 201 yards against the then 12th-ranked Rutgers' run defense. It was the most yardage the Wolverines have had on the ground to date. Keegan feels like the run game is going to break loose here real soon, it's just correcting a few things. 

"Yeah, I definitely agree," stated Keegan. "It was a step for the run game. Like I said, the plays we mess up, it's just it's one person. And once we get all the guys doing their assignments, I mean, this thing's gonna be special. We're gonna get rolling. Like I said, it's just little things at this point is little things that we could correct on our own. It's just something we can meet longer. 15 minutes at practices, little things like that. So it's gonna come. I swear it's coming."

One of the new rules in college football this season is the clock running after first downs. For years and years, at the college level, the clock would stop after a first down for the officials to spot the ball. But now, the clock will run like the NFL. However, the clock will stop if the time is under two minutes of each half. 

Keegan noted it's going to be hard for teams to run the ball for mega yards like before. The clock is constantly running and teams won't have as many plays or drives as before. But as Keegan also noted, it can be an advantage for teams like Michigan who want to control the clock by its power run game. 

"Yeah, I mean, for those people don't really realize like, how the clock rules have changed college football," said Keegan. "I mean we had, I think four drives in the first half. If you don't score one, it's gonna affect something, but you're not breaking out these long runs, you're not gonna rush for 300 yards anymore. And it's dwelling on the guys a little bit that we're not rushing for three hundred."

"But I mean, those days are going to be over. Just because the clock rolls by itself, but it's definitely an advantage. I mean, I think we had a drive in the third quarter that was an eight-minute drive. And that could change the game. I mean, the clock is everything when you have the ball. So it's definitely very impactful."

Michigan and Keegan will hope to keep its run game going when they travel to Lincoln to play Nebraska on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.