It is no secret that the Michigan Wolverines lean heavily on their run game to produce offense. Opponents have to find a way to slow it down to have success against them, but that may be turning into a trap for opponents.
TCU coach Sonny Dykes said in an appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” that the Horned Frogs’ plan is to force Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy to beat them through the air.
“That’s going to be the big challenge for us, stopping the run and make the quarterback beat us,” Dykes said. “He’s certainly capable of doing it, but we gotta stop the run because that stops their offense.”
TCU is taking a pretty big risk here. The strategy makes sense on paper, so much so that Ohio State employed it when they played the Wolverines. The running game was stifled, but McCarthy went over the top multiple times for big plays and wound up throwing for three touchdowns. The Buckeyes never really adjusted, Michigan put up 45 points in a comfortable win, and McCarthy was able to take quite the victory lap.
Dykes is not going to be ignorant to this, but that does not change the risk. McCarthy can beat good defenses, and TCU will have to be smarter than the Buckeyes were if they want to avoid meeting the same fate.
