Postgame reactions: Why Michigan’s Week 1 performance was a good starting point

The Michigan Wolverines moved to 1-0 on the season with a 30-10 win over Fresno State on Saturday night in Ann Arbor. It was the first step in a new era of U-M football with first-year head coach Sherrone Moore leading the way.

Offensively, there were ups and downs. Defensively, it was a night of mostly-good effort and some timely plays by team stars. All in all, not a terrible place to start.

TheWolverine.com’s Anthony Broome and former Michigan defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen discussed the performance in their weekly postgame show . The former U-M standout saw a lot to like in the win over Fresno State.

“It’s exactly what you thought you’d get from having a new regime in Sherrone Moore, the first time as a head coach with full unbridled restriction on running the team and the program the way he sees fit,” Van Bergen said during the Week 1 postgame show. “We have a lot of new guys all over the place on offense. We have new guys on defense, a new defensive coordinator, same system, but new coordinator. So I think you expect some of the different mishaps that happened and I think you also have to realize that there were not as many big plays as there could have been considering the circumstances.

“I don’t think that you can take too much of what you saw offensively for what this offense is going to be and what it can be. I think there are so many weapons. There are so many things around the offense that you’re just gonna have to find this identity and what this team is going to be. And I thought that there were a lot of good takeaways. I think that this team, in my opinion, kind of established an identity in the second half. I think we are smashmouth with [Max] Bredeson getting a lot of reps at fullback and running Kalel Mullings between the tackles. And when they’re tired, that’s when you go to Donovan Edwards on the third down. That’s just the early impression that I have of what the offense was.

Defensively, I was super excited. I think Fresno State’s a good offensive team. I think Fresno State would beat the breaks off of Iowa’s offense. And Iowa has performed pretty well in the Big Ten, taking early shots there at them. But Fresno State’s going to be a team that I think wins eight, nine, maybe ten games. So a good test for Wink Martingale’s defense. And to me, I thought we stood up very well in that test.”

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TheWoverine.com’s postgame show will be live every home game Saturday from Regents Field in Downtown Ann Arbor about an hour after the contest goes final. To make a reservation, send a message to reservations@regentsfield.com

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