HEADLINE

No. 7 Michigan vows to up tempo against Middle Tennessee

Field Level Media

August 27, 2019 at 3:49 pm.

Shea Patterson enters the season as University of Michigan’s starting quarterback. If head coach Jim Harbaugh sticks to his plan, Patterson’s snaps will be reduced.

Harbaugh is intent on getting more playing time for backup Dylan McCaffrey as his team opens the season against Middle Tennessee State at Michigan Stadium on Saturday.

“All options are open in terms of that,” Harbaugh said. “We’d like to definitely play both.”

Patterson, a senior, delivered a statistically solid season a year ago after transferring from Ole Miss. He passed for 2,600 yards and 22 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. He completed 64.6 percent of his throws on 325 attempts while leading the Wolverines to 10 wins.

McCaffrey, a redshirt sophomore, recorded stats in five games and attempted just 15 passes.

After getting blown out by arch-rival Ohio State in the annual regular-season finale and Florida in the Peach Bowl, the Wolverines plan to shake things up. Whether Harbaugh remains as intent on change once the season begins is up in the air.

New offensive coordinator Josh Gattis insists Patterson remains the unquestioned offensive leader.

“Shea has set the bar up so high that it brings everybody up in that room,” he said. “His understanding of what I want to accomplish within the offense and what we want to accomplish, he’s got a great feel, a great presence.”

Gattis was co-offensive coordinator for Alabama last season and mainly designed game plans. This will be the first time he’ll call play on a regular basis.

Michigan, ranked No. 7 in the preseason, wants to play faster and Patterson is excited by the change.

“That’s one huge key for our offense — controlling the tempo of the game and controlling the defense’s tempo as well,” he said. “We get lined up and run as many plays as possible and get our guys into open space to make plays.”

The Wolverines have some new faces in the backfield alongside Patterson.

Karan Higdon moved on to the NFL and Chris Evans is suspended for the season. Still, Gattis feels the Wolverines are well-stocked. In his opinion, Michigan has five interchangeable backs.

Senior Tru Wilson, sophomores Christian Turner, Hassan Haskins and Ben VanSumeren and freshman Zach Charbonnet are all in the mix.

“We’ve got five backs,” he said. “That’s probably the deepest position for us.”

The Blue Raiders finished last season at 8-6, including a 7-1 record in Conference USA. They lost 45-13 to Appalachian State in the New Orleans Bowl.

Middle Tennessee State faced two ranked opponents last season, falling to Georgia 49-7 and Kentucky 34-23.

“It’s an opportunity for us to compete against one of the best programs, a top-seven team in the country. We’ll see how we stack up,” coach Rick Stockstill said. “We’ll try and make improvements each week as the season goes along, but this is a good test for us. We’re not going to go in there and be in awe or intimidated. We’re going to roll up our sleeves, compete for 60 minutes and see what happens.”

Michigan is favored by more than 30 points by Las Vegas oddsmakers. Middle Tennessee State safety Jovante Moffatt shrugs it off.

“We’ve always been the underdog,” he said. “Like Coach said, we play about three of these games each year. Most of them, we go in being the underdog, so you’re not really expecting much. I feel like, for the most part, the team is going to come out there with a lot of confidence, a lot of morale.”