The 10 college football storylines we're watching across state of Michigan
September has arrived and football is in the air; the cider mills and pumpkin spice lattes can wait.
After nine months without a snap involving the state’s college football teams, the season kicks off Thursday night when Central Michigan travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take on Oklahoma State.
Michigan State hosts Western Michigan on Friday night, Eastern Michigan hosts Eastern Kentucky on Friday as well, and Michigan football kicks off its season Saturday vs. Colorado State at the Big House.
The 2021 season saw everything from national champions and Football Bowl Division rushing leaders to Big Ten champions and rivalry game thrillers. So what about 2022?
Here are 10 narratives worth watching in The Mitten.
1. Michigan’s coordinator carousel
Michigan won the program’s first Big Ten championship since 2004. But the offseason has seen much change.
As Jim Harbaugh discussed joining the Minnesota Vikings, offensive coordinator Josh Gattis left for the same job at Miami (Florida), and defensive coordinator Mike McDonald returned to the Baltimore Ravens.
How much will those changes impact the Wolverines? Michigan has co-offensive coordinators Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss, after Gattis had been solely responsible for the play calling.
The Wolverines seem to have a top-three situation in the Big Ten at both running back (Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards) and receiver (Ronnie Bell, Cornelius Johnson, Andrel Anthony, Roman Wilson and A.J. Henning), so finding a way to best showcase that talent will be key.
2. Quarterback conundrum
Harbaugh resents the old adage, "if you have two quarterbacks you have no quarterbacks."
But the Wolverines have, at minimum, a conundrum on how to handle the position.
Choosing between Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy is a decision that may make or break the Wolverines’ season as they look to defend their conference title.
In 2021, McNamara was the unquestioned starter, with McCarthy coming in as largely a running threat.
McNamara is slated to start Week 1 and McCarthy in Week 2 against Hawaii. Michigan still wants to lean on its offensive line and running game, but eventually will need to win a game by throwing the ball.
How Harbaugh handles the quarterback job, assuming it doesn’t create a riff in the locker room, is the single largest factor for Michigan.
Shawn Windsor:Recent history shows Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh's QB plan isn't crazy
3. The rivalry game
It’s never too early to look ahead to the Michigan vs. Michigan State game, with this year’s contest coming Oct. 29 in Ann Arbor.
MSU has won both meetings during the Mel Tucker era, but Michigan still won the league title — the first time this century the loser of this game still won the conference championship.
MSU’s 37-33 victory last October came when both teams were undefeated and ranked in the top 10, however neither team started ranked a season ago. Both begin this season in the top 15.
The ramifications of this game, as always, will be huge. Should Michigan win, after Mel Tucker’s 10-year $95 million contract extension, questions of if MSU will catch up to Michigan could abound.
Should the Spartans win, bringing Tucker to 3-0 against Harbaugh, critics could begin declaring Michigan's 2021 an anomaly, which could create problems in Ann Arbor.
Read more:Michigan, MSU season predictions: Can either win Big Ten?
4. The last year of Thorne to Reed
That Payton Thorne and Jayden Reed grew up together is almost as well-known as the childhood ties between Matthew Stafford and Clayton Kershaw.
And while nobody will miss that as a talking point each game, MSU fans will miss the connection they have on the field. This is the last season the two will play together in East Lansing. Can this combination go from great to one of the best in the country?
Reed had 1,026 receiving yards last year on 59 catches — 17.4 yards per reception — and 10 touchdowns. Should he stay healthy, he seems likely to improve on each of those numbers.
Thorne and Reed could be considered among the great quarterback-wideout combinations in recent MSU history, on par with Kirk Cousins to B.J. Cunningham, and Connor Cook to Tony Lippett or Aaron Burbridge.
5. Michigan State’s entire defense
To use Tucker’s words, MSU was “dead-ass last” in pass defense a season ago.
So what will happen this year? “Well, we can’t be worse,” he joked at Big Ten media days.
While he was in a laughing mood in late July, he won't be should MSU continue to struggle. That starts up front by getting to the quarterback, so the Spartans invested heavily in defensive line coaching with Marco Coleman and pass-rush specialist Brandon Jordan.
MSU hit the transfer portal to acquire talent in the front seven with DE Jacoby Windmon (UNLV) and linebackers Aaron Brule (Mississippi St.) and Khris Bogle (Florida) to help Jeff Pietrowski and Brandon Wright. That should add a lot of speed in addition to a middle of the line understatedly deep with Jacob Slade, Simeon Barrow, Jalen Hunt and Itayvion Brown.
This will help the secondary, which returns captain Xavier Henderson, Angelo Grose, Ronald Williams and Chester Kimbrough, and adds lengthy Georgia transfer Ameer Speed.
Trending:Darius Snow at LB could be key to unlocking Michigan State's pass defense
6. Central Michigan's ground game
Although Kenneth Walker III won the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the country, the FBS' yardage leader played for Central Michigan.
Lew Nichols III, a Detroit Cass Tech alumnus, had 2,188 all-purpose yards, including 1,848 rushing, as he averaged 5.4 yards per carry and scored 16 touchdowns.
The question isn’t Nichols’ talent, it’s what’s around him. The Chippewas sent both starting tackles — Luke Goedeke and Bernhard Raimann — to the NFL and will need to break in a new line to pave the way for their star back.
It won’t be easy to start against Oklahoma State.
7. Ferris State looking to run it back
The state of Michigan crowned a national champion in football last December in Division II.
Ferris State completed the perfect season (14-0) under coach Tony Annese with a 58-17 thumping of Valdosta State in the title game. The Bulldogs, the only unblemished program in Division I or II last season, outscored their opponents 661-256.
There’s a huge hole to fill at quarterback. Jared Bernhardt — once the nation’s best lacrosse player at Maryland before transferring to Ferris and becoming the leader — made the Atlanta Falcons' roster this week.
He led a run-heavy offense with 1,421 rushing yards and 26 TDs, and completed 87 of 123 passes (70.7%) for 1,322 yards to earn GLIAC Player of the Year.
QB Mylik Mitchell started a playoff game last season and has the confidence of the coaching staff. With weapons on the outside such as CJ Jefferson, Marcus Taylor, Xavier Wade, Tyrese Hunt-Thompson and Brandon Childress, Ferris' expectations remain high, as they should with the Bulldogs entering the season ranked No. 1 in Division II.
8. Western Michigan searches for answers
It was another good year in Kalamazoo in 2021. The Broncos went 8-5 and had the best win of any MAC team in the season, knocking off eventual ACC champ Pittsburgh in a 44-41 road victory in Week 3.
But this year, there are more questions than answers for sixth-year head coach Tim Lester. The Broncos lost starting quarterback Kaleb Eleby and second-round NFL receiver Skyy Moore, and both positions now have major question marks.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Salopek could look for junior receiver Corey Crooms, who caught 44 passes for 768 yards and six touchdowns a season ago, and the program added Boston College transfer Jehlani Galloway and Wisconsin transfer A.J. Abbott (Northville/West Bloomfield).
WMU has a nice 1-2 at running back in Sean Tyler and former Spartan La'Darius Jefferson. Tyler ran for 1,150 yards a season ago and is on the preseason Doak Walker watch list.
9. Will Eastern Michigan overcome the one-score hump?
Eastern Michigan has had 41 games decided by one possession since the start of the 2016 season, going 18-23 in those. Since the start of the 2017 season, EMU has gone 9-17 in one-score games in MAC play, while going 7-5 in MAC games decided by nine points or more.
The Eagles won two games by one point a season ago, against WMU and Miami (Ohio), but too often have been on the opposite end: Only Nebraska (21 including Saturday's opener against Northwestern in Ireland) and North Carolina (16) have more one-possession losses than Eastern (15) since the start of the 2018 season.
Coach Chris Creighton, entering his ninth season in Ypsilanti, has EMU at 34-36 in its past six seasons after going 3-21 to start his tenure.
Taylor Powell, who came to EMU by way of Troy and Missouri, was once a top 20 QB prospect and appears to have won the battle for the Eagles' starting spot.
10. Eyes on Grand Valley State
Grand Valley State enters the season No. 5 in Division II. It returns 18 starters from the 2021 squad that went 10-2 (both losses to Ferris State).
Cade Peterson, a junior, returns as the unquestioned leader after throwing for 2,130 yards and 26 scores a season ago, with 559 rush yards and seven touchdowns.
The Lakers' schedule starts tough, with a top-five matchup against No. 3 Colorado School of Mines on Thursday evening.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 10 college football narratives we're watching across state of Michigan
