3 takeaways: Colorado State football team can’t hang with top-10 Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Well, Michigan wasn’t down to host much of a welcome party for the Air Raid.

The No. 6/8 Wolverines showed some of everything in their depth of quality as the 2021 College Football Playoff game brushed aside Colorado State in front 109,575 fans at the Big House Saturday.

The final score was 51-7 as the Michigan defense overwhelmed CSU’s new-look Air Raid offense and the Wolverines wore down the Rams defense.

Here are three takeaways from the game as CSU opens 2022 0-1 and Michigan moves to 1-0.

Michigan far too good, CSU couldn’t match

There were obviously going to be roster mismatches in this one, but a couple key areas highlighted the gap.

CSU’s offensive line has experience individually, but not as a group. Further, Brian Crespo-Jaquez at left tackle was making his first career start and Jacob Gardner was playing his first game at the center spot. Throw in a redshirt freshman quarterback in Clay Millen who hadn’t started since playing just two games as a high school senior in 2020 and it was bound to be rough at times.

Michigan’s defensive line is stacked with size and strength and it showed. Millen rarely had time to throw and a few times held it too long, even taking sacks when he could throw the ball away. It was like going from zero to 100 for the group. Too big, strong and fast for CSU’s offense.

The biggest example was when Millen was sacked on a fourth-down attempt inside the CSU half early in the second half. He fumbled and it was returned for a touchdown.

CSU’s defense actually showed well at times, three times holding Michigan to field goals when the Wolverines were in the red zone.

But the defense wore down and allowed some big plays as well. Cade McNamara hit Roman Wilson on a swing pass early in the game and CSU defenders were blocked out of the play and outran to the end zone for a 61-yard TD.

None of the strength, speed and skill gaps were particularly surprising. Michigan was a College Football Playoff team last season and will likely be favored in every game excluding Ohio State this season.

A playoff team vs. a rebuilding Mountain West team was always unlikely to be close and it wasn’t.

By late in the third quarter and into the fourth the game was over. CSU's defense was wiped out and it turned even more lopsided. Michigan had 440 yards of total offense.

CSU's Air Raid showed a small glimpse of what the Rams hope is coming this season when Millen hit Tory Horton on a 34-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter. It's the first career TD for Millen.

Millen's line was actually fine. When he wasn't getting smoked he was hitting CSU receivers for the most part. Millen's final line was 16-of-20 for 137 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked seven times.

CSU football gets experience, money from Michigan

The message in the film room will be something along the lines of “if you use the strain it took to try and handle Michigan and play with that each week, we’ll be good.” No one on CSU’s schedule will come close to the talent and physicality the Rams saw Saturday.

The hope is that this will be a great learning experience. Once you’ve tried to block Michigan; or tackle Michigan; or throw passes against Michigan…well, it should make you feel faster and more composed against everyone else. Time will tell how that plays out.

Lytle:Big House was an opening party, but real Fort Air Raid is just about to begin

The hope is that CSU did not end up on the wrong end of injuries that could impact the rest of the season. Multiple key Rams (including defensive end Mohamed Kamara and left tackle Crespo-Jaquez) left the game at one point. Kamara did come back in.

The injury updates won’t be known until later but that’s the biggest concern in a game like this.

Another thing CSU gained: Cash. This “buy game” netted a big $1.8 million pay day for CSU, a big number for a guarantee game. For a Group of 5 program, that kind of money is important for the books.

Real season starts next game

The reality of this game is that it was never likely to be a contest. Another truth is that it doesn’t really tell us what the rest of the season will be for the Rams.

The fact that they won’t see Michigan or anything like this roster again doesn’t guarantee that CSU will have a great 2022. But losing in such a lopsided way equally doesn’t show some terrible sign of bad things to come.

Jay Norvell has said as much. Through camp he talked up the opportunity of playing Michigan but also knows it’s a big outlier.

“This game is our first game. The bulk of our season is behind this game. I don’t think I’m telling anybody anything they don’t know, this team we’re getting ready to play this first game is really different than the rest of the teams we’re going to play on our schedule,” Norvell said in the leadup to the game.

We’ll learn a lot more about this CSU team next week when the Rams host Middle Tennessee.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State football unable to hang with top-10 Michigan football