It didn't take them long to sense it. Blake Corum said Michigan's offense could tell by the end of the first quarter that Washington was wilting, that its defense was deflated. He said "you could see it in their posture" that they were virtually defeated.
"We were wearing them out and we were just going to keep pounding," Corum said.
So that's what they did, one plunge after another, the punches piling up like body blows. Washington's defense tried to swing back, but it couldn't puncture Michigan's offensive line. It couldn't stop Corum and Hassan Haskins from racking up over 150 yards each as the Wolverines rushed for over 330 for the second game in a row in a 31-10 humbling of the Huskies.
"We just all kind of realized, they’re having a tough time stopping this running game," said Jim Harbaugh. "We’re going to keep doing it until they stop it, and they didn’t."
They said they would. Ahead of the game, the Huskies said they would swallow Michigan's rushing attack. They said they wanted the Wolverines to run -- "good, we look forward to it," said senior linebacker Ryan Bowman -- because "we're going to stop the run," said sophomore linebacker Jackson Sirmon. For four quarters, they got the ball and their own words shoved down their throat.
The Huskies were hungry enough in the early going. But the game pivoted early in the second quarter when Michigan pulled off a fake punt on its own 30, and Corum raced 67 yards to the end zone on the very next play. That was it. The Wolverines went to the locker room with a 10-0 lead, and came out of it with two back-breaking, soul-sucking touchdown drives: 22 plays, 19 runs, 148 yards. The Huskies had no appetite for more.
"Having a seven-minute drive in the no-huddle offense, that warms the cockles of the heart when you’re able to run the ball that way," Harbaugh said.
He was a quarterback by trade, but Harbaugh's heart is forever with the run. Michigan will either win on the ground or, to borrow Harbaugh's words from Big Ten media days, "die trying." On nights like Saturday, it feels like it can work. It feels like Michigan can run to Indianapolis and beyond. Problem is, they've haven't run that far before.
Through two games, Michigan has three times more rushes than passes. Cade McNamara has been hidden by design. That was fine against Western Michigan and it was wise against Washington, whose defense boasts NFL talent in the secondary. As Harbaugh acknowledged, "We didn't think going throw for throw with those guys was the best formula to win the game."
But eventually, Michigan and McNamara will have to start making plays through the air. They won't average six yards per carry when they visit Wisconsin in three weeks. They can't even count on that in two weeks against Rutgers. This offensive line is good, with the potential to be great, but most Harbaugh teams have said as much. For this one to say more, it needs a passing attack it can trust, no matter what's on the other side.
It also needs a defense it can trust. Under new coordinator Mike Macdonald, maybe that's where this team is different. Macdonald is two-for-two in scheming up something new, specifically something less predictable. Aidan Hutchinson is a star and likely a top-10 pick, and Macdonald is letting him loose off the edge. The secondary looks fluid. It looks -- dare we say it -- fast.
"The run defense, too, I thought that was really good," said Harbaugh. "We kept getting them behind the chains, a lot of third and longs. The odds are in your favor when you can put them in those situations."
The odds are still against Michigan this season. Its demons loom in the distance. It doesn't matter how often the Wolverines ram the ball down the throats of smaller opponents if they choke against the big ones. They have nothing to gain by running teams off the field now if their defense can't get off the field later.
Harbaugh and Michigan have been here before. As Corum said, "We really haven't done anything yet." But they're thinking big, buoyed by brawn and brains on both sides of the ball.
"We got more to do, we got more to prove," said Corum. "I can’t wait to see how far we go, because it’s going to be far."