Michigan has taken care of business in the soft portion of its schedule. After Saturday's smackdown of UConn, the No. 4-ranked Wolverines have won their first three games by an average of about 50 points.
Impressive? Sure.
Surprising? Not so much.
Unless you're Urban Meyer, who said Saturday on the Big Noon Kickoff show on FOX that his biggest early-season surprise is ...
"The Wolverines. Of course I got the Wolverines," said the Wolverines' former nemesis at Ohio State.
Meyer acknowledged Michigan has "played teams that are really struggling," but said he's nonetheless impressed -- indeed, surprised -- by how they've hit the ground running after losing several key players and coaches from last year's team that won the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff.
"They lost seven starters off the defense, five players drafted, and offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, gone. We all excepted a little bit of a drop-off, but you watch that film, I hate to say this, they’re fast-fast on offense," Meyer said. "Their skill is outstanding. They’re well-coached, new coordinators on both sides of the ball, I did not expect that."
Michigan's defensive departures included three top-50 draft picks in Aidan Hutchinson (No. 2 overall), Daxton Hill (No. 31) and David Ojabo (No. 45), not to mention defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald who oversaw one of the best units in the country. Its offensive departures included leading rusher Hassan Haskins and two starting linemen in Andrew Stueber and Andrew Vastardis, not to mention offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.
"I thought throughout the season they’d get better, you lose those kind of players they lost, you lose both coordinators," Meyer said. "And I watched that film and I was like, ‘Uh-oh, they got it going up there again.’ And that’s a problem for down the road.”
Michigan will get its first semi-test next week when it opens Big Ten play against Maryland, which made easy work of Buffalo and Charlotte to start the season. The Wolverines don't play a currently-ranked opponent until Oct. 15 against Penn State.
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