Colorado State
1 – The first year of Jay Norvell’s Colorado State tenure. He was poached by CSU from fellow Mountain West conference opponent Nevada. In total, he had four winning seasons in his five years at Nevada. Jay Norvell is most known for his offensive style predicated on a prolific passing attack. Under his tutelage, former starting QB Carson Strong won back to back Mountain West Player of the Year Awards in 2020 and 2021.
64.1% – The percentage of Passing plays that Nevada ran in 2021 under HC Jay Norvell. As he moves over to CSU, you’d imagine he will look to install a similar offense. Expect to see plenty of pass attempts in this game from CSU.
58% – Returning production amount, according to The Lines. Ranked 91st in the country in returning production, it’s difficult to imagine the Rams gelling super well as a team in the early going.
7 – The amount of transfers Norvell took with him from Nevada, to his new job at Colorado State. This is a very high number of transfers to bring with you from a former job, and it shows how much he believes in these seven players. The most notable of them being presumed starting QB for Colorado State, Clay Millen.
0 – Combined QB starts on their entire roster. That is obviously the youngest possible QB position in the entire country, as no QB on the roster has made a start in college before. Clay Millen will have a daunting first start, on the road at the Big House.
Michigan
6th – Beginning of the season ranking by the Coaches Poll. Coaches all across the country seem to believe Michigan will be right back in the thick of the Big Ten race in 2022, and even appear to be capable of pushing for a playoff spot.
62% – In returning production, ranking 10th in the Big Ten. The Wolverines will have to replace a lot of production from their 2021 Big Ten Championship team.
2 – First year Coordinators for the maize and blue. New Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter comes over from Vanderbilt and looks to continue what former DC Mike McDonald did in his one year in Ann Arbor. On offense, Matt Weiss moves to the Co-Offensive Coordinator role to share duties with the other Co-OC in Sherone Moore.
14th – Is the National Points Per Game rank from the 2021 offense. On paper, there’s room for this offense to be even better than it was last year, but can the Wolverines really improve upon a Top 15 scoring offense from a year ago?
41% – The percentage of passing plays the Wolverines ran in 2021. Under new Co-OC Matt Weiss, will things change much for Michigan’s offense in 2022? Or will it follow the same recipe that the 2021 squad did? This percentage is one of the more intriguing things to follow as the season rolls along in my opinion.
