That Thing Got a Henne?

In the case of Michigan's offense, that thing does have a Henne. For anybody that missed the Minnesota game, Chad Henne put on a show. It was easily the finest passing performance of his career. He put the ball on the money with every type of throw in the book and all over the field. Money. The fun part about it, though, is that it wasn't just one game. It's years of practice and hard work that are now coming together into the total package at QB. The kid looked off safeties like an NFL vet. He repeatedly audibled into the correct play over and over and over. It was a beautiful sight to behold and should scare the living bejezus out of future opponents.

Let's recap a bit.

Chad's last 3 games (@ND, Wis, @Min): 48/71, 67.6%, 715 yards, 8 TDs, 4 INTs. That's 10 yards per pass attempt and an insane 15 yards per completion. 4 INTs? Well, one was a pop fly quasi hail mary against Wisconsin and another was off a deflection that should've been caught. He is flat out dealing right now.

Henne didn't do much of anything in the first 2 games this year, but that was more because Michigan didn't even try. He totalled 248 yards passing through 2 games while the running backs AVERAGED 250 yards per game.

But wait a second, this didn't come out of nowhere. Don't forget Henne had a very good finish to last year including a phenomenal game against the Buckeyes. Check out his numberes from the last 8 games he has played (including OSU, Neb, ND, Wisc, etc):

132/215, 61.4%, 1630 yards, 17 TDs, 5 INTs.

Yikes, that's starting to get scary good for a kid that has a year and a half left to improve at Michigan. As a freshman, people said all he did was chuck it deep to Braylon. As a sophomore, he didn't get much credit either. What the hell can his critics say now? Wisconsin has one of the best passing defenses in the NCAA right now and he lit them up. Now he gets to set his sights on the porous Michigan State secondary.

What exactly are opposing defensive coordinators supposed to do other than cry themselves to sleep at night? It's called pick your poison. Would you like to get beaten by the most productive quarterback in the history of Michigan football? Or would you rather get gashed by the most productive running back in the history of Miichigan football? Quite the deadly combination as both Henne and Hart will likely leave Ann Arbor with every record in the books.

Mario Manningham is getting all the national attention from Michigan's passing game right now, but Chad Henne is the engine that makes it go. And yes, it's got a Henne.