Michigan Football: What Wolverines Must Fix on Bye Week

Midway through the 2016 college football regular season, the Michigan Wolverines have shown few weaknesses. But for Jim Harbaugh's team to secure the Big Ten Championship, the Wolverines need to clean up those areas.

Both the offense and defense have impressed throughout the six-game winning streak, so most of the shortcomings are specific details for a position and not widespread issues.

In fact, health is arguably the biggest problem for Michigan.

Two starters—left tackle Grant Newsome and cornerback Jeremy Clark—are out for the season because of knee injuries. Jourdan Lewis, Taco Charlton, Bryan Mone, Ben Braden, Juwann Bushell-Beatty and Drake Johnson are among the players who have missed time.

Right tackle Erik Magnuson called the bye week "very beneficial," per Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press.

"Especially for the guys who start and play a lot," Magnuson said. "We've played six games, but we (also) had four weeks of camp. So almost 10 weeks of straight football. So your body’s hurting and it'd be good to get some rehab."

Magnuson and his teammates up front deserve a break after guiding the team to 50 points per game. Even if that absurd number drops, Michigan could average more than 40 for the first time since 1904.

The offense—which shouldn't be expected to keep scoring at this rate—can be better, particularly if the line improves on picking up the blitz. Like most of the team's issues, it's not prevalent. But with a new starter after Newsome's season-ending injury, practice reps are crucial.

During the first six games, only Wisconsin had a dangerous defense. Wilton Speight struggled for most of that showdown, which is understandable yet still noteworthy.

Speight has simply played the role of distributor to this point because he hasn't needed to be anything more other than briefly against the Badgers—but he had a rough showing.

There will come another game—ahem, vs. Ohio State—that Michigan requires more from Speight. When that happens, he'll rely on the line to properly read and react to the defense's scheme.

The primary reason Speight has avoided pressure-filled situations is because of the Wolverines defense. After clamping down on Rutgers, the unit rose to No. 1 nationally, surrendering just 10.3 points and 113.7 passing yards per game.

Don Brown's unit is both dominant and reliable, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. One potential issue is off-tackle runs.

UCF's Adrian Killins ripped off an 87-yard touchdown because Mike McCray and Channing Stribling were sealed and Dymonte Thomas took a horrible angle.

Wisconsin's longest gain on the ground reached the edge. Penn State ran a similar play to UCF's, sealed McCray and took Stribling out of the play before Thomas stopped Saquon Barkley after 33 yards.

Once again, this must be corrected before traveling to Ohio State. Last season, the Wolverines' linebackers simply weren't fast enough to contain those plays, and it was no more evident than when Ezekiel Elliott piled up 214 yards.

Considering the talent of Michigan's defense, it can afford to bend once, twice and maybe even three times on a given possession. To break like that, however, is a potentially game-changing error.

But there's one unit—and really, one player—who could make or break a game for the Wolverines: Kenny Allen.

The do-it-all specialist is the returning place-kicker, but that's the area he's struggled the most in. Allen is just 4-of-8 on field-goal attempts. Harbaugh even tried Ryan Tice against Wisconsin after Allen missed a pair of kicks.

Had Allen buried his first two field goals—and, hypothetically, the third—Michigan would've held a commanding 23-7 advantage over Wisconsin. Sure, that means Jourdan Lewis' spectacular one-handed interception doesn't happen, but Michigan would undoubtedly prefer to score points when there's a chance.

Perhaps fortunately for the Wolverines, Allen's misses haven't had a lasting effect on any outcome. While nobody knows if Allen will actually need to attempt a clutch kick in 2016, though, the confidence he'll connect currently isn't high, either.

Michigan has an excellent chance to reach its ultimate goal of a national championship, but small issues can become major problems on the biggest stage.

The bye week is the best time to eliminate those minor shortcomings.

All recruiting information via Scout. Stats from cfbstats.com or B/R research. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.