3 major concerns for Texas vs. Michigan

Michigan's defensive tackles vs. Texas's interior offensive line

Michigan boasts the top defensive tackle duo in college football this season. Star junior defensive tackles Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham both project to be Day 1 NFL Draft picks next spring from the Wolverines' defensive line.

It's been a comparison I've seen a lot this week comparing Texas's top two defensive tackles last season, T'Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy, to what Michigan has in Grant and Graham.

Graham, at 320 pounds, is a versatile disruptor playing along the interior defensive line for the Wolverines as their highest-graded player on the defensive side of the ball for the title-winning group in 2023. He's as good as it gets among the top interior run-stopping-defensive tackles in the top conferences in college football and for the NFL Draft class next year in 2025.

At 340 pounds, Grant is the enormous interior presence who can blow up plays and explode into the backfield to break up developing passing plays from the pocket and wreck runs before they have a chance to go anywhere from the start of the backfield. Grant is an explosive play-wrecker who can get pressure from the inside as a pass rush presence up the middle, bat down balls at the line of scrimmage, and clog gaps to create problems for opposing ground games.

It will be a huge test for Texas's guards and center to deal with Michigan's disruptive defensive tackles, Grant and Graham, this weekend.

Not only is Texas giving up some size in terms of weight at both guard positions against Michigan's top defensive tackles, but they also have to communicate consistently to keep the line anchored in this hostile environment with the noise at the Big House on Saturday against the Wolverines.