There were at least 3 plays in the first or second quarter where either Collins or Broughton were standing straight up and getting moved easily. I definitely think it’s a concern, but we all knew the run defense would take a step back.
I agree with you that Norton, Lole, Savea will be playing more, and I’d even like to see some packages where Collins or Broughton are pushed to edge. There’s really no reason to respect Michigan’s passing game at all and those guys are good enough pass rushers to make it work against this opponent. Plus, Holmes, Barron, and Mohammed all looked really good at outside CB against CSU. I think all 3 of them are better than any outside CB we had their last year, so we can get away with a lot of cover 1/cover 3 and even some Cover 0 on their WRs to make up for the drop in DT play.
my only real concern on defense is that PK tends to overemphasize keeping everything in front of the defense at the expense of getting killed by consistent 4 yard gains in the run game. His UW defenses struggled the most against Stanford for that reason, but Michigan’s passing game is so poor, it’s hard to see him doing that, and Sark/Nansen should also put a stop to that if we see it through the first quarter.