Best and worst from Michigan's win over Rutgers
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football dominated Rutgers in a 31-7 win to open the Big Ten season. Here are the best and worst from Saturday’s game at The Big House.
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Guess who’s back
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh made his return to the sideline after serving a three-game, university-imposed suspension stemming from an alleged NCAA violation. He was amped while speaking to the media earlier in the week and brought some juice to the team Saturday.
After the game, Michigan players spoke highly of what Harbaugh brought, from his pregame speech to the postgame rendition of ‘The Victors.’ And watching a clip from him in the locker room, it’s apparent he was more than excited to be back.
Calling ‘game’
Rutgers faced fourth-and-2 on the Michigan 27-yard line, and instead of taking the points and potentially cutting U-M’s lead to 17-10 with its kicker, Jai Patel, who won Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week earlier this season, head man Greg Schiano decided to roll the dice and go for it. For a second straight week, a screen pass by an opposing team 1) resulted in an interception and 2) shifted the momentum in Michigan’s favor.
Sophomore cornerback Will Johnson sniffed it out and was there initially. The ball popped up in the air, and graduate defensive back Mike Sainristil snagged it while junior linebacker Junior Colson rolled over him and fell to the turf. Sainristil emerged from the mass of humanity with the football and a head of steam, got some blocks down field and returned it 71 yards for the pick six.
Sainristil’s late-third-quarter play all but put the nail in the coffin. Michigan had a 17-point lead and complete control.
Biggest bully
Rutgers is a hard-nosed, well-coached team under Schiano. It has only won 15 of its 35 games since the head coach took back over in 2020, but it has steadily improved in one of the toughest divisions in college football. Entering Saturday, the Scarlet Knights had won three straight games against FBS opponents for the first time since 2014. They did so behind a strong rushing attack and run defense.
Michigan plays the same way — physical at the point of attack, with a desire to run the ball and stop the run. The Wolverines, two-time defending Big Ten champions, have been the bully of the Big Ten since the 2021 campaign and had no intention of letting the Scarlet Knights change that one bit. Michigan ran for 201 yards and held Rutgers to only 77 yards on the ground.
“Who’s the bully? They come in thinking they’re the bully,” senior running back Blake Corum said. “We bully bullies. We take pride in that.”
Best receiver
Eight of Michigan’s 15 receptions came from tight ends — 5 by sophomore Colston Loveland (a career high) and 3 from senior AJ Barner. Loveland was fantastic, notching a career-best 75 receiving yards, and he made two huge plays in particular.
He was wide open on a 35-yard gain after a fake reverse and flea flicker to set up a Corum touchdown on the next play, and he dove for a 28-yard chunk play in the fourth quarter, which also led to six points for the Maize and Blue.
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Breakout freshman
Michigan’s freshman wideouts received a lot of attention during fall camp but didn’t make much of an impact in nonconference play. Slot Semaj Morgan was given his chance Saturday and made the most of it, with a 12-yard gain on a screen pass on Michigan’s 94-yard touchdown-scoring drive in the first quarter and making a great adjustment and grab on an 18-yard slot fade.
Still struggling
Michigan junior running back Donovan Edwards just hasn’t gotten going in the run game this season. He’s rushed 33 times for 109 yards with a 14-yard long, after a strong finish to the 2022 campaign. He went down too easily on a few plays Saturday, not getting enough after contact. He totaled 13 rushing yards on 6 carries, including just 5 after contact (per PFF).
Senior running back Blake Corum, meanwhile, did not struggle. The bell cow ran 21 times for 97 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s already punched in 8 rushing scores on the year. Junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy totaled 51 yards on 7 rushes, in addition to completing 15 of his 21 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown. The added element of his legs could be a real difference-maker for the offense.
Fizzle outs
Michigan had a solid day offensively, but it left some meat on the bone. The Wolverines went three-and-out to start the game, but drove at least 42 yards on the rest of its possessions, including five of the next six amassing 59 or more yards. The two disappointing drives ended in field goal attempts — a miss and a make.
Michigan was setting up for a 37-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, before a (questionable) delay of game call backed it up to 42 yards, and graduate James Turner missed the kick. That, too, was disappointing, bad call or not. Back-to-back Edwards runs on first and second down seemed to stall the drive. The Wolverines were halted again on their impressively long (7:53) first drive of the third quarter. But after chewing that much clock and still getting points, it was hard for U-M fans to get bent out of shape.
There are still some kinks to be worked out with the Michigan offense, and Corum admitted as much in his postgame press conference.
Knocking off the rust
Michigan junior safety Rod Moore made his return after missing the first three games of the season with an injury. He whiffed on an open-field tackle on the third play of the game, though, before Rutgers’ Christian Dremel ran free for a 69-yard touchdown reception. Moore hadn’t played in a game since New Year’s Eve, so making a mistake is understandable, a reason why it would’ve been a positive for the Wolverines to have him back at some point earlier in the year.
The good news: After that play, Michigan allowed only 192 yards and zero points. The defense was dominant.
