Best and worst from Michigan's win over Michigan State

Michigan Wolverines football won decisively over Michigan State, 29-7, Saturday night at The Big House. Here are the best and worst from the game.

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Ugliest scene

Sadly, we’ll start at the end. A mob of Michigan State players mugged a pair of Wolverines in the tunnel postgame. The Big Ten is investigating the situation and will take action.

Also, unfortunately, this rivalry has gotten dirtier and dirtier over the years, with the escalation coming from the MSU side. It got taken to a new level after the game, leading to what head coach Jim Harbaugh called an “assault” and a situation that MSU head man Mel Tucker wouldn’t comment on.

The Spartans couldn’t even help themselves on the first drive of the game, picking up one of their two unsportsmanlike penalties for the night. It’s not a product of the team or their coach, but the program itself.

“We knew there would be stuff after the whistle,” Harbaugh said. “There usually is with them, and I thought our guys did a great job with the discipline after the whistle. We won that phase, as well.”

Footage of the scuffling pic.twitter.com/cipLWi5RBS

— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) October 30, 2022

Heisman watch continues and a milestone achieved

If there’s such thing as a quiet 177 rushing yards, that’s what it was for Michigan junior running back Blake Corum. He gained that amount and added a 4-yard scoring run on a career-high 33 carries, plus a 2-yard touchdown reception.

His Heisman Trophy campaign continues, and now he’ll head into November already having more than 1,000 rushing yards (1,106) through eight contests. He’s the fastest Michigan running back to hit the milestone since his position coach, Mike Hart, surpassed 1,000 yards in seven games in 2007.

Best receiver

Michigan had some success through the air, but the production was more spread out than it was for the Spartans. MSU wideout Keon Coleman may have pushed off on his 29-yard touchdown reception, but he was tough to stop early. Michigan left him one-on-one, and he burned the Wolverines for 4 catches and 104 yards in the first half. He went quiet once they placed more attention on him after halftime, but he did get free for a 51-yard haul.

At halftime, Tucker told the ABC broadcast that Michigan “can’t” cover their receivers. It was really just Coleman, but the Wolverines made adjustments and found a way. After Tucker made that comment, quarterback Payton Thorne went 7-for-17 for 81 yards and no touchdowns.

Most ridiculous stat

Whatever Michigan is doing in the halftime locker room — making adjustments, refocusing, twiddling their thumbs — it’s working in a big way. Throughout the course of the season, U-M is outscoring its opponents 56-6 in third quarters. The Wolverines have given up just 3 third-quarter points to Big Ten opponents.

In the third quarter Saturday, MSU totaled 8 yards and didn’t pick up a first down. The Maize and Blue set the tone by forcing two-straight three-and-outs to begin the half.

Biggest discrepancy

Michigan possessed the ball for 40:33, compared to MSU’s 19:27. That comes one game after having the rock for 41:56 in a 41-17 win over Penn State.

The Wolverines continue to pound the rock — this time for 276 yards on 52 carries, running twice as much as they passed — get off the field on defense (MSU went 2-for-11 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth) and finish strong. In fact, Michigan appears to get better and better as the game progresses.

Big game blues

Michigan wore its blue pants with blue tops for the fifth time in program history and now has a 4-1 record, 4-0 at The Big House. In the uniform combination inside the friendly confines of Michigan Stadium over the last two seasons, too, the Wolverines have been dominant on the ground, rushing for 343 yards against Washington, 297 versus Ohio State, 418 two weeks ago against Penn State and 276 Saturday.

Obviously, the uniform choice likely doesn’t have anything to do with those numbers. However, it does show that the Maize and Blue have shown up and dominated that facet in key games. It’s a welcomed sign after a narrative persisted in the earlier Harbaugh years that U-M didn’t show up in big tilts. That’s no longer the case.

Area to clean up

While Michigan won by 22 points over its in-state rival — something the team and fan base will take every day of the week and twice on Sunday — there’s still a key area for improvement.

The Maize and Blue settled for 3 red-zone field goals and two more outside the red area. Michigan had to settle for field goals twice inside the MSU 10-yard line, surely frustrating.

Three of Michigan’s five negative plays on the night came inside the MSU 10-yard line, too. Going the wrong way in the red zone has become a bit of a trend, after doing so on multiple occasions versus the Nittany Lions.

Michigan has to clean up its calls and execution in order to punch in touchdowns from in close.

Most mobile QB

Michigan sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy had a few misfires, uncharacteristic of the young signal-caller, but he still played a solid game overall and didn’t turn the ball over.

This game, some of his biggest plays didn’t involve his arm, but rather his legs. McCarthy evaded pressure on a few occasions, including one in which he turned around twice and successfully threw the ball out of bounds. He also ran 7 times for 50 yards, including three first-down pickups. One of those came on fourth-and-3, when he scrambled up the middle for 16 yards.

Best clip

For whatever reason (your guess is as good as ours), MSU fans have used the tag line, “Tuck Coming,” regarding their head coach, who’s 10-11 in Big Ten play during his tenure.

MSU “had Michigan’s number” after winning the last two in the series. Now, though, the Wolverines have won four of seven, including Saturday night’s thorough beating. Not only did Michigan put the rivalry back in proper perspective with the victory, but there are major questions about the direction of the MSU program under Tucker, who was handed a $95 million, fully-guaranteed contract last season.

To all of that, Corum says: “I thought Tuck was coming. … I just saw him running.”

Blake Corum: “I thought Tuck was coming.” pic.twitter.com/E1iU0frIkD

— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) October 30, 2022