Defense / ST notes: Michigan dominates early in 'tale of two halves,' Dominic Zvada makes history

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Minnesota scored only 3 points on on its first nine possessions, and the vibes were high on a rainy day in Ann Arbor, with Michigan leading 21-3 at halftime. But the Golden Gophers didn’t do away, scoring three-straight touchdowns to make it a game at the end, coming up just short, 27-24 to the defending national champions.

Michigan’s defense was dominant early, with 4 sacks, 8 tackles for loss and 2 forced turnovers in the first half alone. Junior nickel back Zeke Berry got the takeaway party started with a forced fumble and recovery, allowing the Wolverines to cash in with a touchdown off a short field, and sophomore cornerback Jyaire Hill picked off a Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer deep ball down the sideline later in the second quarter.

Hill was actually a part of both plays. He was the first tackler on the ball-carrier, wideout Daniel Jackson, after he caught the pass, before Berry came in to dislodge the ball.

“Well, before we went out there as a defense, I was just kinda thinking like, it’s raining, the ball’s a little slippery,” Berry revealed. “So when I saw Jyaire hold him up, I just came after him as the second guy in trying to rip it out. Felt it get a little loose, and I ripped it out for the last time and got the ball out.”

Hill was still carrying the Minnesota football that he picked off while at the podium for his postgame press conference. His big play marked his first career interception, one week after he posted a career high with 2 pass breakups.

“He was running a fade. I didn’t even think he was going to throw it for real,” Hill said of his pick. “I just saw the receiver’s eyes got big, and I turned around. I wound up catching the ball, and staying in on the sideline — toe tap.”

Michigan’s special teams got in on the action with its first blocked punt of the season. Senior EDGE Kechaun Bennett blocked Mark Crawford‘s attempt, and senior linebacker Christian Boivin scooped it up, setting up a Michigan touchdown that put the team up 21-0 in the second quarter.

All told for the first half, Michigan’s defense limited the Gophers to only 130 yards (16 rushing, 114 passing) and 8 first downs.

More Michigan second-half slippage

Michigan allowed USC to come back and take a lead last week, one Saturday after Arkansas State put up two late touchdowns on the Wolverines’ backups. The trend continued against head coach P.J. Fleck‘s Gophers, who were an onside kick recovery away from having a shot to tie or take the lead with under two minutes to go.

“Like I told the team in the locker room, it was just a tale of tale of two halves for us,” head coach Sherrone Moore said. “We played really well in the first half, not as good in the second half. … The execution wasn’t there.”

Michigan’s pass defense let up 144 passing yards after halftime. The Wolverines were playing without junior cornerback Will Johnson and senior EDGE Josaiah Stewart, two of their most key defenders when it comes to containing opposing passing attacks.

Minnesota answered Michigan with a big special teams play of its own, with return man Koi Perich taking a punt back 60 yards to set up a touchdown three plays later that made the game interesting (24-17 with 11:08 to go).

“Really on the touchdowns, we gave them a short field on one and then we gave up the punt return,” Moore noted. “The field position we were putting our defense in wasn’t helping the defense. When they had to drive the field a long time, it took them some time to get down there, and for our defense, I thought there were a lot of really good things to build on.”

Graduate cornerback Aamir Hall made his first career start at Michigan, while senior EDGE TJ Guy opened a game for the first time up front. Hall had 1 tackle, but Guy was a standout with 4 stops, including 1 behind the line of scrimmage, and 2 quarterback hurries.

“I thought TJ Guy played really, really good. He was in the backfield a lot,” Moore said. “Obviously, Jyaire had a great pick, he’s steadily progressing and getting better and better and improving, and Aamir made some big plays. Thought those guys picked up the slack and did some good things, and we’ll see how those other guys are feeling for next week.”

Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada comes up big, makes history

The margins were thin in a game decided by only 3 points, and the kicking game was one of the differences. Michigan junior Dominic Zvada was 2-for-2 on field goals, including making a 53-yard field goal in the third quarter.

He also had a 35-yarder that put Michigan up 10 points with 4:33 remaining on what was a gotta-have-it drive given how the Gophers were moving the football.

“When there are situations when we’re just like, ‘You know what, we just need points. It doesn’t have to be a touchdown, but we need to extend a lead in some way,’ we understand that he’s gonna help us,” Michigan junior wide receiver Tyler Morris said. “And he’s confident, so we’re definitely all confident in him.”

“He’s a monster,” Moore said of Zvada. “As soon as we cross the 50, feels like we’re in range. He’ll just say I’m good, I’m good. I’m like we’re trying to score a touchdown, but he’s like, “’’m good tough. Just want to let you know I’m good.’ He’s awesome.”

His 53-yarder put him atop the Michigan record book with 4 makes from 50-plus in the same season … and he’s only through five outings.

Minnesota, meanwhile, missed its kick that was more crucial in the end than it may have felt at the time. Dragan Kesich missed from 55 yards late in the first quarter. He was 1-for-2 on field goals for the afternoon.

Miscellaneous Michigan football defense / special teams notes

• Zvada, an Arkansas State transfer, has now made 6 field goals of 50-plus yards. He was 2-of-3 from 50-plus during his two seasons with the Red Wolves.

• Michigan senior punter Tommy Doman pinned Minnesota inside its own 20 yard line once (13-yard line) and had 2 punts of 50-plus yards with a 54-yard long on 5 attempts. He averaged 46.8 yards per punt.

• Perich averaged 41 yards per punt return. Not only did he have the aforementioned 60-yarder, he had a 22-yard run back, too.

• Michigan finished with 5 sacks and 9 tackles for loss, after posting 4 sacks and 8 TFLs against USC. That marks the first time U-M has had 4-plus sacks in back-to-back games since wins over Iowa (4) and Alabama (6) last postseason.

• Michigan allowed only 38 rushing yards. The Wolverines have only allowed one opponent, Texas (143), to go over 100 yards rushing. This was the third time this season that Michigan held the opponent to under 60 yards rushing, joining the win over Fresno State (9) and the victory over Arkansas State (58).

• Minnesota’s 38 rushing yards were its fewest in a game since putting up only 33 in a 28-14 loss to Ohio State Nov. 7, 2015.

• Morris handled punt return duties with sophomore Semaj Morgan out of the lineup. He had 1 return for 3 yards.

• Guy’s fourth-quarter sack gave him 3 career sacks.

• Junior defensive tackles Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham each had a sack, and senior defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny and junior EDGE Derrick Moore split a sack.

• Brosmer threw at least one touchdown for the fourth consecutive game. His 27 completions in the game were the most in the Fleck Era at Minnesota. So were the 40 attempts.