Defense / ST notes: Michigan tightens clamps in second half, Jake Moody nails five field goals

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Michigan Wolverines football defense was stopping all but one player early on in a 29-7 win over Michigan State Saturday night at The Big House. Spartan wideout Keon Coleman had two big catches early on — a 29-yarder and 26-yarder, the latter of which went for a touchdown that gave his team a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter, with U-M graduate cornerback Gemon Green in coverage both times.

Michigan graduate linebacker Michael Barrett dropped a would-be interception (with lots of turf in front of him) three plays before the Spartans’ lone score of the game.

RELATED

• Michigan 29, MSU 7: Notes, quotes, and observations from a defeat without dignity

• Wolverine Watch: Michigan State tucks away loss, shameful reaction

Coleman kept it going in the second quarter, hauling in two more 20-plus yard receptions — one for 27 yards (on third down) and a 22-yard gain — which forced Michigan to make some changes at the half. The MSU dual-sport athlete, who also plays basketball, was open on a blown coverage for a 51-yard gain in the fourth quarter, but his team was down 15 points at that time, and the Spartans failed to muster up any points out of the drive.

“We made a really good adjustment to double 0,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “He’d hurt us in the first half. We were getting man coverage on him with an overlapping safety. That was a great move, great adjustment, and was able to take him pretty much out of the game except for the one he caught over the middle in the fourth quarter.”

The third quarter has been Michigan’s friend all year long. Through eight games, just six points have been scored on the Wolverines in the third stanza, three of which came in Big Ten play (Penn State).

Saturday night, MSU started off the second half with two-straight three-and-outs. It didn’t pick up a first down and amassed only 8 yards in the third quarter. The Spartans notched 55 yards in the fourth, but it didn’t lead to any points on the board.

“We got great coaches, phenomenal coaches … phenomenal guys that put us in the right position to dominate teams,” said Michigan sophomore linebacker Junior Colson, who led the team with 10 tackles, including 1 for loss. “In the second half, that’s when you see what type of offense they’re going to be, and I think our coaches were great with the in-game adjustments.

“We just had to come out there and put the coffin away. As Coach said, we had to not play with our food, so we had to go out there and do.”

When the Spartans did get something going offensively, the Wolverines shut them down on fourth-down tries. MSU went for it on fourth down on four occasions and were shut out on three, including once at the Michigan 7-yard line when it could’ve tied the game at 10-10 with a made field goal.

“We were able to get home from the edges, get them stopped in the backfield,” Harbaugh noted. “Those were critical stops, turnover on downs. Twice there in the first half, especially when they got inside our 10-yard line and came away with no points. That was a huge stop.”

MSU was also only 2-for-11 on third down, sacked twice and had 7 negative plays. Spartan quarterback Payton Thorne went 17-for-30 passing for 1 touchdown, but he threw an interception to Michigan sophomore safety Rod Moore with 4:04 to play that put an exclamation point on a stellar defensive performance. Moore’s interception was the third of his career and season.

The Spartans totaled just 37 rushing yards, 58 when taking out a 21-yard loss on a botched punt snap that set up a Michigan touchdown. That marks the third time this season a Big Ten opponent has failed to hit the 100-yard rushing mark against the Wolverines. That’s the best showing for the program since 2019, when five conference foes were held to less than 100 rushing yards.

MSU averaged 8.8 yards to go on third down, forcing Thorne and Co. into some uncomfortable situations.

Jake Moody helps Michigan salvage drives after red-zone issues

Michigan scored all five times it reached the end zone. However, three of those trips ended in field goal attempts. More importantly, they concluded with made field goals, thanks to graduate kicker Jake Moody, the 2021 Lou Groza Award winner.

“He’s the offense’s best friend,” Michigan sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy said. “Him being the best kicker in the country last year, guaranteed the best kicker in the country this year. Moody is a leader on this team. He shows up, every single opportunity he gets. It’s just a complete blessing to have him on our side.”

Moody also hit on a 39-yarder, a career-long 54-yard field goal and both of his extra-point attempts. He’s now scored 89 points on the season. Entering Saturday, his 72 points ranked tied for sixth nationally. U-M junior running back Blake Corum was second with 78 and added 12 more Saturday.

Moody’s 54-yarder gave Michigan a three-possession lead, making it 22-7 early in the fourth quarter. That was a huge barrier to hit given the limited amount of time remaining for MSU to mount a comeback.

“It felt great coming off my foot,” Moody said. “We had to adjust the kick line right before that because the wind was dying down and we weren’t going into as strong of a wind, so luckily we adjusted it, because I don’t think I was originally going to be sent out there for that.”

“For a second, I thought the 54-yarder, we should go back to the well one more time,” Harbaugh said. “But I said to myself, it’s Jake Moody. He’s that good. And he put it right through again.”

Moody’s 5 made field goals were second to only his 6-make performance against Indiana in 2018.

“Just another outstanding performance by Jake. He’s a great kicker,” Harbaugh said.

Miscellaneous Michigan defense / special teams notes

• With MSU punting after three plays on its opening drive of the game, six of eight Michigan opponents have gone three-and-out on their first possession.

• Only one team has gained 300 or more total yards on Michigan this season (Maryland, 397). The Spartans’ 252 yards were the fourth-least the Wolverines have yielded this year.

• MSU saw 155 of its 252 total yards come on five plays.

• MSU is Michigan’s third opponent in the last four games to be held under 50 rushing yards.

• Four of Colson’s 10 tackles came within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage, including 2 that were half-stops for loss.

• Junior safety Makari Paige set a career-high with 6 total tackles.

• Junior EDGE Braiden McGregor notched a sack and is up to 2.5 for the season.

• Michigan has forced just 2 turnovers over the last four games.

• With 17 points in the game, Jake Moody passed Remy Hamilton (280 points) to enter the top-five all-time scorers in Michigan history with 282 points.

• MSU had 7 penalties for 75 yards to Michigan’s 4 for 25 yards.