Michigan offense notes: Wolverines play clean, balanced football in win over Maryland with Ohio State up next

Michigan Wolverines football was workmanlike in its 59-18 win over Maryland, keeping the momentum going heading into a showdown with Ohio State to conclude the regular season. It was a clean game on the offensive side of the ball, specifically, that allowed the Maize and Blue to cruise.

For the fifth time this season and first time since a Sept. 25 win over Rutgers, the Wolverines didn’t turn the ball over. Michigan allowed just one sack and had no negative run plays en route to 45 offensive points, 503 total yards, 24 first downs and 6.7 yards per play. Michigan went 6 for 6 in the red zone, with five touchdowns and one field goal for 38 points.

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• Notes, Quotes & Observations

After going three-and-out on its first drive and two out of its first three of the afternoon, the Michigan offense produced scores on six of the next seven possessions (five touchdowns and one field goal).

Michigan was balanced, with 40 pass attempts and 35 rushes, compiling 352 yards and three touchdowns through the air, plus “151 yards and a trio of scores on the ground.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara was steady, completing 21 of his 28 pass attempts for 259 yards and two touchdowns. He’s now thrown nine touchdowns over the last four games and enjoyed multiple-score performances each outing during that stretch. His two-yard connection with redshirt sophomore tight end Luke Schoonmaker broke the scoring open in the first quarter.

The signal-caller feels like the Michigan offense is ascending and is in a good spot ahead of a date with the Buckeyes with the Big Ten East title on the line.

“Obviously, there are plays in the game that you wish you could have back,” he said. “And as we’re going deeper into the season, those plays are starting to really minimize themselves. We’re confident in whatever the defense is giving us, that we’re going to be able to execute it. I would say I’m extremely confident in this offense.”

Redshirt sophomore running back Hassan Haskins carried the ball 20 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns, surpassing the 1,000-yard mark for the season and becoming the Wolverines’ first to do so since Karan Higdon in 2018. He’s just 116 yards shy of Higdon’s 1,176 yards that year, which stands 21st in the Michigan record book.

Donovan Edwards Sets Michigan Record

Freshman Donovan Edwards has had a relatively quiet season, thanks in part to an injury that held him out of two games, but he broke out in College Park — and not in a traditional way for a running back. Edwards had three carries for eight yards, but was a weapon in the pass game, with 10 receptions for 170 yards and a 77-yard touchdown catch on a wheel route.

“Eventually, it was going to happen,” Edwards said of a breakout performance. “I was just going to let life take its course and just continue to play how I play.”

“He’s got so many built-up reps,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “I understand he and [freshman quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy] are throwing and catching all the time. So, we had some good designed plays today, some really good looks to get the back out of the backfield. As soon as he caught that pass, I could see the cutback coming because I’d seen it in practice a bunch of times.”

His 170 receiving yards are the most by any Michigan running back in a single game. In fact, position coach Mike Hart stands 10th among Michigan running backs with 237 receiving yards in a single season (2004). With 184 receiving yards thus far, Edwards is just 53 yards from tying Hart and cracking the record book’s top 10.

“We’ve known about his ability to catch the ball and run routes,” Harbaugh said. “It started back in spring practice after he came off his surgery on his thumb. He was in a cast for like the first three weeks, and he was averaging like seven catches a day, to the point where he was even an example for everybody. This guy is catching, not dropping anything and he’s wearing a hard cast on his hand.

“He was rolling. How fast did he look? Really fast.”

Edwards wasn’t the only first-year player to shine. After not making an appearance last week at Penn State — his first game not playing this season — McCarthy provided a nice boost for the Wolverines. He completed all five of his pass attempts for 58 yards and a 13-yard touchdown toss to sophomore wideout Mike Sainristil, who made a nifty grab in the end zone with just under three minutes to go in the first half.

McCarthy also chipped in on the ground, with a 14-yard first-down run in the second quarter and a five-yard touchdown rush early in the fourth stanza.

Miscellaneous Michigan Offense Notes

• Under Harbaugh, Michigan is averaging 43.5 points per game in six wins over Maryland. The Wolverines are now 9-1 all time against the Terrapins and 4-0 at Maryland Stadium.

• Michigan’s 59 points Saturday and in a 2016 win against Maryland are tied for the second-most it has scored in a Big Ten game, behind only the 78 it put up at Rutgers in 2016.

• Haskins has 13 rushing touchdowns for the year.

• Edwards’ 170 receiving yards marked the highest single-game receiving total of any Michigan player so far this season.

• The Maize and Blue have scored 50 or more points in just two games this season — Saturday and Sept. 18 against Northern Illinois (63 points). They’ve now scored 50 or more points in eight games during Harbaugh’s tenure.

• Michigan’s 503 total yards stand as the fourth-most it has racked up in a contest this season, and the fourth time the Wolverines have posted more than 500 yards. It’s the second-most Michigan has gained in a Big Ten game this season, behind only the 552 it put up at Michigan State Oct. 30.

• The Wolverines’ 352 passing yards are the second-most they’ve logged this season, trailing the 406 registered against the Spartans. It also marks the second 300-plus yard performance of the year in the passing game.

• Michigan’s 6.7 yards per play are tied with the Michigan State game for the most it has accumulated in a Big Ten contest this season.

• For the fourth time in his career and ninth time this season, redshirt junior Chuck Filiaga notched a start on the offensive line. He began the game at left guard, before being replaced by redshirt freshman Trevor Keegan.

• Michigan’s 35 rush attempts are the second-fewest it has had in a contest this year, behind the 34 it had against Michigan State. On the same note, the Wolverines’ 40 passes thrown were the second-most, behind only the 48 they attempted versus the Spartans.

• Schoonmaker’s touchdown is his third of the season and the fourth of his career.

• Eleven different Michigan receivers caught passes, including two who had never caught a pass in a game before — redshirt freshman wide receiver Will Rolapp and redshirt sophomore running back Danny Hughes.

• Eight Wolverines attempted a rush.

• Twelve different Michigan players saw action on the offensive line.