Report Card: Grading Michigan in a 52-10 win at Minnesota
Grading Michigan football in all facets of a 52-10 win at Minnesota. The Wolverines ran over yet another overmatched Big Ten opponent, getting two pick-sixes and some elite play from J.J. McCarthy and Mason Graham on offense and defense, respectively, for their sixth win.
RELATED: Michigan 52, Minnesota 10: Notes, quotes, and observations
Michigan rushing offense: B+
Only 5 of 21 carries — those not in short-yardage situations — for the top three backs (seniors Blake Corum and Kalel Mullings and junior Donovan Edwards) were of the “inefficient” variety (3 yards or less). That’s an improvement. There were a couple of explosive runs, 40 and 23 yards, from Corum and Mullings, respectively, and junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy added a couple touchdown runs and 17 yards. Senior Roman Wilson, too, added 10 on a reverse, part of a 191-yard effort from the Wolverines in a game in which the reserves played the entire fourth quarter again.
Passing offense: A-
McCarthy completed 14 of 20 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown despite having two or three passes dropped. That yardage total included a 24-yarder to sophomore tight end Colston Loveland on a well-thrown ball and explosives of 49 and 34 yards to Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson, respectively. The Wolverines averaged 15.1 yards per completion and came up with some big third-down completions on the way to a 5 of 10 rate of success.
Michigan rushing defense: B-
The Golden Gophers had too much success with their wide zone, to the point it was almost a relief when quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis dropped to pass. They picked up 47 yards in the first quarter and hit the ‘C’ gap and cutbacks with regularity to move the ball between the 20s.
But the Michigan defense adjusted and stiffened, holding Minnesota to 23 yards in the second quarter and 7 in the third. The Gophers’ backs did gain 5 or more yards on 15 of their 34 carries, but they also notched 40 of their 117 yards in the fourth quarter against the Michigan reserves.
Passing defense: A
Kaliakmanis threw two pick-sixes (sophomore corner Will Johnson, sophomore safety Keon Sabb) and completed only 5 of 16 passes for 52 yards. One of those was a 35-yard touchdown when the Wolverines were in the wrong defense, and it gave the Golden Gophers momentum heading into the half. But that was the one bad play. There were 4 quarterback hurries, 4 passes broken up, and 2 sacks as part of a dominant effort from the Michigan defense.
Michigan special teams: A-
There was only one return on 7 punts, a 7-yarder by Jake Thaw, but they were all fielded cleanly. Junior Tommy Doman averaged 42.7 yards on 3 punts and didn’t have any returned. He also put his kicks through the end zone. Frosh Semaj Morgan had one kick return for 21 yards. Nothing great, but nothing detrimental Saturday.
