Michigan 33, Minnesota 10
[Fuller]
For the second time this season they turned on the lights at Michigan Stadium, and for the second time this season nature showed its unabashed disapproval. Unlike last month, though, Michigan avoided throwing caution to the wind and, for the most part, avoided throwing at all. Michigan’s running game put up 371 yards, a performance Michigan fans haven’t seen the likes of since…well, I’d probably have to ask the people I saw in front of the stadium with commemorative Rose Bowl canvas tote bags.
The ominous been-here-before feeling that hung over the stadium lasted three plays. Demry Croft hit slot receiver Phillip Howard for 25 yards on a busted Josh Metellus coverage on 3rd-and-7; they then rushed for no gain and passed for eight before Maurice Hurst tipped a Croft pass and nearly intercepted it himself, forcing Minnesota to punt.
Brandon Peters got his first career start for the Wolverines and, on their first play from scrimmage, hit Donovan Peoples-Jones for an easy eight yards. From there Karan Higdon carried for 47, a Khalid Hill dive converted a 3rd-and-1, and Peters hit Sean McKeon on a throwback screen for 20 yards and a touchdown. The drive accounted for 32 of Peters’ 56 passing yards on the night, including his lone touchdown. Michigan was largely able to shelve the passing game before the midpoint of the first quarter.
Minnesota responded with a well-executed drive, first hitting Howard—who was again uncovered in the slot—for 16 before calling nine consecutive rushes, including a 10-yard toss to Rodney Smith that Brandon Watson closed hard on but was unable to keep out of the end zone.
Two plays later, Karan Higdon needed one cut and a nice seal of the edge from Khalid Hill to go 77 yards for a score. The ominous feeling had lifted, replaced by an offense averaging 18.3 yards per play.
By the midpoint in the second quarter, Don Brown had made his adjustments, Khaleke Hudson had already racked up seven tackles, and Chris Evans had started to trade long runs with Higdon. Evans put up back-to-back runs of 18 and 60 yards to put Michigan up 20-7, and Michigan finished the half with 266 yards on the ground; Higdon had 163 on nine carries, while Evans had 111 on six.
[Upchurch]
Michigan came out flat after halftime, going three-and-out on their first two drives of the third quarter. Minnesota took advantage of a short field and a couple of successful runs from their backs to creep into Michigan territory. Croft then dropped back to pass on 2nd-and-10. Hudson went over a cut block and lived up to his “Hitman” twitter handle, ripping down Croft’s arm and forcing a fumble that was recovered by Chase Winovich. The backs alternated carries again, Peters never had to look off his first read in Peoples-Jones to get 10 yards on a dig on 3rd-and-6, and Higdon then twisted his way into the end zone from five yards out. Michigan’s score off the turnover put them up 27-7 and essentially ensured that the Little Brown Jug would stay safely in Ann Arbor, spared from having to endure another Stanley Cup-esque tour of the land of 10,000 lakes.
The rest of the game played out in uniform fashion for Michigan. Don Brown’s unit was no longer surprised by Minnesota’s sweep action, while the offensive line continued to open holes for the running backs. Cesar Ruiz stepped in for the injured Mike Onwenu and showed that he could pull and target well in the run game in his first career start; he was yanked from the game after a pass-pro mishap resulted in a sack of Brandon Peters. The rest of the line had similar difficulties with Minnesota’s stunts, but they more than made up for it with their ability to gap-block; counters, power, and dives were enough to put Minnesota away.
The most eventful bit of the second half came at the end of the third quarter, when a Minnesota player appeared to punch a Michigan player after the play. Minnesota’s Donnell Greene was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and tossed from the game, as was Josh Metellus. Metellus acquired his penalty for reasons that remain unclear; asked what explanation the referees provided, Harbaugh said “it really didn’t have a lot of logic to it” but that it involved there being a scrum and Metellus walking toward it; he followed that with a low “womp, womp.”
[Upchurch]
Michigan’s defense, led by Khaleke Hudson’s 6.5 TFLs and 2 sacks, looked like it usually does: excellent 90% of the time, in need of adjustment 5% of the time, and cursed in coverage 5% of the time. The story tonight, though, was Michigan’s offense emphatically demonstrating that they, too, have an identity, a new usual.
“Looked up at one point and the statistics looked like we were Air Force. Thought we were Air Force the way we were running the ball,” Harbaugh said. And poor damn Don Brown thought he was done with them weeks ago.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:55 AM ^
Khaleke's coming out party. Boy was that fun to watch. He and Bush are going to give offenses fits for years.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:06 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 7:03 AM ^
That rip he put on Croft's arm was just straight up VIOLENT.
November 5th, 2017 at 12:48 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:59 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 3:26 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 7:53 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 9:09 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:05 AM ^
I'll take it.
November 5th, 2017 at 8:09 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:07 AM ^
Man, it is so good to see our running game become something we can hang our hat on. I love seeing Higdon emerge, and his speed can turn big gains into touchdowns, a non-trivial issue for the team this year. With our defense, this gives us a chance in most scenarios for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately, it is likely that we are going to need to complete crucial passes at some point this year, and I have zero confidence that Michigan can do that right now. Playing Peters seems to be the right move right now, but it's clear that he has a long way to go. On the upside, he was reading his plays from his playcard this time, showing some growth; on the downside, he was hesitant at times, had poor pocket awareness, and badly missed a couple of throws.
But this is who we are now. The coaches tried to challenge first Speight and then O'Korn to run the entire offense, believing that with out defense we had a title shot if the offense could just turn the corner. It couldn't, and now the offense is a low-ceiling outfit that is pretty bare bones vanilla. It's not good enough to compete with Bama or Clemson.
But it's enough to win some games. And, with our starting QB, our best 2 WRs, one of our top RBs, and our emerging RG all out of this game hurt, Michigan won handily anyway.
Not bad at all.
November 5th, 2017 at 4:06 AM ^
I agree with a lot of what you said but this offense won't be as low ceiling next year. Peters coming in next season with his starting experience and his WRs taking that next step will be huge.
Our WRs haven't done any of the QBs much help this year vice T Black. We miss him terribly but hopefully it gives DPJ and Nico some more OJT. I wish we could see Martin get some reps too.
November 5th, 2017 at 8:16 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 11:55 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
Speight is going to have every chance to re-take his job. There's a reason Speight finished 1st and Peters 3rd in the offseason
November 6th, 2017 at 7:30 AM ^
You're right...and it might not be a good reason.
November 5th, 2017 at 10:20 AM ^
I thought the Peters-to-DPJ third down conversion was encouraging. It was third and long, obvious passing down, and they didn't go for a screen or draw or anything like that. Just let a freshman throw the ball downfield to a freshman and they executed it perfectly.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:14 AM ^
is a Hoss.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:24 AM ^
Higdon is better than Mike Weber.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:35 AM ^
Karan Higdon:
119 attempts 804 yards 6.8 ypc 10 TDs 77 long (9 games)
Mike Weber:
60 attempts 275 yards 4.6 ypc 5 TDs 23 long (7 games)
Fact check: True.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:25 AM ^
Weber just seems like a plugger, a guy who can get some yards when there's a big hole but won't get much on his own. He doesn't seem exceptional at anything. I'm not sure where his recruiting hype came from.
Higdon OTOH has turned into a difference-maker. Runs hard, has greatly improved his vision, and can hit the jets when he gets to the secondary. He looks like our best tailback since Hart.
November 5th, 2017 at 4:06 AM ^
his vision has vastly improved, and coupled with increased acceleration and the confidence hes playing with, hes a tough out right now.
hes always had the attitude and tough running style but were able to really see it now. hes turning short gains into chunks and now that hes got a better feel for the game, he trusts his eyes and knows when to bounce, when to lower his pads, etc. good stuff. the kids balling. hes obviously worked hard to get to this point and seems like the type dude whos only hungry for more. tough to overstate the impact of his improved vision though
November 5th, 2017 at 8:38 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^
It's that he came out of Cass Tech, a highly respected high school powerhouse.
November 5th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
are battling over a recruit and until Higdon's last minute flip, Weber would have been the only RB in either class.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:36 PM ^
As I recall, Weber flipped to OSU after Higdon flipped to Michigan. Weber was going to sign with Michigan up until signing day but he claimed Michigan told him he'd be the only RB in the class.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:59 PM ^
is Mike Hart, only fast.
November 5th, 2017 at 7:48 PM ^
November 6th, 2017 at 1:03 AM ^
Or is that just me?
November 6th, 2017 at 7:33 AM ^
Just you...and sour grapes. Weber is a fine back.
November 6th, 2017 at 10:19 AM ^
November 6th, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^
Looks like we might finally see a 1,000+ yard RB rusher again at Michigan!
November 5th, 2017 at 4:07 AM ^
Higdon has been awesome. What a great find at RB he was.
November 5th, 2017 at 7:59 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 10:50 AM ^
Let's not forget Peppers played everywhere. Punt return alone Peppers was one of the best Michigan has had.
November 5th, 2017 at 3:44 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 10:01 PM ^
I think this is right. Hudson might very well be a better Viper but he isn't going to be a first-round pick as a safety.
November 5th, 2017 at 10:17 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 11:36 AM ^
I thought to myself, S--t...I've known that for 10 years!
November 5th, 2017 at 8:28 AM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:31 AM ^
Oh yeah laundry, yay night game...
Oh and... Harbaugh bested a rival, in a night game.....
So happy! Winovich, hoist that jug up high!
November 5th, 2017 at 1:32 AM ^
That was quite impressive. Whatever faults our OL has in pass protection, they have emphatically demonstrated that they can utterly bury people when they have a talent mismatch.
The question for the rest of the year resolves around whether they can train up to handle Wisconsin and OSU.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:33 AM ^
Love that we finally have home run hitters at tailback. It's been awhile.
Wasn't Minny supposed to have a good run defense? Bwahahaha!
November 5th, 2017 at 2:21 AM ^
but they did give up their season high rushing yards to us.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:37 AM ^
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