On the day that Michigan Football got the 1,000th win in program history, the team won a contest that has to rank near the top of the list of most unsettling wins of the thousand. Michigan got out to an early 23-3 lead but uncharacteristic performances from both the offense and defense allowed the Terps back into the game. Timely plays from the Michigan defense to stifle the Maryland offense late closed the game out and secured a 31-24 victory, but no one can leave this viewing experience terribly reassured. As usual, the game before The Game was choppy. 

Michigan got the football first and went three-and-out, foreshadowing some of the struggles on offense that would pop up later in the game. They ran the football twice but JJ McCarthy threw behind the line to gain on 3rd & 5, Cornelius Johnson going out a yard short and forcing Michigan to punt. Maryland's first possession was a dink-and-dunk endeavor that marched them down into Michigan territory, but fizzled out once inside the red zone. Pressure got home to QB Taulia Tagovailoa on 3rd down, forcing a scramble out of bounds. Mike Locksley put his FG unit on the field and Maryland took a 3-0 lead. 

Michigan's second turn with the football was a display of the rushing dominance that has defined the program over the past few years. But before that, Michigan got it going with a strike down the seam to Roman Wilson that saw the receiver hit in the head at the end of the play. Targeting was initially called but repealed upon review. Wilson exited the game and did not return (he was seen in street clothes on the sideline). Without their top receiver, Michigan kept it on the ground and paved Maryland right into Baltimore. Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum each got to feast but it was Corum who punched it in from two yards out. After the Wilson injury, Michigan ran it seven times for 42 yards to finish the drive and get their first TD. 7-3. 

[David Wilcomes]

Maryland's next two drives were calamities that ultimately cost them the game. On a 3rd & 10 on the first drive, Tagovailoa was pressured by two Michigan defenders, hit by Michael Barrett who popped the ball free, which Derrick Moore scooped up and ran into the end zone for a touchdown. 14-3 Michigan. Maryland got the ball right back, gave up a sack to Jaylen Harrell (who was unblocked off the edge), and punted. That punt was blocked by Michigan's Christian Boivin, the ball winding up in the end zone and kicked out the back of the end zone by the punter Brenden Segovia for a safety. Michgian's lead had thus increased from four points to thirteen points without the Wolverine offense running a play. 

Maryland kicked the ball to Michigan as a result of the safety and the Wolverines drove down for another TD on a drive that at the time seemed to put the game firmly out of reach (even though it was still the first half). Michigan continued paving the Terps straight into Maryland territory, but ran into trouble when JJ McCarthy incorrectly pulled on a zone read and set the team up in a 3rd & 10. Michigan pitched the ball to Edwards for only two yards and were faced with a 4th & 8 at the Maryland 26. They decided to go for it and got bailed out when Maryland corner Tarheeb Still held AJ Barner for an obvious flag. The drive kept going, Michigan converted a 3rd & long to Colston Loveland and once inside the 5 it was Corum who finished it off again. 23-3.

[After THE JUMP: Where it gets annoying]

With 7:59 left in the first half, you would not have been crazy to think the game was already over with Michigan up 20 points. Everything seemed to be going well for the Maize & Blue, but then Maryland's offense began to get going. They responded to the large deficit by embarking on a 14 play, 75 yard drive to score their first touchdown, mostly through the air. Working at a moderately brisk pace, the Terps trusted the arm of their QB Tagovailoa and continued to mostly throw short passes on their way down the field, splicing runs in here-and-there. Michigan struggled in coverage underneath and Maryland was content to make them pay. A pass to TE Corey Dyches got Maryland down to the two and though it would take four plays to find paydirt, a Billy Edwards Jr. QB sneak chipped the lead down to 23-10. 

[David Wilcomes]

Michigan's next drive started with 1:59 left in the second quarter and the Wolverines looked for points before halftime to extend the lead. JJ McCarthy started the drive strong, hitting a quick out to Cornelius Johnson and a deep strike to Tyler Morris to get Michigan into Terrapin territory. Blake Corum survived a fumble (Trevor Keegan recovered) to pickup a 3rd & short but with time ticking down, McCarthy's passing was going to be needed to finish the drive. That's when things went haywire. McCarthy's 1st & Goal pass into the end zone was a dangerous, across-his-body throw that should've been intercepted but wasn't. His next pass was, misjudging the coverage on Colston Loveland pre-snap. McCarthy made up his mind he was throwing to Loveland and the ball was easily intercepted by LB Jaishawn Barham. Maryland got the huge stop they needed and went to halftime down 13. 

Michigan had been the better team in the first half but you got the sense that the second half would change quickly if Maryland could score on the opening possession of the third quarter. Indeed they did. Tagovailoa uncorked a beautiful ball to Kaiden Prather, who snagged an acrobatic catch over Josh Wallace for 34 yards and they'd net another 15 yards on a roughing the passer by Mason Graham only a few plays later. Like the hit on Wilson, there was a targeting review, but the booth officials opted not to enforce it. Regardless, the roughing call stood and Maryland was now inside Michigan's 20. Tagovailoa connected with Tai Felton on a 13 yard slant and now the Terps were down to Michigan's eight. Three rushing plays got Maryland another Edwards sneak TD. 23-17.  

With the game momentum shifting and an air of competitiveness swirling, the Michigan offense needed a response drive. They wouldn't get it. In a tribute to last week's playcalling, Michigan ran Blake Corum three times and punted on 4th & 1. Three-and-out. Maryland was poised to drive to take the lead and seemed prepared to do so, picking up yardage out past their 40 when another backbreaking turnover killed their offense, an interception by Mike Sainristil on a ball Tagovailoa intended for Prather. Sainristil thought he was not down and ran in for a pick-six, but upon further review he was down. 

 

[David Wilcomes]

Still, the interception set Michigan up with good field position and they decided to seize it. It was not the cleanest drive, some more clunky throws and not the same level of offensive line dominance as earlier, but it got the job done. After requiring another 4th down conversion, this one a pass to Colston Loveland, Michigan found the end zone via a Semaj Morgan run. Michigan went for two, calling a goal line fade for AJ Barner that was unsuccessful. The score sat at 29-17 but the two score lead was restored with 4:04 to go in the third quarter.

To the Terps' credit, they didn't go away and Tagovailoa had one of his best drives all season. As I outlined in FFFF, there are a few moments each week where Taulia looks like he could play on Sundays like his brother Tua, and most of those moments in this game came on this drive. The drive got going when Maryland picked up a 3rd & 10 on a screen (neat RPS+) and then Taulia started dropping dimes. On throws to Jeshaun Jones (wheel route vs. Sainristil) and Prather (deep vs. Will Johnson), the receivers had a step on the defenders, but only one step and the windows were not massive. In both cases, Taulia uncorked beauties, balls dropped into the perfect spots and suddenly Michigan's pass defense was being ripped apart. The Prather throw got Maryland to the one and Billy Edwards Jr.'s third QB sneak TD of the game finished things off. 29-24. 

Michigan's offense was slumping in this portion of the game. Their TD drives required 4th down conversions to complete and other drives were fizzling quickly. The next Michigan drive was one of those that fizzled quickly, one first down and then a punt (on a 4th & 2 from the Michigan 44). To add insult to injury, LT Myles Hinton (LaDarius Henderson missed the game with injury) went down with an ailment and had to be lifted from the game, Karsen Barnhart sliding out to left tackle and Trente Jones taking over at RT. With the punt, Maryland now had the ball with a chance to take the lead, a game that once seemed secure drifting into danger territory. 

 

[David Wilcomes]

Maryland picked up one first down thanks to a stellar run by Antwain Littleton II after initially being stuffed, but the drive hit a wall after a false start put the Terps behind the sicks and the combo of Mason Graham and Braiden McGregor sacked Tagovailoa on 3rd down. Michigan's next drive started at midfield with 8:37 to go, one touchdown likely putting the game out of reach. On the first play of that drive McCarthy had Cornelius Johnson running wide open deep for a possible TD that would've sealed it, but McCarthy's throw was behind Johnson, who couldn't haul it in. In response to the incomplete pass, Sherrone Moore turtled against the turtles, running the ball twice and punting on 4th & 3 from the plus-43. Tommy Doman pinned Maryland at the 10 and the Terps were hanging around. 

With Michigan's offense struggling, the defense rose to the occasion in this moment. Kenneth Grant stuffed a Roman Hemby run, sacked Tagovailoa on 2nd down, and then on 3rd & 18 from their own 2, Maryland jacked up a fade that Mike Sainristil intercepted. The ball was severely underthrown (may have been disrupted by the wind) and Sainristil tracked it well for the takeaway. Michigan was set up on the Maryland 39 but again couldn't get the points they needed to put the game away. A hold on Trente Jones backed the Wolverines up and strangely, it was in this moment that Sherrone Moore decided to get aggressive, letting JJ McCarthy throw amid collapsing pass protection, nearly being intercepted on 3rd & 19 after Karsen Barnhart was toasted. Michigan escaped that play and Doman's punt was downed at the 1 yard line. As it turned out, that punt had a sizable impact on the game. 

Maryland rushed once to give themselves some breathing room, but Tagovailoa was still standing in his own end zone when he fired a pass in the direction of a receiver. Unfortunately, the ball fell 10 yards short of the receiver and the referees felt it was not close enough to be "intended" for that receiver, which, when mixed with Tagovailoa in the tackle box, was an intentional grounding. Intentional grounding is a safety and Michigan now got two points tacked on. 31-24 and Michigan got the ball too. 

 

[David Wilcomes]

That grounding turned out to be the final time Maryland touched the ball. Their free kick was with just 3:36 on the clock and Maryland only had two timeouts. One first down would seal the game, which Michigan got thanks to four runs from Blake Corum. His final was on a 4th & 1.5 from just inside the Maryland 40, but Corum churned out the necessary yardage to convert the first down. The team kneeled it down and Michigan had their 1,000th win, 31-24. 

There are a few ways to view this game. On one hand, Michigan survived their game the week before The Game, which is habitually choppy. Last year it required a field goal on the final play of the game to win and both the 2016 and 2018 meetings with Indiana could be described as "uneasy". They survived it while outgaining the opponent (a bowl eligible opponent) in both total yardage and YPP. The team is 11-0 and you can never dismiss that achievement. 

On the other hand, Michigan's pass defense, so crucial for success in next week's meeting with Ohio State, looked subpar for a healthy stretch of this contest, which happened to be the first time all season Michigan faced a fully functional passing game. Taulia Tagovailoa was 21/31 for 247 yards (8.0 Y/A), stats that no doubt will frustrate Jesse Minter. They did bottle up the run, got some pressure, and forced three turnovers (the defense scored a winning nine points), but it was an uncomfortably wobbly showing, allowing long TD drives on 3 of 4 possessions.

[David Wilcomes]

Additionally, Michigan's offense did not look exceptional for the second week in a row. They punted five times and threw one interception against just three TD drives, needing those defensive points to win the game. In the second half, with a chance to dole out the final dagger multiple times, the team punted every possession before the kneel downs. Sherrone Moore's decision making was topsy-turvy, extremely aggressive early on, attempting multiple 4th downs instead of kicking field goals, but then cooled to extremely conservative late. The team again showed a firm commitment to the run and never got the passing attack in true rhythm. Moore is undefeated as an interim coach, but it is valid to have questions about the team's performance without Jim Harbaugh on the sideline during the game. 

Of course, a good chunk of this game can simply be chalked up to JJ McCarthy playing a poor game. He was 12/23 for 141 yards (6.1 Y/A), 0 TD to 1 INT, but he made more than just the one interceptable throw. He missed a handful of balls as well, with the deep miss to Cornelius Johnson standing out as the most painful. Combined with the zone read mistake, McCarthy was simply off-kilter, his worst showing since Bowling Green. Michigan will need their QB with NFL talent to perform like an NFL player to defeat Ohio State next week. 

Michigan is now 11-0 for the second consecutive season and The Game against Ohio State will feature two 11-0 teams for the second year in a row as well. They have not lost at home since 2020 and have not lost a B1G regular season game in over two calendar years. Both of those streaks are on the line against the Buckeyes, with a berth in the College Football Playoff also (essentially) on the line. That game is slated to be broadcast on Fox and as always (well, sans 2006) it will be at noon.