Michigan 52, Rutgers 0
Near the end of the third quarter, with Michigan up 38-0, Matt Millen summarized the game thusly: "I can't tell whether this is great play by Michigan or poor play by Rutgers."
Such is the Tao of Rutgers. Still, there were some unquestioned good signs for a Michigan team desperate for progress coming off the Wisconsin disaster. First and perhaps most important, they didn't fumble the ball away on the game's opening drive, instead getting out to midfield in four plays before Nico Collins took a quick out and broke free up the sideline for a 48-yard touchdown.
The game went smoothly from there, looking akin to any other Michigan-Rutgers matchup since 2015. The Wolverines scored on eight of their ten actual drives, seven of them touchdowns, with the last three led by backup quarterback Joe Milton. Patterson looked sharp outside of an interception on an underthrown deep shot (which, fine, we asked for those), spreading the ball around for 276 yards on 23 attempts while making plays inside and outside the pocket; he added three short rushing touchdowns as tempo and naked bootlegs helped solve M's previous goal line woes.
The passing game moved the ball in such large chunks that the running backs were mostly left to churn out tough yards in the red zone—Michigan spent the game inching their way towards four yards per carry, though the featured rotation of Zach Charbonnet, Christian Turner, and Hassan Haskins all finished above that mark. Seven receivers, meanwhile, finished with at least 20 yards, led by Ronnie Bell (six catches, 83 yards) and a healthy looking Donovan Peoples-Jones (four catches, 62 yards).
Kwity Paye ruined the #narrative. [Barron]
BTN seemed intent on playing up an Artur Sitkowski revenge game scenario with a bit of fudging about how the quarterback "chose" Rutgers over an "offer" from Michigan. That did not come to pass. Sitkowski spent the game under constant pressure from the Wolverine defensive line, dinking and dunking his way to a mere 106 yards on 24 attempts. The defense shut down the legitimately solid rushing duo of Isaih Pacheco and Raheem Blackshear, who combined for only 34 yards on 16 carries. By adding 55 receiving yards to his 11 rushing yards, Blackshear easily led the Scarlet Knights in total yards from scrimmage. Kwity Paye had more TFLs (3.5) than Rutgers as a team (3).
On the home side, there were celebrations of the usual spate of backup highlights. Milton threw for 54 yards on just four attempts, one a 23-yard score to freshman Giles Jackson, the first of his young career. Sophomore tight end Luke Schoonmaker took his only target for a 29-yard catch-and-run. Freshman defensive back Daxton Hill made his presence felt with a huge hit on special teams and saw his first extended action with the starting defense. The big moment for Rutgers, on the other hand, came when one of their punt coverage guys shoved a teammate over in the vicinity of a Michigan player, who was hit with a block in the back flag.
Michigan played about as well as anyone could expect; the opponent caveats are obvious. Next week's date with 4-0 Iowa will give us a lot more clarity about how much progress has really been made. At the very least, this was a football game that wasn't a terrible viewing experience, and that's something we haven't had in a while.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
September 29th, 2019 at 9:11 AM ^
It seemed like a benefit of that was that we got the plays in quicker, which has infuriated me in the past to see the play clock winding down. This should also lead to quicker more decisive action by all offensive players.
September 29th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
Some OCs are better in the box and some are better on the sideline - but the best offensive programs seem to favor a very strong OC presence on the sideline even if it’s the HC making the adjustments. The Bama OC is always on the sideline, Riley, Dabo, Leach, Malzahn, Mullen, Herman, Shaw.
The emotional ebbs & flows are much easier to read on the sideline and the ability to give immediate feedback to guys learning a system must outweigh the objective Xs & Os in the box.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
Pluses: The offense looked crisp; QBs under center on goal line; Gattis’ presence on the field seemed to be a good idea; playcalling was good; defense played pretty disciplined ball, lots of guys running to the ball as well. No obviously stupid errors. The Team looked prepared.
Minuses: Not sure there were very many, though I wonder whether throws to running backs achieving whatever success Rutgers had, is on their pretty good running back, or on a defensive weakness that we’ve seen before?
Regardless, though it was Rutgers, the team showed discipline and looked like the team we expected to see three weeks ago. I was happy with the dominating performance.
September 28th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
Play calling was not great, the difference was we were gaining yardage thus your impressions.
I am surprised by all of the down votes; do folks really think the play calling was great or is that the impression because the plays were making positive yards and sustained drives? We were playing a defense which is ranked 89th against the pass rush and opponents were averaging nearly 5 yards a a carry. We mustered a total of 144 rushing yards (69 at the half).
September 28th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
I really don't see how you can say that. The play calling was way better. We played 1 dimensional football against army, and the wrong kind. If we were going to eliminate half our offense it should've been abandoning the run against their hopelessly outmatched grabby secondary, instead we turtled and abandoned the passing game, and ran into stacked boxes through overtime. Then against Wisconsin we did the exact opposite again. They started Ends at Tackle and played the whole game in nickel and we refused to run at them behind onwenu, and threw a bajillion ineffective passes instead. Today we had a relatively balanced offense with a diversity of plays, ran successfully enough to throw, and threw at 1 on 1 mismatches. Plus in goal line we ran the qbs after faking the run from under center. Vast improvement across the board.
September 28th, 2019 at 6:29 PM ^
I would not say the play calling was "way better". We had some improvements with quicker reads (quick outs) and actual speed in space plays with DPJ. Also had some throws to tight coverage. That was definitely better.
But there were still too much reliance on slow developing routes that required Patterson to stay in the pocket for 5+ seconds. Only reason those worked today was because Rutgers has no real pass rush and Patterson stood in there waiting without getting pressured.
And there is still no real threat to run with QB outside of goal line stand. This killed our running game.
Baby steps. Definitely baby steps towards getting better, but let's not act like everything is behind us right now. I doubt that this team right now scores more than 10~14 points against legit defense.
September 28th, 2019 at 11:16 PM ^
This probably won't get read, but I was more than happy with Shea not running the ball once against Rutgers. He might actually finally be almost 100%, and we need a 100% Shea come Iowa. I did not want the playcalling to risk Shea getting injured, so no complaints here. He will run the ball more in the future - I am confident of that.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
The play calling went from absolute dumpster fire to above average, even intelligent with the designed rollouts to help shea get comfortable. I would honestly lay all of our early season problems at the feet of the play design to this point, it essentially tied both the offenses hands behind its back. How is going from national headline embarrassing disaster to competant blowout not way better?
September 29th, 2019 at 1:57 PM ^
No one said that rather an assertion was made that the call playing was spectacular. It was decent but we still had a few series when it was not. The primary difference was our plays were working against a cupcake team. Shea had more time to throw than in previous contests, he still made some poor reads, and the lack of a truly solid running game is disturbing.
September 30th, 2019 at 6:23 AM ^
The RB's averaged 4.4,4.4 and 5 yards per carry. Zach only had 5 carries. I think the running game is making improvements. Although it was Rutgers.
September 29th, 2019 at 7:10 AM ^
Wow is that misguided. We won 52-0 and put up points on most of our drives. What type of "playcalling" would you have preferred? I would have hoped we could have run the ball better, but that may have been a factor of execution by the OL and Rutgers loading the box all day. You did notice that our WR's were basically wide open on most plays?
September 29th, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^
Reporter: "Coach, how do you explain your team's poor performance?"
Coach: "But we won 52-0."
Reporter: "Yes, but you didn't look good doing it"
Coach: ?????
September 28th, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
And we got a rushing Rutger too.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:20 PM ^
I think that’s called a “Rushgers”!
September 28th, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
Giving Rutgers a prolapsed anus was expected. We won't find out if Michigan turned the corner until Iowa comes to town next week.
September 28th, 2019 at 5:28 PM ^
Expected? I didn’t take it for granted. The trajectory this team was on a week ago could’ve made this Akron 2.0.
I’m not celebrating, but I’m not gonna hide my big sigh of relief either. WHEW. Team not a complete tire fire yet.
September 28th, 2019 at 7:26 PM ^
After last week, I understand your angst. I still have enough faith in the coaches and team to win big against a crap team. I haven't sunk to RR or Hoke era levels of BPONE (yet). Now can this UM team beat ranked teams?
September 28th, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
Ya know, it wasn't exactly a foregone conclusion. It should have been one, so it's good to see that we're at least on the right side of things there.
Sometimes you just need a slow pitch to build up a head of confidence.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
Obviously happy to get the win. And Shea looked pretty good and didn't get pounded, so that was nice. But it was against Rutgers. I remain really concerned about his inability to make decisions and get the ball out quickly. There were quite a few times, particularly early in the game, where he had trouble letting the ball fly. I thought he got bailed out by the fact that it was Rutgers and by the superiority of our athletes. Against stouter defenses and better athletes he's going to get crushed.
I'm not an Xs and Os guy, but I am surprised we don't use more one and two step drop bubble screen type plays. I thought that would be a big component of #speedinspace, and would really help out Shea who appears to be missing elite-level decision making skills. Maybe I missed them, but I can't recall any of those kind of quick throw plays in this game or any of the previous ones.
September 28th, 2019 at 8:39 PM ^
There were a couple of them today, one to a RB and one to DPJ (I think). They both went for 5-10 yards.
September 29th, 2019 at 9:49 AM ^
You say that Shea got bailed out because of our superior tal not but won that superior talent be there for us against most teams. I would say the only team we will play where the talents is less will be OSU. Shea played a good game. I hope it continues next week.
Go Blue!
September 28th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
I can’t help but notice Milton’s ball has a distinct velocity that Shea does not. That along with his physical presence in the pocket makes me think he should be the man sooner than later. The quality of our WRs with an NFL strength arm to throw them open makes me drool. I don’t mean to poop on Shea when he had a very solid day but my eyes are on a high ceiling vs a high floor.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:34 PM ^
Agreed the velocity is impressive, but if that was all it takes to be a good QB, Shane Morris would have been a multi year starter at Michigan.
Milton has huge upside but he’s still raw as hell. He needs to improve his accuracy (the throw to Black was an easy one he threw at Blacks knees), and learn to put touch on the ball.
The most impressive ball he threw all day was the TD to Giles Jackson. Not because of the length or speed, but because it was a pretty, catchable ball. It didn’t require NFL heroics like the laser that DPJ caught earlier from him.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
I will say he looked like a reasonable facsimile of a qb today instead of a cannon with no guidance.
September 28th, 2019 at 6:06 PM ^
I agree that’s the other positive “growth” thing that I see from him. I’ve never played or coached, but it really seemed like he was running the offense & marching that team down the field, which I’ve never seen previously.
I think it helped him to know he was going to have a solid 2-3 drives to himself before getting pulled. In all prior games, it was just a couple of plays or kill clock time.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^
And he was running the offense. Not just handing off in garbage time or being the last thing tried in a debacle.
One of my criticisms is that as soon as a Michigan coach gets the lead, it's turtle time. They need to keep going for it with second/third string players. So everyone gets live reps running real plays.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:44 PM ^
Oh for sure he’s raw but game experience is the fastest way to polish that out. I like his height & stature too. He looks like he can see the field better or is just more confident as the big bodies crash around him.
September 28th, 2019 at 5:29 PM ^
I really liked his form on that TD throw. Stood in the pocket with excellent footwork, strode into his throw, and hit the receiver perfectly. Granted he had no pressure, but he played it perfectly.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:16 AM ^
Replace Patterson for Milton and there’s no difference
September 28th, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
You are right on about Joe. If he’s not wrecked and develops appropriately it is likely he could be NFL bound. The good things about this week? We won decisively and executed without mistakes. The bad? OL still had trouble opening holes, WR still need to get some separation, and shea’s reads weren’t great. What troubled me the most was the lack of energy and enthusiasm on the sideline.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
Shea was ok but against a way overmatched team. Still held onto the ball too long and ignored wide open receivers to throw to the guy he was fixated on, usually Bell.
September 28th, 2019 at 6:55 PM ^
I mean, 12 YPA with a long of 48 is better than just OK, even against poor competition. Shea played very well today.
I suspect that Bell works a little harder to get open than the our top receivers do, which is meant to be less of a criticism of the top guys than it is in praise of Bell. I loved his effort on that reception down to the 2.
Milton put a nice touch on the ball to Jackson, slowing the velocity down considerably (compare it to the velocity with which he threw to Black, Schoonmaker and DPJ). Good to see him make on-time, in-rhythm throws.
September 29th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
He was ok. If he made quicker decisions and didn't lock onto one receiver, throwing to the gigantic leapy guys when they're open, he would have averaged 20 and had more throwing tds in the first half.
September 29th, 2019 at 1:23 AM ^
Don’t let Milton’s arm fool you into thinking Shea’s got a floppy arm. I remember the first time seeing Shea throw vs ND and thinking “man this guy throws harder than JOK, BP, and Wilton combined”
Milton doesn’t just have an NFL arm, he has a fucking cannonball. His arm is probably stronger than 95% of NFL QBs.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:22 PM ^
Iowa is now our focus....die puntasarus Ferenz, Die!!!!
September 28th, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
Michigan exceeded expectations, albeit a bad Rutgers team. Looking for more good play against a better ranked IA team next week. Michigan will need better OL and DL play. They'll need to kick it up another level. The win over Rutgers is a good start and good for the locker room.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
That block in the back penalty was brutal. Astounding that someone was able to watch that play and throw a flag there. Conversely, in terrible commenting, the Peoples-Jones penalty for being covered on the line of scrimmage was completely right, to my understanding. DPJ needs to make sure he's not covered if he's running routes.
September 28th, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
Rutgers also got away with 2 OPIs where they picked M's defense on crossing routes.
September 28th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
Yeah. Commentators mentioned that. And that at least one of them look like offensive pass interference that should have been called. Like Brian says, rubbin's racin, but there is a point that enough is enough.
September 28th, 2019 at 8:47 PM ^
Yeah, they didn't know what they were looking at, and even I could see it! Also, I thought I heard the ref (or an announcer) say a WR was covered - so I looked right at DPJ on the replay. It was clear... As clear as the block in the back penalty was not a penalty!
September 28th, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
We did a lot of things well, put up 52 & pitched a shut out. Something to build off of.
Our season just started over.
Onward, Go Blue!
September 28th, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
It’s still Rutgers, but it was as good as could be expected. And shutting out an opponent is difficult regardless of who they are.
I’ll happily take the win. We’re going to learn a lot more about what progress this team has made when they play a very tough Iowa team next week. Thank god It’s in Ann Arbor and not in the house of horrors that is Kinnick Stadium.
September 28th, 2019 at 4:59 PM ^
You know we had a good game if the postgame article only has 50 replies after one hour.
September 28th, 2019 at 7:02 PM ^
Much less to RABBLE about today.
September 29th, 2019 at 8:28 AM ^
Lots of people thinking up things to bitch about & criticisms of coaches after a 52-0 win.
"Yeah but it was only Rutgers" has been used up already.
September 28th, 2019 at 5:03 PM ^
Good effort on both sides of the ball. Let's build on this and beat Iowa next week. GO BLUE ??
September 28th, 2019 at 5:24 PM ^
Anyone who was in the stadium knew that it was a misty, ugly day. The biggest improvements were our receivers caught balls which were catchable and our backs and qb’s hung onto the ball. The stadium was by in large very subdued with the greatest energy being expressed for the 101 y.o. Capt. Jack. Heck yes we rolled over a vastly inferior football team and it was critical to see blue sustain drives. The play calling still needs improvements, Shea continued to telegraph and his throws were not spot on, our o line did not control the LOS, our WR need to run routes better, and our d was still getting killed on the drag routes. Hopefully this was a scrimmage for the real test of this team next week? Would have loved to see this performance game 1 though if this is the indication of starting at ground zero and making improvements week to week it will be an interesting year.
September 28th, 2019 at 9:56 PM ^
we see it differently, to me it was misty but a beautiful fall day, the stadium energy was (as it always is) much more positive than the board energy.
I still would like to see this stadium make more noise when the other team is on defense, it didn't matter today but there are games where we should take full advantage of being at home, starting with next week.
September 28th, 2019 at 10:34 PM ^
The student section was around 1/4 empty at the start of the game and 1/2 empty in the 3rd quarter. Apart from a couple Rutgers 3rd down possessions the fans were largely quiet. My section which always stands was seated almost the entire game. It was not normal.
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