Michigan 35, Rutgers 14
The first of many touchdowns, one hopes. [Patrick Barron]
Welcome to the future.
After four drives for each team, Michigan found itself deadlocked at seven with lowly Rutgers in front of a listless homecoming crowd. Embattled quarterback John O'Korn had completed 3/6 passes for 13 yards with an interception and two dropped snaps. On what turned out to be his final snap of the afternoon, he passed up multiple open receivers to roll out of a clean pocket and throw in the direction of a very well-covered Donovan Peoples-Jones.
When the defense booted Rutgers off the field with 7:01 to play in the first half, ballyhooed redshirt freshman Brandon Peters entered in O'Korn's stead.
"They just told me to get warmed up," said Peters. "When we got the ball I was just standing there next to Harbaugh and he said let's go, you're in."
The crowd instantly came to life. So did the offense. Two Karan Higdon runs picked up 20 yards to open the drive, then Peters got going, connecting on passes to Ty Wheatley Jr., Henry Poggi, and Nico Collins for first downs before Higdon capped the drive with a ten-yard touchdown.
"I wasn't that nervous," said Peters. "Honestly it was a great opportunity to get out there. I was more excited and confident than nervous."
Peters didn't seem nervous. When Michigan got the ball at midfield with 1:49 to go in the half, he marched the team right into the red zone. He had a freshman moment, nearly throwing an interception on a slant to Grant Perry, but that didn't rattle him one bit. On the very next snap, he tossed a near-perfect* lob to Chris Evans on a wheel route for a 20-yard score. With one change in personnel, Michigan went being in a dogfight at home against Rutgers to blowing them out.
"I saw man coverage, one-on-one with Chris," said Peters. "I wanted to give him a chance to make a play and he made a great play on the ball."
The wheel route remains undefeated. [Marc-Gregor Campredon]
Michigan had already made needed improvements elsewhere, and the insertion of Peters served to accentuate them. The offensive line had been opening holes in the running game, which featured a diverse array of powers, counters, outside zones, and crack sweeps. With opposition safeties finally forced to respect the pass, the backs found ample room to run. Higdon (158 yards on 18 carries) and Ty Isaac (109 on 14) both cracked the century mark; Michigan averaged 6.5 yards per carry.
The pass protection also looked vastly improved. O'Korn and Peters both consistently operated out of clean pockets; Peters did a better job of standing in and delivering. Michigan didn't take a sack.
Most importantly, Peters continued dealing. He finished 10/14 for 124 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers. He didn't lock on to a favorite target; ten different receivers caught passes for the Wolverines today. While Peters's stat line may not blow anyone away, he made it obvious he's the best option to run this team right now. His coach agreed.
"He really aquitted himself well," said Jim Harbaugh. "Moved the football team. Played very, very well. He did a lot. From the first time he went in there, just feeling the deep zone, feeling the linebackers drop, taking that extra half second to take a breath, take a checkdown. it was good ball. It was good."
Harbaugh probably didn't need to declare Peters the starter for next week's game against Minnesota, but he did so anyway.
Mo Hurst spearheaded another dominant defensive performance. [Campredon]
The defense needed no such fixing. Outside of a long Janarion Grant touchdown out of the wildcat and one drive in which Rutgers QB Giovanni Rescigno uncharacteristically connected on a couple NFL-level throws, they effectively held the Scarlet Knights to nothing. Rescigno dropped back to pass 21 times; he threw for 101 and took five sacks. Rutgers's pair of running backs combined for a mere 45 yards on 18 carries. Rutgers simply couldn't block Maurice Hurst, Rashan Gary, and Chase Winovich, and freshman DT Aubrey Solomon didn't look out of place on that line while getting the most extended playing time of his young career.
Higdon opened the fourth quarter with a 49-yard touchdown jaunt on a perfectly blocked power play to put Michigan up 35-14. A game that had already flown by didn't take long to wrap up from there. Rutgers wanted to get home. Michigan, one would like to think, was champing at the bit to get the Peters Era underway in earnest when he gets his first career start under the lights against Minnesota.
"It was time," said Harbaugh.
*Nitpickers will note it was a little short. Most Michigan fans, however, saw the skies part and heard angels sing.
October 28th, 2017 at 9:02 PM ^
Thanks. I missed that. Is Balas an insider? I thought he just worked for Scout and it looked like he was just speculating. Either way, fuck him.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:51 AM ^
4th and 1 against Rutgers in a game where we are running the ball well and we kick the FG. That call pissed me off a bit.
October 29th, 2017 at 8:54 AM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
Any word on Onwenu, Isaac, Walker, et al?
October 28th, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
There was a tweet earlier that he was walking in a boot, but tweet has been deleted.
We need Big Mike.
October 28th, 2017 at 9:44 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 10:43 PM ^
I would think the xray machine will be busy with Mike, Kareem and Isaac. Don't they typically take a picture just to make sure there are no minor issues? Put them in a boot till xray?
October 28th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 8:19 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
Mood:
October 29th, 2017 at 12:48 AM ^
Cat wielding a desert eagle. Impressive.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:16 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 7:47 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 8:41 PM ^
All the new starters means mistakes. There will be fewer next year.
October 28th, 2017 at 7:51 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 9:40 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 1:39 AM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 7:52 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
Peters handing off to Walker, throwing to the likes of Collins, etc. Just wished I hadn't seen that awful bounce pass to McKeon on the 4th down. That never happened. Fake news.
October 28th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^
I saw Peters rolling out and then he tripped causing the ball to fumble forward a long way in the air and just short of McKeon's feet.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:55 AM ^
I'm cool with that miss to McKeon. It was such a bad pass that I bet he will never leave that one short again. Good to get that out of the way in a good win.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
It was his descision making
October 28th, 2017 at 8:43 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^
Apparent injuries late have me a bit worried.... Especially Onwenu... In any case, Rutgers or not, offense looked must more like what we expect once Peters came in...
October 28th, 2017 at 4:27 PM ^
I was wrong. This week I criticized three subordinate coaches. Everything changed once Peters entered the game today. Peters may not have been ready to lead prior to Rutgers. But he damn well can lead this O to move the ball consistently forward. Some of our success this game is attributable to the deficiencies of Rutgers. Truly however I believe that anybody watching the game will realize Peters has the potential to be something special at Michigan. My only regret is that I was invited to alumni events for homecoming and I let work supravene. I intend to visit A^2 more often for football games in the future because with Peters at QB the watching was heck o' fun. Go Blue!
October 28th, 2017 at 4:35 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
We should have Muppets for Peters. Despite it was Rutgers.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:47 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:38 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
I'm just a bad 80's meme citing bad Geico commercials.
October 29th, 2017 at 1:45 AM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
...but everything (QB play, OL, running game, defense, etc) must be processed through the lense of "it was against Rutgers"
now i'd like to see PSU put up 40+ on OSU and hold them to one TD ...which would present another 'reason for optimism'
October 28th, 2017 at 4:44 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 7:13 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 1:52 AM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
It was a little short.
October 28th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
This was fun to watch and for probably the first time this year, we saw a glimpse of the potential of a Harbaugh offense.
October 28th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
So glad he finally got his opportunity and made the most of it. I don't think we punted once he entered the game. Missed a 4th down throw once, missed a FG once, then scored TDs on the other 4 possessions. What an upgrade. Just being able to find and hit open recievers loosed up the defense so much. We should be able to continue to do this the next few games and hopefully we can develop enough to give the last two tough games a good shot. If breaks go our way, maybe we can get an upset. Either way, the offense is looking much more positive going forward. Hopefully Peters is able to manage being the starter and this was not a farce.
Couple of concerns. 1) Looked like Isaac, Walker, and Onwenu suffered some injury. Walker continues to run hard and look good. 2) FG kicking is so mental and it looks like PSU has rattled Nordin a bit. 3) Did we really just burn Samuel's RS over two meaningless runs at the end of the game? Grrr, Harbaugh's lack of concern over RS frustrates me.
October 28th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^
October 28th, 2017 at 6:13 PM ^
If his RS was already burned against Purdue, the injury status thing of Walker & Isaac is a non-issue because that obviously didn't factor in against Purdue.
I'm not saying you RS everyone. However, it's not as simple as play the best guy in a given scenario. if your 4th best RB is a true freshman and your 5th best RB is not and he only slightly better than the guy ahead of him I don't think you burn the 4th guy's RS over a few meaningless snaps. That defies logic. If however, he is really needed and our one of our best players, of course you play him. But, you don't just blindly play the best guy without regard to burning a RS.
October 28th, 2017 at 10:33 PM ^
Purdue was the 4th game of the season - the last he could have played in before getting "injured" and applying for a medical redshirt.
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