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Michigan Football: Parting Thoughts After Dismantling Of Rutgers

By Douglas Brouwer

Oct 8, 2016; Piscataway, NJ, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Wilton Speight (3) throws a pass during their game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Points Solutions Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 8, 2016; Piscataway, NJ, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Wilton Speight (3) throws a pass during their game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Points Solutions Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports /
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What is there to say after a Michigan football 78-0 victory? Finding appropriate words for this one is a struggle, but we’ll go for it.

Maybe it’s best if Lovie Smith, first-year head coach at Illinois, doesn’t study the Michigan-Rutgers game film too closely.

Related Story: Michigan goes Old Testament on Rutgers

If you’re coaching the Fighting Illini (1-4 overall, 0-2 Big Ten), you’re probably glad that the Wolverines have a bye week this week before you roll into Ann Arbor on Oct. 22 because the Michigan football team that took the field Saturday against Rutgers was utterly unstoppable on both sides of the ball and special teams.

The Detroit Lions would have had their butts kicked yesterday, though that may not be saying much.

Anyway, a score like the one on Saturday—a 78-0 humiliation of Rutgers—occurs only once every 100 years. The score was the largest margin of victory in the Big Ten … ever. And then, because it feels good to type it, Michigan gained 600 yards of total offense, while Rutgers had five yards passing and 34 yards rushing.

Which raises a question: Was it a tiny bit classless for Michigan to run up the score like that? I don’t think so, and I’ll tell you why.

First, the starters were pretty much off the field by halftime, when the victors led 43-0. So, Rutgers faced second- and third-string players, glad for a chance to play, for an entire half and still couldn’t stop them. Were they supposed to take the foot off the gas?

Maybe more important, though, is this: Head coach Jim Harbaugh has clearly been teaching the Michigan players a relentless, never-give-up style of play, in which every snap matters, every minute counts. You can’t shut down that kind of attitude after a quarter or even a half, just because you’re up by a few dozen points. Harbaugh has put together a winning team with a winning attitude, and yesterday’s game demonstrated just how far this team has come.

And of course that raises a question about the rest of the schedule: The season at this point pretty much comes down to Ohio State, doesn’t it?

Michigan State lost its third game yesterday, is no longer ranked, and if it keeps playing like this may not be getting a bowl invitation. Still, Michigan-Michigan State is a rivalry game, and guys can play exceptionally well in a game like that. But I don’t see the Spartans—especially without a consistent quarterback—being able to mount enough of a challenge, even if they’re playing for pride.

Indiana has been better than expected, but no one expects the Hoosiers to upset Michigan this year either.

And that leaves Ohio State.

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The entire season has been pointing to the game with the Buckeyes, and it looks as though two unbeaten teams will be facing each other in Columbus on Nov. 26, with a Big Ten title game berth—and perhaps a spot in the College Football Playoff—on the line. Should be interesting.

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