Michigan Football: Wolverines run all over Minnesota

Michigan football ran all over the Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday night at the Big House in the Wolverines most impressive win of the season.

Coming into the Minnesota game, much of the focus for Michigan football was on new starting quarterback Brandon Peters. But by the end of the night, the topic of conversation had shifted, to Karan Higdon and Chris Evans.

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That’s because Higdon and Evans ran for 391 yards and four touchdowns. They also combined for three touchdown runs of 60 yards or more. Their combined effort led Michigan football to a 33-10 win as the Wolverines racked up 371 rushing yards.

It started on the Wolverines first drive, when Higdon broke out for 47 yards. A few plays later, Peters found Sean McKeon on a screen pass for an easy touchdown. Minnesota tied the game, but it wasn’t tied long as Higdon scored on a 77-yard touchdown run to make it 13-7.

However, that was far from the last long touchdown run of the night for Michigan football. There was much more to come, thanks to Evans.

Evans, who has struggled at times this season, showed his burst with a 60-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to make it 20-7. At halftime, Michigan had 266 yards on the ground against the Big Ten’s 4th ranked run defense.

Evans hit another home run in the third quarter, scoring on a 67-yard touchdown run, which came right after the second rushing score from Higdon. At that point, the two backs had combined for 388 yards, with Higdon at 200 and Evans at 188. Both had more than 100 in the first half.

While the running game was outstanding, the defense was great too. Khaleke Hudson was all over the place, notching multiple sacks, including a strip sack in the third quarter when Michigan football led 20-7. That fumble recovery led to seven points and gave UM a 27-7 advantage.

After Minnesota got 36 and 75 yards on six and 10-play drives to open the game, the next nine possessions ended in seven punts, one turnover and the end of the half. Not a single drive lasted more than five plays and only two gained 20 yards. Six gained less than 10. The Gophers did get a late field goal, but by then, the game was over.

Back to Peters. The redshirt freshman wasn’t bad. He went 8-for-13 for 56 yards and threw a touchdown pass. His first start didn’t produce big numbers, but it didn’t have to. In the third quarter, Michigan football faced a third-and-six deep in Minnesota territory.

Peters found Donovan Peoples-Jones for a first down. Higdon scored a couple players later. The completion was the difference between a field goal and a touchdown, between a two possession game and a three possession game. Peters was asked to make a play and he did, that tells you something.

However, The dominant win for the Wolverines wasn’t the only good news of the day. Thanks to a win by Michigan State over Penn State, UM at 4-2, is just a game back of the Spartans and Ohio State in the Big Ten East.

Sure, a lot needs to happen. But, if the Buckeyes beat the Spartans and Michigan beats Ohio State, it would cause a four-way in the division.

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Michigan football doesn’t have much hope of a Big Ten title, but it at least has some. And with a 7-2 record, there is a lot of football left to play.