Michigan Football: 5 things we learned from win over Rutgers

Patterson finally played with confidence

While this might seem like a theme throughout this article, Patterson, for the first time since maybe Penn State last season looked like an elite quarterback.

I hesitate to use those words because it was Rutgers, but outside of the one interception, he was perfect. Shea completed 17-of-23 passes for 276 yards and tossed two touchdowns while running for three more, even though he had just four yards on four attempts.

Gattis did a great job of getting him on the move and getting him comfortable. The RPO’s were less frequent, but Patterson did other things in the pocket like bootlegs, something UM had success with last year and it worked.

He opened the game with a long touchdown pass to Nico Collins and never really looked back. Certainly, we will learn much more this week against Iowa, however, it was essential to get Patterson back on track and Saturday, that mission was accomplished.

Confidence is big and despite the lowly opponent, that game had to give Patterson some, which will be huge heading into another top-20 showdown.