Michigan Football: 3 Studs and 3 duds against Wisconsin

Duds

Joe Milton

The first-year quarterback finally looked like one on Saturday. Through the first three games Milton had two turnovers, both were last week against Indiana and I do not fault him much for those as he was trying to lead the Wolverines back from a 17-point halftime deficit.

Milton had another two turnovers this week and one in particular was indefensible. His first interception on the first offensive play of the game for Michigan was not his fault. Nick Eubanks let the ball hit him in the facemask as it slipped right through his hands.

The second pick, on the very first play of the ensuing drive, was absolutely on Milton. He could not have thrown a better football — right to the Badger defender’s chest.

Things got better from there but only because you can’t get worse than two passes and two interceptions. Milton missed receivers and failed to read the defense with proficiency until he was replaced by Cade McNamara in the third quarter.

I would imagine Joe Milton still starts next week against Rutgers, but if he keeps performing this way he will be seeing more of the bench as Jim Harbaugh searches for answers.

Run Defense

As I mentioned above, the Michigan pass defense played well on Saturday, however the same cannot be said for the run defense. The Wolverines surrendered 341 yards on the ground and allowed five different Badgers to run for 30 yards or more.

Allowing over 300 rushing yards is not a recipe for success in a November Big Ten football game. Michigan longest rush on the day was 14 yards by Zach Charbonnet, meanwhile Wisconsin’s longest rush was 43 yards, by a fullback, and the Badgers had five players log rushes longer than 18 yards.

The Wolverines were down both starting defensive ends as Aidan Hutchinson is likely done for the season and Kwity Paye was out as well, but the linebackers and defensive tackles were uninspiring at best and let Wisconsin’s road graders take them to the woodshed all night long.

Josh Ross

Speaking of the linebackers, Ross led the way with the worst performance of all. Each time the Badger running backs got to the second level, Ross was either chasing them from behind or whiffing on an open field tackle.

Ross received the lowest overall grade and lowest run defense grade of any Michigan defender by a wide margin according to Pro Football Focus. After the senior was touted all offseason for making the move from MIKE to WILL, it seems that the transition was not made as smooth as the Michigan coaching staff had hoped.

The Wolverines face off against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights next week in what is, hopefully, a “get right” game for both the offense and defense. Jim Harbaugh is squarely on the hot seat at this point and if Michigan fails to dispatch of Rutgers those calls will only become louder — and rightfully so.