Michigan Football: Grading defense, teams and coaching vs Rutgers

Defense: D

If you allow 486 yards of total offense to Rutgers, then you aren’t going to grade out all that well and Brown’s unit really struggled. Vedral is not a great quarterback and he did things against Michigan football he’s never done against anyone else, including throw for over 300 yards or have multiple touchdowns without multiple turnovers.

The pass rush was better and Chris Hinton made a huge play in the first quarter and did a good job of getting pressure all night. He and Carlo Kemp, who was playing defensive end, were among the best plays on defense. Josh Ross was big too.

Early in the game, Ross beat his man inside and drew a holding penalty. Then, he was able to notch a sack later in the game. He was struggled at times this year, but the dude stepped up in a big way in Piscataway.

The secondary struggled again — mightily and allowed four different receivers to catch a pass of 25 yards or more including a 61-yard touchdown by Bo Melton.

It was nice to see Daxton Hill made the game-clinching play with his first interception of the season, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed in his production.

He’s been solid in coverage and has had to do more of that than expected, but if he is Michigan’s best defender, he shouldn’t be silent for such long stretches of game.