Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from alarming win over Rutgers

In a tale of two halves, Michigan football survived a startling scare from a rising Rutgers program.

Everything was going as planned after Michigan football took the kickoff and forced its way down the field to take a 7-0 lead on Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights preceded to get a field goal, and the Wolverines regained the football for a second Hassan Haskins touchdown to jump ahead to a 14-3 advantage that was deemed insurmountable at the moment.

The defense was putting Rutgers into fourth and short opportunities to stall their drives. Michigan football answered with field goals that put them on top at halftime by the score of 20-3.

The maize and blue were in firm control and things were on pace for the exact same results as they’ve enjoyed over the past three weekends.

In the third quarter, Rutgers got the kick and went three and out. Michigan followed suit and Rutgers responded with a 12 play, 91-yard drive to gain the momentum that it wouldn’t release until the contest was officially decided.

Josh Ross was out of action at this point with a stinger and his replacements at linebacker made a seldom miscue by giving up six to make it 20-10.

The Scarlet Knights then gained control and pushed it to a one-score game. Then in the last stanza, Rutgers missed a short field goal to get them within four and Michigan finally awoke, for a brief stint on offense, only to miss a game-clinching field goal chance.

Fortunately, the defense came through as Noah Vedral fumbled the rock on their concluding drive by recovering the only turnover of the tilt by Rutgers to seal the deal for good.