Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from resounding win over Wisconsin
By Nick Popio
The defense was resilient from the word go
Michigan’s defense was brilliant once again on Saturday. The Wolverines owned the Badgers offense for the most part of the victory. They forced three turnovers that turned into points and held the Badgers to just a mere 210 yards of offense. Once Graham Mertz left, the Badgers were never the same on that side of the ball.
David Ojabo had a breakout performance with a pair of sacks, one of which was a turnover that Michigan got points out of. Dax Hill also made his presence felt with a sack that took Mertz out of the game for good. He also intercepted Chase Wolf, which also led to more points on the scoreboard for the maize and blue.
And what a punishing effort by #Michigan's defense - lived in the Wisconsin backfield much of the day. And while knocking the Badgers' two best offensive players out of the game isn't to be celebrated, it's proof of just how imposing they were...
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) October 2, 2021
The run defense did its job by holding the normally formidable Badgers rushing attack to 43 yards and totally non-existent.
Wisconsin had one drive at the end of the first half that gave them hope, but Michigan quickly put an end to that in the second by eliminating Mertz and handling what Wisconsin threw at them by keeping them out of sync offensively.