Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from a behemoth win at OSU

Without their most dangerous offensive weapon, the mighty Wolverines confidently entered the horseshoe in Columbus and walked out with their first victory there in 22 years by blasting the Buckeyes’ defense 45-23.

Saturday, November 26th, 2022 will go down as one of the most historic wins in the rich tradition of Michigan football. The maize and blue were underdogs for the second year in a row and did the same thing to the Buckeyes as they had one year ago. They smacked them in the mouth and made them submit.

The scarlet and grey came out firing on all cylinders on their opening drive. C.J. Stroud connected with Emeka Egbuka for six.

After a pair of field goals, J.J. McCarthy found Cornelius Johnson on the perimeter and he did the rest. Later in the quarter, Johnson broke free on poor coverage and McCarthy put it to him in stride for a 17-13 lead. Stroud responded by throwing it down the sidelines to Marvin Harrison Jr. to match Michigan’s effort and go ahead 20-17 at halftime.

Michigan football made the correct atonements in the locker room as they came out in the third. McCarthy picked up where he left off in the first 20 minutes by putting one on Colston Loveland from 45 yards out. Then he took it himself from three yards out early in the fourth to go up by two possessions.

Donovan Edwards salted it away with two late, long touchdown runs to secure the Big Ten East championship and a return trip to Indianapolis.

Michigan’s defense came away with two turnovers of Stroud to slam the door shut for good. Jim Harbaugh has his biggest win as Michigan football head coach and a whole lot left to play for.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. Five-star J.J. McCarthy has officially arrived

The gunslinger saved his best for when it mattered the most. He only hit on 50% of his passes but made the most of his 12 completions. He accounted for three touchdowns that were all due to blown coverage on the Buckeyes’ secondary. Johnson, twice and Loveland, once which put the Wolverines on top as they never looked back from then on.

This was the kid that Michigan football fans knew he could be when he committed to Harbaugh. For weeks he was struggling to get the ball downfield, but he and his receivers were on the same page in this one. He also did it with his legs as he ran for one and helped open up the floodgates for their unstoppable rushing attack to ice it away.

In the fourth, he let Donovan Edwards and his offensive line take over. They gashed the Buckeye defense with an 85-yard run and 75-yard runs that were house calls by Edwards.

His hand injury didn’t bother him as he was barely touched on both of his lengthy touchdown runs. The offensive line may win the Joe Moore award again just based on this performance alone.

2. Donovan Edwards broke Ohio State’s defense for good

The sophomore stepped in for Blake Corum, who couldn’t cut and accelerate like we’ve come accustomed to seeing from him. He lost his Heisman chances, but may still get the invite to New York for what he did in the 11 games prior and the fact that his squad is 12-0 and on the cusp of a Big Ten title and perhaps more.

Edwards gained 160 yards on two plays alone that ended with game-sealing touchdowns. He put the rock in his hands and carried Michigan football to victory. He got a ton of help from his offensive line which opened up the lanes for him to sprint through. His showing will be remembered forever, just like Hassan Haskins a season ago.

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216 yards was the official stat on the ground for a guy that missed the last two wins over Nebraska and Illinois. It turned out to be quite a balanced offensive onslaught with 278 through the air and 252 on the ground. It’s not out of the question to say that without Edwards, Michigan football may not win this thing.

3. Jesse Minter’s second-half adjustments were unmatched

Once again defensive coordinator Jesse Minter called a perfect second half. He forced Stroud into two turnovers and Eyabi Okie got the lone sack on him.

Most importantly, he didn’t let Stroud beat them deep often. Ohio State had just two plays over 40 yards on the afternoon and only one of them was for a touchdown.

Thanks to the help of Michigan’s offense, it took Ohio State’s offense out of sync. They weren’t running plays as they did with the lead in the first half.

The Buckeyes had to quit running it once they got down two scores and it was because of Minter’s magnificent unit that made them one-dimensional.

Minter proved his valuable worth to this bunch and will make people compare him to Mike MacDonald. Folks were wondering how he would replace him and he definitely earned his stripes with this outstanding performance.

Now Michigan can breathe a sigh of relief for a week until they meet up with another high-powered offense in Purdue in the Big Ten championship tilt next Saturday night.