Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from a separating win over Rutgers

In less then three hours of real time Michigan football pulled away from Rutgers in the return of Jim Harbaugh for his 75th coaching win.

Just exactly one minute into the contest and on the third play from scrimmage, Rutgers took it to the house. Gavin Wimsatt hit Christian Dremel on a slant pattern that went the distance. Michigan football trailed for the first time all season. Not surprisingly though, Rutgers would never score again on Saturday.

Michigan’s offense unceremoniously went three and out, until they got the pigskin back. Blake Corum capped off a 94-yard drive for his first touchdown of the afternoon. Both kickers missed field goals on their next drives. However Michigan football got the rock one more time before the half and capitalized. J.J. McCarthy placed a pass to the outside shoulder of Semaj Morgan for his first career touchdown to give the Wolverines the halftime edge.

The maize and blue got the kick in the third and took eight minutes off the clock to only net three by James Turner. On the ensuing series Rutgers was driving and went for it on fourth down, but Mike Sainristil stepped in front of the receiver on a screen play and the rest is history. It was the play that ultimately changed the outcome of the game.

They added one more run for six for good measure by Corum in the fourth. He poured in 97 of the team’s 201 yards on the ground. It’s a season-high in yardage for the Wolverines. Perhaps the more important factor was that Michigan football didn’t turn it over once in the win, like they did too much of last week.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. The defense stymied Rutgers following the first possession

Three plays into the affair and Rutgers was leading the number two team in the country on the road. That didn’t last long though. Michigan’s defense completely denied Kyle Monangai, as the reigning Big Ten offensive player of the week was non-existent. He went for 100 plus the last two times out, but was held to a season-low 27 yards.

Gavin Wimsatt could never find a rhythm. He ended up being the Scarlet Knights top rusher, but that didn’t amount to anything significant. In all the Rutgers offense did accumulate the most total yards against the Michigan football defense this year, but they eventually got shut out for 59 minutes of game action.

Mike Sainristil’s interception was the dagger. Rutgers was threatening and only down 10, but the senior snatched the momentum away in an instant. The unit remains steady at not giving up points. If Kris Jenkins would have scored on his interception a week ago, then that would be back-to-back weeks with defensive scores.

2. LaDarius Henderson may have solidified the left tackle job

The offensive line was tinkering with different options throughout the day. This is mainly because Myles Hinton was struggling again. He gave up at least one sack of McCarthy, while he was in there at right tackle. Plus a handful of running plays to the right side that amounted to very little, compared to the left.

Eventually Henderson came in on the left side and Karsen Barnhart flipped to the right. Trente Jones also saw the field as an extra blocker on heavy sets. None of the backs had a 50 yard plus scamper like they did last week, but it seemed as though they were getting a little better as the game went on.

At this point Hinton’s confidence has to be shot, so building it back up in garbage time is the only thing left to do. Protecting him with Jones or an extra tight end to block is also a possibility. We’ll have to wait till next Saturday to see what changes Sherrone Moore comes up with, or if he decides to mix it up at all.

3. Michigan football finally gets to leave the confines of the Big house

Four games at home to begin the season is mighty comforting, but winning on the road is even sweeter. The Wolverines will get to travel for the first time in 2023 to Lincoln next Saturday at 3:30. It will be a packed house for sure as Michigan hopes to win for the second consecutive time at Nebraska. 2021 was nearly a heartbreaker, that could have cost them their title dreams.

This time around should be a lot less stressful as the Cornhuskers are still trying to find their footing under Matt Rhule. It certainly depends on which Michigan team shows up for play. The slow-starting one or the one with the killer mentality to step on the other team’s throat from the get go.

This will be Nebraska’s super bowl and just another blimp on the radar for Michigan, so taking them lightly is is out of the question. Michigan has to treat this like its a trip to Columbus or Happy Valley and its a must win if they wish to achieve more then the last two years. As it has been seen and said before anything can happen on any given Saturday with a top three team coming into the corn capitol of the world.