5 things we learned from Michigan football win over Rutgers

Michigan football opened Big Ten play with a win over Rutgers and here are five things we learned about the Wolverines. 

Saturday’s game didn’t start as expected for Michigan football, with Rutgers quickly jumping in front of the Wolverines with a long touchdown pass after a missed tackle.

Yet, after that, Michigan football did what it was supposed to do against Rutgers and outscored the Scarlet Knights 31-0 as the Wolverines improved to 4-0 and won their first game with Jim Harbaugh back as the head coach.

Again, some Michigan football fans were frustrated on Saturday, especially with the offense at points, but the Wolverines controlled the game and the defense was dominant.

Looking back, here are five things we learned from the Michigan football win over Rutgers.

It felt right with Jim Harbaugh

We told you that Michigan was going to play better with Jim Harbaugh on the sidelines that was 100 percent true.

The running game was the best it’s been all season against a stout Rutgers defense. We predicted that Michigan would hit 200 rushing yards for the first time this season in our pre-game predictions, which proved to be true.

LaDarius Henderson replaced Myles Hinton for the second straight game and it’s time to make that move permanent.

There might not be anything tangible you can point to that illustrates the importance of Harbaugh being back on the sidelines — you could just feel the energy among the team and Jim was fired up in the post-game as the team sang “Hail to the Victors!”

2. Nothing to worry about with McCarthy

J.J. McCarthy missed his first two passes of the game against Rutgers, but he then proceeded to complete 15-of-19 passes and finished with 214 yards passing and a touchdown to go along with seven rushes for 51 yards.

I’ve been begging for the staff to run McCarthy more and they did on Saturday in some key short-yardage situations, including a fourth-and-one with Kalel Mullings in the game. Everyone was guessing a power run and McCarthy took it to the sideline for an easy first down.

Last week was uncharacteristic for McCarthy and he showed the Bowling Green game was a one-off performance. The ball was never in jeopardy on Saturday and his touchdown pass to Semaj Morgan was a thing of beauty.

McCarthy is the best quarterback in the Big Ten for my money and the accuracy, as well as the playmaking ability he showed against Rutgers, is the reason why. Still, it was good to see a bounce-back game from J.J., plus it was good to see his confidence hasn’t waivered at all.

The run game is still improving

Michigan football isn’t running the ball quite as well as it did last season, but each week, the Wolverines have made progress and they certainly did on Saturday.

Leading up to the game, it was clear that this Rutgers squad was no joke. The Scarlet Knights were 3-0 and boasted one of the best run offenses in the Big Ten, as well as one of the best-rushing defenses.

Yet, Michigan was up to the challenge. There was only one explosive run in the game, which came from McCarthy, but Blake Corum fell just shy of 100 yards with 97 on 21 attempts, as well as two touchdowns.

Corum is looking more and more like himself and by the time November rolls around, he’s going to be better than ever. Mullings added a 14-yard run and got 40 yards on six attempts too.

Donovan Edwards got just 13 yards on six carries — which is a concern still, but my hope is that Henderson is the new starting left tackle, with Karsen Barnhart on the right.

That should continue to help the run game get back to the form it showed in previous years, although it might never be as dominant as it was in 2021 or 2022.

Michigan does need to get Edwards going on the ground though. That’s something that’s essential in the coming weeks.

Defense is still dominant

Michigan’s defense wasn’t really tested much in non-conference play. Yet, Rutgers got on the board with a touchdown on its opening drive. That gave the Scarlet Knights seven points when the previous three opponents only scored six total first-half points.

After that, Michigan pitched a shutout. Gavin Wimsatt only completed 10-of-20 passes following the touchdown for 113 yards. That’s not going to get the job done against Michigan, especially when the Wolverines stymied the run game, limiting Rutgers to just 77 yards.

Kyle Monangai was the Big Ten’s leading rusher coming into the game, but the Wolverines stoned-walled him and allowed just 27 yards on 11 carries.

Michigan’s pass rush needs to be better, but again, part of that was Wimsatt getting the ball out by design. Rutgers was also 3-0 and Michigan was able to cover the spread against the toughest opponent it has faced this season.

The best is yet to come

Rutgers always plays Michigan tough. It has the past four years under Greg Schiano, so the start shouldn’t have really surprised anyone. The response was impressive though.

Michigan’s defense was solid and Rutgers got in scoring position one more time in the entire game. The run game had its best outing of 2023 and McCarthy was exceptional.

If McCarthy accounts for nearly 270 yards and turns the ball over zero times, Michigan will win lots of games. Yet, you can’t help but feel there’s some left meat on the bone, on both sides of the ball.

Michigan forced just one turnover and didn’t have a sack. Donovan Edwards still hasn’t got going and the offensive line will be better with Henderson in the lineup instead of Hinton.

For the first time this season, Michigan was healthy in the secondary. Will Johnson and those guys are only going to get better as they shake off the rust, and as impressive as the Wolverines have been — we haven’t seen their best football yet.

That’s exciting.