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Breaking down Michigan football’s conference opening win

By Andrew Brion

Sep 23, 2023; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines celebrate after defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2023; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines celebrate after defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jim Harbaugh returned to coaching this past Saturday, as the Michigan football team opened up conference play at home game against 3-0 Rutgers. Rutgers WR Christian Dremel opened the scoring with a 69-yard catch and run for six on their opening drive, but the Scarlet Knights did not find the end zone again after that.

It was a decisive 31-7 victory for the Wolverines, as they continued their Big Ten win streak to 16 straight games, last losing to a Big Ten opponent in 2021 (MSU).

Michigan football star running back Blake Corum found the end zone twice Saturday and ended the day with 21 carries, 97 yards, and two touchdowns.

Freshman Semaj Morgan got his first touchdown on Saturday, on a perfectly thrown 18-yard pass from J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy had another good day, seemingly bouncing back from his 3 interception game last week, totaling 265 yards and a touchdown while completing over 70% of his passes.

Another great showing from Jesse Minter’s defense, as they held the previously undefeated Scarlet Knights to just 7 points and 256 yards of offense. Mike Sainristil had a pick-six on a Rutgers 4th and 2 that he read perfectly, his second interception of the season.

Surprisingly no sacks from the Michigan football defense, but they applied enough pressure on Gavin Wimsatt, never letting him get fully comfortable, as he ended with 180 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and just above 50% completion percentage.

Overall a pretty good conference play opener for the Wolverines, offensively and defensively. Typically we’d like to see more sacks or TFLs, but the pass rush was not exactly quiet all afternoon.

Michigan football will be back in action on September 30th at Nebraska, their first road game of the season. Nebraska sits at 2-2 (0-1), partially due to their inconsistency at quarterback. Jeff Sims started the first two games of the season, going 0-2.

Next. 3 takeaways from win over Rutgers. dark

After losing at Colorado, Sims was benched for Heinrich Haarberg, who since then has gone 2-0. It is uncertain who will start at QB against the Wolverines, but it’s more likely we’ll see Haarberg getting the start.

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