Michigan football countdown to kickoff: 50 days until 2022 season
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 3 opener against Colorado State. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
With 50 days until Michigan Wolverines begins the 2022 campaign, let’s look back at two of the eight U-M games under eighth-year head coach Jim Harbaugh in which the Maize and Blue hung a ’50 burger’ on their opponents. They happened to come in the first two games of the 2016 campaign — a 63-3 win over Hawai’i and a 51-14 victory over UCF.
The 114 combined points scored by Michigan are the fourth most in the first two games of a season in program history. Overall, it was the 11th time the Wolverines have surpassed 100-or-more points in the first two games of the season.
Sept. 3, 2016: Michigan 63, Hawai’i 3
Former NBA star, Jordan Brand mogul and Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan served as Michigan’s honorary captain for the 2016 season-opener, and this game was never in doubt.
When your team has 11 players notch rushes and 11 players catch a pass, it typically means you win the game. The Michigan defense also forced five three-and-outs.
Michigan’s 60-point win stands as the Wolverines’ seventh-largest win margin in history and was the largest since 1975, when the Wolverines defeated Northwestern, 69-0.
Sept. 10, 2016: Michigan 51, UCF 14
Michigan got the better of the Knights on the scoreboard, but UCF head coach Scott Frost said his team “out-hit” U-M.
“It’s hard to say when the score is what it is, but we came out here and outhit those guys today,” Frost said after his team was embarrassed, 51-14. “Standing on the sideline, there’s no doubt which team was hitting harder.
“Jim Harbaugh’s teams are physical, that’s what he’s known for. We came in here and rushed for six yards a carry against them,” he said. “They had 2.9 yards rushing. That tells me our guys are playing hard and fighting. That’s really what I wanted to see today.
“… There was no lull. We outhit them in the first half; I thought we outhit them in the second half. They’ve got a lot of playmakers and they made a bunch of plays. But standing on the sideline, watching the impacts and watching the collisions and watching the line move, I thought we won that battle.”
Even if it were true, Michigan won every other battle (other than the coin flip, our Chris Balas astutely noted postgame).
Quarterback Wilton Speight threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns in his second career start, and had seven passing touchdowns through two contests. The Wolverines’ offense scored on six-straight possessions at one point.
Michigan’s other 50-plus point games under Jim Harbaugh
Here are the other six times Michigan hung 50 or more on its opponent:
• Oct. 8, 2016: Michigan 78, Rutgers 0
• Nov. 5, 2016: Michigan 59, Maryland 3
• Sept. 22, 2018: Michigan 56, Nebraska 10
• Sept. 28, 2019: Michigan 52, Rutgers 0
• Sept. 18, 2021: Michigan 63, Northern Illinois 3
• Nov. 20, 2021: Michigan 59, Maryland 18
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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