Wolverine TV: Five takeaways from Michigan's 31-7 win over Rutgers

Michigan Wolverines football blew out Rutgers to open the Big Ten season, winning 31-7 Saturday in Ann Arbor. TheWolverine.com‘s Clayton Sayfie provides five takeaways from the victory.  Watch in the video player above or on our YouTube channel. Listen in the embed below or search ‘The Wolverine’ wherever you get your podcasts.

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Michigan graduate defensive back Mike Sainristil made the play of the game, intercepting a 4th and 2 screen pass with Rutgers on the U-M 27-yard line and returning it 71 yards for a touchdown. That gave the Wolverines a 24-7 lead late in the third quarter. Just like that, the game was all but over. Michigan chewed clock and ran away with the 31-7 win.

“We were close a few times on getting interceptions, then we did with Mike,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the win. 

“Just such a different maker, Mike Sainristil. A difference maker, a guy that makes the magic happen when we need the magic to happen. And he made it happen. Beautiful thing.”

“Mike Sainrsitil’s pick — that was phenomenal,” Michigan junior linebacker Junior Colson added. “Did you see him flip me? He flipped me in the air. I was so excited. He’s earned it. He works his butt off every day. You see it in practice — he gets picks in practice — so it wasn’t new to me. He’s always getting picks.”

The Wolverines’ offense was solid but left some meat on the bone, also one of our takeaways. Michigan rushed for 201 yards and threw for 214, with 20 first downs. It ran 61 plays compared to 44 Rutgers plays. U-M knew it would be a meat grinder type of game and out-lasted the Scarlet Knights with physicality, which pleased Michigan’s head coach and the players.

“Grind meat, as Jack Harbaugh would like to say, does say, is saying right now, then end with the football … that warms the cockles of the heart right there,” Harbaugh said. “And [former Michigan head coach] Bo [Schembechler] would have loved it, too. He always talked about every game we went into, he wants to see 200 yards rushing on the ground, 200 yards through the air. That was accomplished today.”