Report Card: Grading Michigan football in a 45-7 win at Nebraska
Grading Michigan football in all facets of a 45-7 win at Nebraska. The Wolverines were outstanding in all areas and had the game in hand at halftime. The report card following a dominant victory in the Big Ten road opener …
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Michigan rushing offense: A
The Michigan offense put up 249 yards rushing against the nation’s No. 1 (statistically) defense. The Wolverines owned the line of scrimmage up front and averaged 4.9 yards per carry … better yet, there were only 3 “inefficient” running plays (0 to 3 yards) between the top two runners in non-short yardage situations … those being senior Blake Corum and Kalel Mullings. Michigan junior Donovan Edwards continues to struggle a bit, though — he had 8 inefficients among his 14 carries. Michigan needs to find a way to get him going. But the line set the tone from the get-go.
“They’re the best offensive line in the country. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that,” Mullings said. “This showing against supposedly the best rushing defense in the country … there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that.”
Passing offense: A
Junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy was on point with his throws on a windy day, and the game plan was fantastic. He’s still at his best in play-action, and he had a few high throws, but 12-of-16 for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns to senior receiver Roman Wilson is beyond efficient, especially when the running game is working as well as it is.
Even better — the receivers were making the tough catches, sometimes contested. Michigan sophomore Darrius Clemons and graduate student Cornelius Johnson both went low for McCarthy darts and held on. Wilson, of course, made the play of the game with his first touchdown grab over a defender, an elite grab. He’s become a weapon.
“That was crazy,” Mullings said of the first score. “I was on a check-down route and I just saw the ball go up in the air, and I was like, ‘There’s no way he caught that.’ But Roman makes plays like that all the time. It’s just a tribute to how good a player he is.”
Michigan rushing defense: A
Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter designed the Michigan defense to take the edges away and take quarterback Heinrich Haarberg out as a weapon in the option, and it worked. He finished with minus-2 yards and Nebraska with 106 — but 74 of those came on a fourth-quarter touchdown by Josh Fleeks against the Michigan third-stringers. Besides that, the backs did nothing. The long run by a back before that was only 6 yards, and the Wolverines were never threatened on the ground.
“It’s a pretty dynamic running game that Nebraska has, especially with their quarterback, and I thought we defended those phases of the game really well,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “But just in terms of guys focused and really focused on their football, focused on the physicality, focused on their execution, focused on the ball security, have to give the fellas an A-plus.”
Passing defense: B+
The Michigan secondary played most of the day without junior Rod Moore — he’s still making his way back from injury — and there were some leaks in the zone. Haarberg threw for 199 yards, completing 14 passes, and had completions of 34 and 56 yards. You don’t like to see the big plays, especially the latter on the first play of the second half. The Cornhuskers averaged 14.2 yards per completion.
Michigan special teams: A
Sophomore Tyler Morris notched a 30-yard punt return, but he muffed it first — that was dicey. But Jake Thaw had a nice 11-yard return, junior kicker Tommy Doman a 65-yard punt to go with more high, deep kickoffs, and James Turner made his only field goal. A good day for the Michigan special teams overall.
