Report Card: Grading Michigan in a 34-3 win over Nebraska

Grading Michigan football in all aspects of a 34-3 clubbing of Nebraska. The Wolverines improved to 10-0 after dominating from start to finish, especially in the running game and on defense.

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Michigan rushing offense: A

There weren’t huge running plays — junior Blake Corum‘s longest run was only 12 yards — but the Cornhuskers stacked the box to stop the run and yet couldn’t. Twenty-two of Corum’s 28 carries went for 4 yards or more, and one that didn’t was a 2-yard touchdown. Freshman CJ Stokes owned the fourth quarter rushing — he finished with 68 yards on only 8 carries.

The Wolverines finished with 264 yards rushing and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. Sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy didn’t even factor into the running game with the exception of a nice red zone call for a 2-yard score.

Passing offense: D

McCarthy was off, and his receivers didn’t do him any favors. He threw only 17 times, completing only 8, and the Wolverines had only 129 yards passing. He did throw 2 touchdown passes, however — one was a red zone score to Ronnie Bell on a well-designed play, and the other should have been to Bell — he fumbled at the 1-yard line, and sophomore Andrel Anthony got credit when he recovered in the end zone.

Michigan’s long-ball success continues to be elusive. Once again, the quarterback and receivers just couldn’t connect. Senior Cornelius Johnson didn’t adjust to the one well-thrown deep ball. Some of the others were well covered.

Whatever the issues, the passing game just hasn’t been as effective as it should be.

Michigan rushing defense: A–

Once again, an opposing running back with solid numbers didn’t make an impact. In fact, Anthony Grant was held completely in check, running for 22 yards on 11 carries. His long gain was only 5 yards against a front seven that dominated the line of scrimmage.

The only negative — Michigan didn’t do a good enough job containing the quarterbacks on the scramble. Chubba Purdy leaked out for 39 yards after getting away from pressure 5 times, averaging 7.8 yards per carry. Even so, the ‘Huskers managed only 2.6 yards per rush and managed only 75 yards on the ground.

Passing defense: A+

Purdy notched one nice passing play, and it came on Nebraska’s first drive. Marcus Washington got behind DJ Turner for a 30-yard gain … and that would account for much of the team’s 71-yard total. The Cornhuskers managed only one other double-digit yardage reception, 13 yards to Alante Brown.

The Michigan defense managed only 2 sacks, but there was plenty of pressure throughout the game. The two Nebraska quarterbacks completed only 10 of 20 passes, averaging 7.1 per completion.

The U-M defense gave up only 8 total first downs, 4 through the air.

Michigan special teams: A

Grad kickerJake Moody made both of his field goals again — from 30 and 43 yards — and coverage on his high kickoffs was outstanding. Nebraska averaged only 17 yards on three returns kicked short by design. Junior A.J. Henning averaged 28 yards on a pair of kick returns and fielded all four of his punts cleanly.

Grad student Brad Robbins almost had another punt blocked, but got it off. He averaged only 39.7 yards per punt but none of them were returned.