Michigan didn’t look dominant, but still got the 28-21 win over Rutgers on Saturday. Head coach Kyle Whittingham and his team got their first win on the road, and while it might not inspire confidence moving forward, the Wolverines do advance to 5-3 overall on the season with four games left.
Here are three winners and three losers from this week’s game.
Winner | QB Tommy Carr
Quarterback Tommy Carr looked pretty good in this one. He had a few passes he’d probably like to have back, but he didn’t have a turnover and finished
22-of-27 passing with 266 yards and one touchdown. He also picked up two touchdowns on the ground and ended with 12 carries for 54 yards. Not a bad outing in his second career start, especially since he dealt with the flu all week.
Loser | Special Teams
Oof, it was a rough day for kicker Trey Butkowski. He missed a 48-yard field goal and a 35-yarder after that. Michigan’s offense was moving the ball somewhat in this game, and it’s a tough thing to stomach when special teams can’t come away with points. Michigan also had a few situations with poor field position after a Rutgers punt. It just wasn’t a great day overall for special teams.
Winner | Passing Offense
Michigan’s receivers had some good chemistry with Carr today. JJ Buchanan finished with 66 yards and a touchdown. Andrew Marsh ended with eight catches for 66 yards. Along with that, Salesi Moa had one big catch for 44 yards. The offense also utilized the tight ends in this game. Hogan Hansen had three catches for 42 yards, Mason Bonner had 27 yards and Jalen Hoffman had 17 yards. Having a quarterback who can spread the ball out is a nice thing at the end of the day.
Loser | Rushing attack
Michigan didn’t need its run game in this one, and it actually found some sort of identity through its pass game. Still, the Rutgers defense hasn’t looked great all season. Savion Hiter finished with a long run of 11 yards and averaged 3.8 per carry. Jordan Marshall finished with five carries and one touchdown, but had zero net yards. As a team, they averaged 3.6 yards per carry. That may be good enough against Rutgers, but it won’t be good enough against the better teams left on the schedule.
Winner | DE Benny Patterson III
Michigan’s top defensive ends John Henry Daley and Dom Nichols were out with injuries, so the team needed someone to step up. Benny Patterson III certainly did in this one, as he led the team in tackles (seven) and had one tackle for loss. While the Michigan defense didn’t look as dominant today, Patterson certainly stepped into his role and looked impressive.
Loser | Ability to limit big plays
This one is a little more abstract, because it’s not like the defense was bad on every play; it just let enough stuff happen to keep Rutgers in the game. For me, that was largely because they gave up too many big plays. That includes the 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter. They gave up another 32-yard pass to running back Antwan Raymond, who had multiple plays go for more than 10 yards. He averaged 7.7 yards per carry as well.
Who were your winners and losers from this one? Let me know in the comments below!
