The Michigan Wolverines went to the Pacific Northwest to take on the No. 16 Oregon Ducks with a new play caller on offense, a quarterback carousel, and a defense that gave up a ton of big plays.
Things went about as well as you’d imagine. Here is one thing I loved and two things I hated from today’s game.
1 thing I hated: Way too many explosive plays given up
If there was one thing I hoped would happen in this game, it was that the defense would at least show up. You know what they say, defense travels! And Michigan had a top-five total defense and passing
defense heading into this game. Yeah, Oregon has some playmakers on offense, but the Wolverines should have been able to keep them in check a little bit, right?
Unfortunately, this entire team is crumbling, and the defense was no exception on Saturday. It didn’t take long for Oregon quarterback Dylan Raiola to make his first explosive play of the day, as he found wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan for 60 yards and the score on the first drive of the game.
Following a Michigan punt on its opening drive, Raiola completed to wide receiver Evan Stewart for 38 yards before the Ducks had to punt it away. Cornerback Jyaire Hill was burned on both plays.
Then, with 18 seconds left before halftime, this happened:
Michigan was out-gained 326-140 in the first half, with Raiola going 14-of-20 for 261 passing yards and three touchdowns.
But the fun didn’t stop in the first half. Oregon running back Dierre Hill Jr. took a handoff 36 yards — and then got another 15 yards thanks to a 15-yard penalty on Dom Nichols — to get all the way down to the Michigan 11. The drive luckily ended in a missed field goal.
Michigan’s defense played significantly better in the second half … but still managed to give up a 49-yard passing touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
At the end of the day, Oregon’s offense put up 467 total yards (341 passing, 126 rushing) and 31 points, and picked up 18 first downs.
All in all, a pretty poor effort from a group that has been pretty great this entire season. Michigan needed its defense to play at its very best to have a shot at winning, but Oregon’s offense did enough in the first half to negate any possibility of a Michigan comeback.
1 thing I loved: Savion Hiter’s first explosive TD run of his career, and some tough running
If there’s anything positive to discuss from this game, it’s that freshman running back Savion Hiter FINALLY got the first explosive touchdown of his career.
Bryce Underwood took over at quarterback for Tommy Carr at the beginning of the second quarter, and the change gave the offense an immediate spark, as Hiter went 70 yards to the house.
Hiter showed off quite a bit of his skill set in this single play. He had the initial burst and physicality to get through the first level of defense. Then, he turned on the jets to blow past the final Oregon defender in his way. All he had to do at that point was run 45 yards or so and hope the turf monster didn’t rear its ugly head.
It sucks he hasn’t had the best year — hell, not many players on offense have played well this season — but it was nice to see the young running back make a major impact. There haven’t been many bright spots from the running backs this year, but this was a nice showing from the former five-star recruit.
Hiter finished the game with 13 carries for 107 yards and the one touchdown. Hiter is the first running back to go for more than 100 yards in a single game this year for the Wolverines.
Another thing I hated: Coming up empty on a 15-play drive
With the Wolverines down 21-7 in the third quarter after a missed Oregon field goal, the offense needed to put together a quick scoring drive to get back in the game. At their own 28-yard line, the Wolverines proceeded to march down the field, pick up multiple first downs and get all the way down to the Oregon 3-yard line.
All good so far, right? Well, unfortunately, Michigan held onto the ball for 9:47 of game time and was unable to convert on 4th-and-goal, turning the ball over on downs and giving Oregon the ball back with nothing to show for the only sustained drive of the game.
Fifteen plays — 12 of which were clock-draining runs, another of which was a Carr sack — 69 yards, zero points. That is…not a recipe for success.
I have a lot more I could hate on, but I will save my finger strength for future coverage. This team isn’t worth piling on at this point in the year anyway. So what did you love and hate from the Oregon game? Let me know down in the comments below!
