Michigan 49, Rutgers 16
Patrick Barron/MGoBlog
For the second straight game, Wilton Speight came on in relief of Jake Rudock at quarterback in the second half.
This time around, though, Rudock wasn't injured as Michigan went toe-to-toe with Minnesota; instead, he took a well-deserved rest after his career day headlined a blowout of Rutgers. Rudock completed 18 of 25 attempts for a career-high 337 yards and two touchdowns, adding a third score with an unlikely scramble to the pylon. Jim Harbaugh called him "tough as a two-dollar steak" for his performance coming off last week's injury.
Rudock looked better than he has at any other point this season, to the benefit of many—ten different Wolverines logged a reception. Michigan exploited a bad Rutgers secondary in a variety of ways. A Sione Houma wheel route set up a post route touchdown to Jehu Chesson; Michigan's second huge gain on a screen led to Rudock's dive to the pylon; a motion swing pass to Jabrill Peppers accounted for the third score; Jake Butt spent much of the day running free up the seam on his way to a career-high 102 receiving yards.
Butt would've had even more if not for a penalty of substituting with an "intent to deceive," a rule that seems to go against the core tenets of football, and it may have been misapplied anyway, as Rutgers simply didn't bother to account for Butt after he left the huddle. In the postgame presser, Jim Harbaugh said he was "offended" by the call.
Creative officiating was about the only way Michigan's offense could be slowed. The Wolverines finished with 487 yards. While the running game took a while to come around, the multiple successful screens were fine in its place until De'Veon Smith got it going in the second half, finishing with 73 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
The defense bounced back from an iffy performance against Minnesota with a stifling one against Rutgers, ceding 225 yards and only six points that weren't set up by long returns. Janarion Grant accounted for the other ten, breaking a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and setting up an end-of-half field goal with a punt return inside the ten. My only additional comment is both those returns also involved some creative officiating.
The defensive line, led by Chris Wormley (two sacks), dominated like usual, even after Ryan Glasgow exited with a shoulder injury—his status wasn't updated after the game. Royce Jenkins-Stone returned to his normal spot as the starting BUCK and aquitted himself well with a sack and two QB hurries.
Jarrod Wilson, long lauded here for being comfortingly boring, made an exceptionally un-boring play when he got over the top of a pass to Grant and dove for an interception. Jourdan Lewis, whom Chris Laviano inexplicably targeted with frequency, matched and surpassed the school single-season record for pass breakups previously held by Leon Hall and Marlin Jackson; his record-breaking 19th PBU killed a late Rutgers drive.
By that time, little was in doubt except when Harbaugh would call off the dogs. He didn't do so until midway through the fourth quarter with all the scoring—including a rather inexplicable two-point conversion after Smith's touchdown to give M a 43-16 lead—already in the books.
The rote blowout had enough moments of excitement to stay interesting, especially the Peppers touchdown, which looked destined for a TFL until he found an extra gear or three to blow past multiple defenders.
"I knew he was good, but man, he's really good," Harbaugh said of Peppers.
Rutgers is probably saying similar about Michigan after getting hit with arguably their best offensive performance of the year.
November 7th, 2015 at 7:56 PM ^
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November 7th, 2015 at 7:59 PM ^
Real recognize real.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:00 PM ^
to roll over a team we know is bad and we should roll over. Expected outcomes have been too unexpected the last few years.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:01 PM ^
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November 7th, 2015 at 8:01 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 8:08 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 8:24 PM ^
was wondering why they would go for two.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:33 PM ^
But yeah, think Harbaugh got mad.
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November 7th, 2015 at 8:09 PM ^
Take out the trash.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:10 PM ^
Rudock had a great game by the numbers, no doubt. But was everyone still desiring a lot more even on his longer downfield compeltions? Never put his receivers in a position to catch the ball in stride for yards after the catch. Hate to sound like I'm knocking the kid too much on a banner day, but I can't help thinking it could have still been so much better.
Still feels great to be beating teams we're expected to. And in convincing fashion. GO BLUE!
November 7th, 2015 at 8:13 PM ^
He definitely doesn't hit his deep receivers in stride but I'm just happy to see him get the ball to those deep routes which opens up things underneath.
November 7th, 2015 at 9:57 PM ^
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November 7th, 2015 at 8:36 PM ^
would be much better. Is that too much to ask?
November 7th, 2015 at 8:11 PM ^
Can we stop trying to pin teams deep by kicking off to the 2 yard line instead of booting it out of the endzone? Seems like the risks aren't worth the rewards and Michigan was burned this game. And then, on the kick at the start of the 2nd half with the carried over 15 yard penalty, they boot it out of the endzone when that's exactly where you should kick it to the 2.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
don't mind the strategy of trying to pin teams deep so much except when they have guys that are well known to return punts and kicks for TD's.
November 7th, 2015 at 9:55 PM ^
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November 8th, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 8:32 PM ^
we give up 19 yards per return, on average. Kicking it to the goal line and getting a return gives teams less yards than kicking out of the end zone, where they get it at the 25.
This does require consistently kicking to the goal line, though. As long as it's within the 6 it's a net advantage.
Kick return touchdowns are rare enough that they don't make much actual difference.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:55 PM ^
having the punter drop the ball and then try to kick it only to have it go right to the opposing team and be returned for a TD is also very rare.
I still remember Rocket Ishmael returning two KO's against Michigan in a game that I believe ended 24-19 in favor of ND.
In this case neither the KO return for TD nor the punt return for a late FG changed the outcome of the game, but the game could have been out of reach much sooner.
November 7th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
So you'd rather have the coaches put us at a statistical disadvantage over something you remember from 1989? Ok
November 7th, 2015 at 9:41 PM ^
Well I believe he mentioned something from 2 weeks ago as well. But referring to that wouldn't have been as smart ass, huh?
Kick return TDs (or even very long returns) may be rare, but they are potentially game changing - or even devastating, That's where the 2 weeks ago part comes in...
November 7th, 2015 at 9:59 PM ^
in terms of overall game strategy. Yes, they happen, but they are rare, random events. In terms of overall game strategy they can be ignored.
Unlikely freak events can of course effect the outcome of a game, but a much greater impact on the game is consistently doing the things that give you the highest probability of success.
Many more games are won by forcing opponents to start drives with worse field position than are lost by a kick return TD.
November 8th, 2015 at 1:30 AM ^
generally speaking I tend to agree with you. However, I would choose to kick the ball through the end zone rather than kick to a guy who is really good at returning KO's for touchdowns.
And I disagree that KO return TD's don't matter in terms of overall game strategy. I bet Penn State thinks that it matters a great deal.
November 8th, 2015 at 12:13 AM ^
that you didn't really read what I wrote.
The point is not to kick to guys who can change the game, especially when they have a reputation for returning kick offs and punts for TD's.
So yes, I would rather kick the ball out of the end zone and give them the ball at the 25 and give them the 6 yards than kick to that guy, especially when you have one of the top defenses in the country.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
point about kicking past the endzone. Also, you are spot on about the penalty, or so it seems to me.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:40 PM ^
I'm all in favor of onside kicking when you're working off of a 15-yard penalty. What's to lose? Even if you don't get it, the field position isn't disastrous.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:55 PM ^
Second half should have started with an onside kick.
November 7th, 2015 at 10:04 PM ^
November 8th, 2015 at 12:36 AM ^
November 8th, 2015 at 8:26 AM ^
all of the flags in that end of the stadium disagree, but whatever. yes, bad kick.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:11 PM ^
Hoke would've been down at least 10 at halftime and sent personal apologies to the opposing coaches and refs, along with $20 Starbucks gift cards.
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November 7th, 2015 at 8:17 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 8:26 PM ^
I should expect horrendous officiating in the Big Ten every week, and yet they somehow find ways to surpass my expectations.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:31 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 9:26 PM ^
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November 8th, 2015 at 1:17 AM ^
He had stickers. You must have been looking at a bad angle.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:36 PM ^
Thought it was dumb to kick to him again after the TD, but whatever. Rutgers had to take a lot or risks in that game, and they were burned about the right amount of the time.
Jaysus does B10 officiating suck. Somebody needs to do something to get that operation back on the rails.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:46 PM ^
Someone needs to address Delaney with this shit show officiating, thank goodness it didn't matter in this game.
Loved how Rudock threw downfield with lots of success, hopefully that'll teach teams to not try and load the box. Great offensive game plan too. Gotta keep winning and hopefully Nebraska pulls the upset tonight.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:50 PM ^
This is what I want to happen to Rutgers every time they play a (real) Big Ten team.
November 7th, 2015 at 9:49 PM ^
So... who are we OK with Rutgers beating Wahoo?
Maryland sure, Nebraska ok, but is Penn St a "real" Big Ten team yet?
Hell, let's go back to the last pre-PSU conference expansion... I'm TOTALLY FINE with them beating sparty too!
We good?
November 7th, 2015 at 10:44 PM ^
"Real" Big Ten teams are ones that are closer to a Great Lake than to saltwater. Nebraska's cool. Technically that rules out Penn State. I'm OK with that or I'm OK with the overlooking the very small difference (about three miles) and letting them stay in the club.
Such is my disgust at Delany destroying the Midwestern character of the conference that I root for Sparty and Ohio against the interlopers.
November 7th, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^
OK, well we part ways there man. The only time I root for either osu or msu is when they play each other - then I figure out which outcome is better for M - or least distasteful if the outcome doesn't affect us.
I mean, "Sad Pizza"... an image that never fails to bring joy!
November 8th, 2015 at 6:16 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 8:52 PM ^
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November 7th, 2015 at 9:00 PM ^
Taking care of bidness. Keep it up.
November 7th, 2015 at 9:03 PM ^
November 8th, 2015 at 8:51 AM ^
Does that mean when Harbaugh gave Rutgers the NCAA-required play-by-play game plan before the game he left that little wrinkle out?
November 7th, 2015 at 9:04 PM ^
November 7th, 2015 at 9:23 PM ^
November 8th, 2015 at 2:27 PM ^
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