Near the end of the third quarter, with Michigan up 38-0, Matt Millen summarized the game thusly: "I can't tell whether this is great play by Michigan or poor play by Rutgers."

Such is the Tao of Rutgers. Still, there were some unquestioned good signs for a Michigan team desperate for progress coming off the Wisconsin disaster. First and perhaps most important, they didn't fumble the ball away on the game's opening drive, instead getting out to midfield in four plays before Nico Collins took a quick out and broke free up the sideline for a 48-yard touchdown.

The game went smoothly from there, looking akin to any other Michigan-Rutgers matchup since 2015. The Wolverines scored on eight of their ten actual drives, seven of them touchdowns, with the last three led by backup quarterback Joe Milton. Patterson looked sharp outside of an interception on an underthrown deep shot (which, fine, we asked for those), spreading the ball around for 276 yards on 23 attempts while making plays inside and outside the pocket; he added three short rushing touchdowns as tempo and naked bootlegs helped solve M's previous goal line woes.

The passing game moved the ball in such large chunks that the running backs were mostly left to churn out tough yards in the red zone—Michigan spent the game inching their way towards four yards per carry, though the featured rotation of Zach Charbonnet, Christian Turner, and Hassan Haskins all finished above that mark. Seven receivers, meanwhile, finished with at least 20 yards, led by Ronnie Bell (six catches, 83 yards) and a healthy looking Donovan Peoples-Jones (four catches, 62 yards).

Kwity Paye ruined the #narrative. [Barron]

BTN seemed intent on playing up an Artur Sitkowski revenge game scenario with a bit of fudging about how the quarterback "chose" Rutgers over an "offer" from Michigan. That did not come to pass. Sitkowski spent the game under constant pressure from the Wolverine defensive line, dinking and dunking his way to a mere 106 yards on 24 attempts. The defense shut down the legitimately solid rushing duo of Isaih Pacheco and Raheem Blackshear, who combined for only 34 yards on 16 carries. By adding 55 receiving yards to his 11 rushing yards, Blackshear easily led the Scarlet Knights in total yards from scrimmage. Kwity Paye had more TFLs (3.5) than Rutgers as a team (3).

On the home side, there were celebrations of the usual spate of backup highlights. Milton threw for 54 yards on just four attempts, one a 23-yard score to freshman Giles Jackson, the first of his young career. Sophomore tight end Luke Schoonmaker took his only target for a 29-yard catch-and-run. Freshman defensive back Daxton Hill made his presence felt with a huge hit on special teams and saw his first extended action with the starting defense. The big moment for Rutgers, on the other hand, came when one of their punt coverage guys shoved a teammate over in the vicinity of a Michigan player, who was hit with a block in the back flag.

Michigan played about as well as anyone could expect; the opponent caveats are obvious. Next week's date with 4-0 Iowa will give us a lot more clarity about how much progress has really been made. At the very least, this was a football game that wasn't a terrible viewing experience, and that's something we haven't had in a while.

[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]

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