Michigan 56, Nebraska 10 Comment Count

Adam Schnepp

[Upchurch]

On a day that featured the actualization of the Platonic ideal of a Harbaugh-led offense, a legitimate argument can be made for the defense being the most impressive unit on the field. In other words, Scott Frost, so used to disputed titles, couldn't even find one phase of the game to hang his hat on. Michigan outrushed, outpassed, and, yes, outhit Nebraska en route to their most complete game of the young season.

Which Michigan unit was the star of the day is largely a question of aesthetics. Do you prefer drive charts that begin TD, TD, TD, punt, FG, TD, TD before ending on downs despite a gorgeous throw, or ones that begin INT, punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, punt, safety?

Michigan’s defense allowed a 32-yard reception on the third play of the game, as an overloaded half of the line led to Jordan Glasgow almost chasing down Nebraska QB Adrian Martinez only to see him heave the ball up to Stanley Morgan. Martinez’s pass was tipped on the next play by Lawrence Marshall, and Josh Metellus secured the ball as it looped toward the ground. The yardage of drives allowed by the defense from that point forward: -13, -3, 13, 0 (a fumble by punt returner Tyjon Lindsey that would have been returned for a touchdown if not for an odd rule that disallows advancing the ball on a fumble recovery on punts), 2, –20, –10, and 0. And that was just the first half.

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[Upchurch]

Offensively, Michigan did what they were unable to do last week and put points on the board early. Karan Higdon, returning from injury after a one-game absence, got things going. He caught a seven-yard pass on Michigan’s first offensive play of the game, then juked Nebraska safety Tre Neal to turn an already big gain into a 46-yard run on the second play from scrimmage. Two yards on another Higdon run got Michigan inside Nebraska’s 10-yard line, and Ben Mason took over from there. The fullback dragged defenders on his first carry for six yards, then pushed ahead for two yards and again for one and his second touchdown of the season. Mason finished with three touchdowns on six carries, reliably dragging defenders with him whether he was lined up alone in the backfield or as a fullback.

Michigan’s following drive lasted one play. Higdon got the ball, popped through a lane opened by Ben Bredeson kicking out the end, and jetted 44 yards for the corner of the south end zone. Higdon carried 12 times for 136 yards and was shelved before halftime. Other contributors to the ground game included Tru Wilson, who finished with six carries for 43 yards, and Christian Turner, who took advantage of garbage time snaps to show some wiggle and power in the 10 times he carried the ball for 55 yards. Michigan finished with 294 sacks-removed rushing yards for an average of 6.7 per carry.

The passing game was also reliable, with Shea Patterson shaking off one bad drive at the end of the first quarter to finish 15-of-22 for 120 yards and one touchdown. Patterson played through the first drive of the third quarter before he was removed in favor of getting live reps for Dylan McCaffrey, who has emerged as the clear no. 2. McCaffrey’s conventional stat line doesn’t pop—he finished 3-of-8 for 86 yards and a touchdown—but his passer rating of 169.1 hints at what he showed today. McCaffrey dropped dime after dime, putting passes where only his receiver could make a play on the ball or dropping them into buckets. He also showed good pocket awareness, taking the lanes given him when Nebraska’s rush got too far upfield.

Nebraska’s quarterbacks were all too familiar with upfield rush by the time the clock mercifully hit quadruple zeroes. Michigan finished with four sacks (one each from Devin Bush, Rashan Gary, Chase Winovich, and Jordan Glasgow), 14 tackles for loss, and four QB hurries (one each for Winovich, Glasgow, Noah Furbush, and Khaleke Hudson [who was ejected again for targeting in the second half]). Michigan’s swarming rush also put Nebraska in untenable third-and-long situations, with Nebraska finishing 3-for-13 on conversions. The only time Nebraska faced third-and-short before the third quarter ended in a loss of ten yards on a sack by Gary.

The defense placed guys in gaps where Nebraska thought there would be none on the regular, and their offensive line subsequently looked downright confused. Michigan held Nebraska to 39 net rushing yards on 30 attempts for a cool 1.3 yards per rush. Michigan’s coverage wasn’t tested often, but they did hold Nebraska to just 93 passing yards on 24 attempts. Perhaps the most remarkable feat of the day defensively is that 80 of Nebraska’s yards came during a fourth-quarter drive during which I was receiving texts from friends who are devoted followers of Michigan football wondering who were some of the players Michigan was fielding on defense.

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[Upchurch]

Michigan’s special teams units didn’t want to be left out of the fun and put on shows of their own. Will Hart continued his dazzling aerial display, coffin-corner punting gems and launching bombs with equal ease. Quinn Nordin showed off his power as well, drilling a 50-yard field goal that would have been good from at least 55. Then there was the aforementioned return by Ambry Thomas on a fumble recovery that would have stood if not for one of college football’s weirder rules, which was followed on the next drive by a 60-yard Donovan Peoples-Jones punt return touchdown that he took near midfield, arced to the right, cut back across, pulled a spin move that I can’t even get to work in video games, and finished on a nearly horizontal angle that was punctuated with a flip into the end zone.

Frost’s offense is going to take a while to install, and his starting quarterback was hobbled by injury. Even so, this was the type of three-phase domination not seen since 2016. Not a bad way to start the Big Ten portion of the schedule. 

Comments

Hannibal.

September 22nd, 2018 at 6:34 PM ^

I completely wrote off the comments from earlier this week about how the players weren’t buying into Frost, but I got a very strong RichRod 2008 vibe from Nebraska today.  They were horrible at football and they showed terrible discipline.  Central Florida gave us a tougher game right after their 0-12 season than Nebraska today.  It’s one thing to just be digging out of a talent hole ala Jeff Brohm at Purdue, but it’s another thing entirely if your team isn’t all on the same page.  That adds no less than a year to your rebuilding job.  

EGD

September 23rd, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^

Wow, there are some striking comparisons with Hoke.  The broadcasters yesterday said Frost brought his entire UCF staff with him to Lincoln also.  I don't know the details but that struck me as a Hoke style move given Frost could likely have pulled some better assistants at Nebraska.

Ultimately though, Hoke's downfall was being stubborn and not too bright.  Frost seems smarter and not stubborn.  But we'll see.

 

DonAZ

September 23rd, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^

If he doesn't have buy-in from some of the players, he'll soon have players that do buy-in ... and those that won't will be gone.  Nebraska's 2018 recruiting classes was 23rd nationally, 4th in the Big Ten, and just a notch behind Michigan.  Of the 23 enrollees, 8 were from Florida, 3 from California, 3 from Texas, 2 from Georgia, and 2 from Alabama.  Only 1 was from Nebraska, so they're definitely going outside their borders to get talent.  2019 is shaping up to be similar in terms of national and Big Ten ranking.

 

Steve333

September 22nd, 2018 at 6:37 PM ^

I’m puzzled as to why Coach Frost started with his only backup QB to Martinez, and ran a read-option play. Clearly putting his backup qb in harms way- and he gets hurt. Granted he came back, but that is a definite Hoke decision. 

Good start the B1G play. Stress free Saturdays are what I dream about. This was one that was needed badly. Let’s do it again. Go Blue!

jmblue

September 22nd, 2018 at 6:51 PM ^

IIRC, what happened at the end of 2011 ND was that the ball was fumbled out the back of the endzone for a touchback.

This rule did come into play in the 2001 Wisconsin game though.  We punted in the final minute and it hit their returner in the back.  We recovered it and tried to score, but the play was dead.  We then kicked the game-winning FG.

 

Alumnus93

September 22nd, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^

My musings....

Had Marshall not tipped it, wed have been down 7-0.... Kinnel seems shaky on half the plays, and blew coverage. But why does it seem like we bulk up DEs to play inside and then play DTs on the edge?  Switch Gary and Marshall please.   Probably because Gary is so fast on the edge.....

 

For the love of G*d they gotta stop running the fake jet sweep draw... Doesn't work...

Bredeson left Runyan isolated to block two guys.... I see this way too much ... Brian's gonna ding him good on it.

on Bells TD, Mayfield whiffed, and badly, and now we know why he isn't playing, he almost got McCaffrey killed.   RT Hudson looked really good to me....I'd like to see him at LT...

Boy does McCaffrey remind me of Tom Brady . 

The entire first string should have been sitting at the start of the fourth qtr. They earned it.  I get the notion Harbaugh is trying to keep them mentally sharp in having to keep a near shutout, but still.  Now he will learn.

bacon

September 22nd, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^

Great game. The announcers ran out of things to talk about. I was particularly annoyed they kept saying that the tipped ball would have been a TD if it hadn’t been tipped. Did he speed we had on defense?  That dude would have never beaten the defenders to the end zone. 

The Man Down T…

September 22nd, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^

Martinez was darned near full strength.  People keep saying he was playing hurt.  He wasn't until the defense got to him several times.  The hard to believe fact of this game is, Michigan finally stopped a running QB and stopped him dead.  It was a beautiful thing.  If this team played ND today, they rip them an new one.  

 

This team is weaponized now and getting better.  It's going to be a fun season.

uminks

September 22nd, 2018 at 10:38 PM ^

So have we changed our projection of the season based on this game?. I like that this is the way I thought Michigan defense would play from the start. Good pressure on the QB from the DL, no way Martinez could just sit in the pocket and try to pick our secondary apart. After ND loss, I was thinking 8-4, - 1 after my original season projection of 9-3. If the D can keep playing at this level, I will go with 10-2. I think we can take WI at home and MSU on the road. The tough games may be PSU at home and OSU on the road. I would put PSU in the toss up game section. @ OSU is the only really tough game.

FrankMurphy

September 22nd, 2018 at 10:59 PM ^

I think this game revealed more about Nebraska than it did about Michigan. It's not just that Nebraska is low on talent. They looked completely discombobulated. They committed mental mistakes, dumb penalties, missed tackles, blown coverage, you name it. They just looked like a disorganized, undisciplined, poorly-coached team. 

I mean, I'm glad we won and all, but this might be the worst team we've played so far, B1G notwithstanding.

AlbanyBlue

September 22nd, 2018 at 11:04 PM ^

A nice game for sure! Run blocking was better, pass blocking was better, the big plays were there, and the defense was murdering people.

I'll save any negative comments for later in the week. I'm upgrading my prediction to 8-4. We'll beat the tomato cans. We'll win one of MSU/Wisconsin. But we have to keep improving to be in the game with PSU or OSU.

uncleFred

September 23rd, 2018 at 12:58 AM ^

So I’m curious. How many whiners are willing to complain about our team’s “Stone Age” offense? 

56 points after two consecutive 40+ point appearances does seem fairly productive. 

I don’t expect this kind of performance against the top teams on the schedule, but this team can beat anyone they face.