Timely plays by Michigan football secure homecoming victory in Harbaugh’s return

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Timely plays by the No. 2 ranked Michigan Wolverines in a 31-7 rout against Rutgers secured their homecoming victory in head coach Jim Harbaugh’s return.

Michigan trailed 7-0 after Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt hit wide receiver Christian Dremel for a 69-yard catch and run on third down and four on the game’s opening drive.

The 60-second drive and score were the first points Michigan had allowed in the first quarter of the season.

But the Wolverines didn’t let that slip-up dim their light as they scored 31 unanswered points to improve to 4-0 on the season.

“I had coach Clink (Steve Clinkscale) speak to the team on Friday, and he had a lot of good messages in which one was ‘don’t flinch,’” said Harbaugh. “That’s one of those plays that could make the normal, the ordinary team flinch. That’s the first thing that I thought of, and right when I got back into the locker room after the game, I said, ‘They didn’t flinch coach Clink.’”

Defense

With the touchdown mentioned above, the Wolverines defense in the Big Ten opener allowed 257 combined yards, with 180 through the air and 77 on the ground.

They forced three turnovers on fourth down, bringing their stoppage to 0-7 combined through four weeks.

“It was so much that was good on the defense as we only allowed 77 yards on the ground on 23 carries,” Harbaugh said. “That’s big boy football.”

But their most impactful turnover occurred on 4th and 2 with 4:40 remaining in the third quarter when cover safety Mike Sainristil took an interception to the house to unofficially put the game out of reach.

The two-time captain finished the day with two tackles, one interception, and one touchdown.

The elusiveness of Wimsatt kept the Wolverines without a sack, but they achieved 37 total tackles on the day, led by Junior Colson with six, Derrick Moore with five, and Kris Jenkins with three.

“I’m so proud of the guys,” Harbaugh said. “Jaylen Harrell and the edge guys like Josaiah Stewart played well. So did Braiden McGregor. Derrick Moore had a big tackle for loss, but we had tight coverage all along the secondary.”

Harbaugh continued:

“We were close a few times on interceptions, but we did it with Mike. He’s such a difference-maker as he is the guy you need when you need the magic to happen, and he made it happen.”

Offense

The offensive play by the men in maize had nowhere to go but up after their putrid performance last week against Bowling Green under the lights.

Michigan played a clean game Saturday (Sept. 23) as they had a total of 415 yards, with 201 coming from the ground and 214 through the air with no turnovers thanks to sensational quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

McCarthy had a bounce-back performance, completing 15-21 passes for 214 yards and one touchdown. But the rushing attack behind him, Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum stole the show in front of the record-setting 109,756 screaming fans.

Corum toted the rock 21 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns, which has become his standard.

But the junior quarterback used his wheels more in game four as he carried the ball seven times for 51 yards, extending drives throughout the day.

“It’s what we’ve always really seen from JJ,” Harbaugh said. “He’s tough to defend as he can throw the ball from the pocket, out of the pocket as he’s a really accurate thrower. He can get the ball to any part of the field, and he’s super athletic. I wouldn’t doubt that he can run a 4.4 or somewhere in the 4.4s.”

Harbaugh continued:

“He’s just that good and that fast. I’ve talked to a few of the coaches of the teams that we’ve played after games, and they say he’s really hard to defend; 214 yards throwing and 51 yards of running by JJ, that’s a lot of product by the quarterback position. He really saved us on that 4th and 1 we had. One of the ones that he pulled and ran for the first down.”

Jim Harbaugh

Harbaugh said he liked what he saw Saturday while returning to the sideline after serving a school-imposed three-game suspension to start the season.

But he couldn’t understand why everyone kept saying, “Welcome back.”

“Everybody kept saying welcome back when I never really left, but I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, so it was great to be back in the action where the competition is,” Harbaugh said. “That’s always been the best part for me. Playing football is always the best, but second best is being able to coach it. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than on the sideline coaching our team.”

Harbaugh said he was delighted as he wanted the victory during homecoming in his return, but the players who missed their leader on the sideline wanted to win the game more than he did.

“The players wanted it more,” Harbaugh said. “You could just tell by how they were playing and how happy they were. Coach wanted it, but the players wanted it even more.”

With the victory, Harbaugh has won 75 out of his first 100 games as head coach of the Wolverines. The victory for the victors was their 19th consecutive at home, the second longest since they won 21 straight from 1999-2001.

They are also winners of 29 out of their last 32 games, but Harbaugh and his Wolverines will look to stay unbeaten ahead of their first road test on Saturday (Sept. 30) against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.