Best And Worst From Michigan Football's Win Over Washington

Michigan Wolverines football dismantled Washington Saturday night, winning 31-10.

Here are some superlatives — both good and bad — from the game:

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Michigan had some big plays from scrimmage in its opener against Western Michigan, including two scores from 70-plus yards out. Second-year freshman running back Blake Corum followed that up by breaking a 67-yard touchdown run against Washington, one of his three rushing scores on the night, to give the Maize and Blue a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.

This one goes to Michigan redshirt junior linebacker Josh Ross, who came up and laid the wood on Washington running back Richard Newton for a loss of two yards on the first play from scrimmage, setting the tone for what was a disruptive night by the Wolverines' defensive front.

Michigan freshman linebacker Junior Colson continues to impress. He notched four tackles — his instincts allowed him to constantly be around the ball — after posting two stops last game in his debut. He may receive more and more playing time as the season progresses.

The Wolverines gave up 293 passing yards for the game, and while that looks disappointing on paper, and is to an extent, it wasn't so bad after all.

It must be noted that some of those yards accumulated by Washington redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan Morris came at the end of the first half and at the conclusion of the game (otherwise known as 'garbage time').

However, the Wolverines did fail to cover receivers down the field on multiple occasions, and misplayed the ball on others. Through two games, they haven't notched an interception, something that is surely a source of frustration for defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale, who said last week that he thought his group could've come away with five turnovers against Western Michigan.

The Michigan Marching Band did a tremendous job of paying homage to those who lost their lives on 9/11, 20 years ago, and honoring the United States, during its halftime show.

108,345 were in attendance to see Michigan blow out Washington, the largest crowd watching a football game Saturday. The 'Maize Out' worked out exactly how the Wolverines had hoped it would, as well, creating the best atmosphere of the day across college football.

Fans sighed in concern following the announcement that sixth-year senior center Andrew Vastardis, who has had a fantastic first two games of the year, was down with an apparent injury late in the game. However, Harbaugh revealed that he was just cramping and is fine.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh was asked about the differences between this season and 2020, when the Wolverines posted a 2-4 record. He responded with a doozy of a quote that speaks to the hard-working nature of his squad and how much the players enjoy being around each other.

"Just a bunch of guys that really like football," Harbaugh said of his team. "Just a tremendous amount of players that really like it. They love training. They love practice, or at least they like it a lot.

"I like football players that like football, and these are the kind of guys you don’t have to talk them into it. I think that makes me happy. I’m happy being around players like that, coaches like that. Just our whole culture is made up of a bunch of guys like that."

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