Best And Worst From Michigan's Win Over Rutgers

Michigan Wolverines football survived to beat Rutgers, 20-13. Here are the best and worst from Saturday afternoon's contest.

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Michigan redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara had perhaps his best half of the season, completing 8 of 11 pass attempts for 156 yards in the first 30 minutes, before struggling the rest of the way. After halftime, he connected on 1 of 5 pass attempts for seven yards.

In the postgame press conference, his demeanor looked more like a guy whose team had just suffered a loss than won the game. He admitted his play has to be better (though he certainly wasn't the only one on offense who had a rough second half).

Michigan second-year freshman running back Blake Corum entered the game as the nation's top scorer (eight total touchdowns), but failed to find the end zone in this one. The speedster was largely held in check by the Scarlet Knights, and totaled just 68 yards on 21 carries (3.2 yards per rush) with a long run of 13 yards. He also caught two passes for 11 yards.

"A freshman has won it for the Wolverines!"

Those were the words of CBS' Brad Nessler when Jordan Poole hit the game-winning three-pointer to beat Houston in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

No, Michigan football freshman linebacker Junior Colson's fumble recovery to seal Saturday's win over Rutgers wasn't as significant as Poole's shot, but the words ring true this time around regardless. Redshirt freshman linebacker David Ojabo stripped Rutgers junior signal-caller Noah Vedral, before Colson scooped it up so that Michigan fans could collectively exhale.

Michigan had played great complementary football all season long entering Saturday, before that all went out the window in the second half against Rutgers. The Wolverines' offense went three-and-out on its first four possessions after halftime and ran just 22 plays.

That forced the defense to play 41 second-half snaps against a Rutgers offense that had momentum, making it that much more amazing that the Wolverines were able to get enough timely stops to win the game.

Colson and second-year freshman linebacker Kalel Mullings were tasked with filling in for one of Michigan's best players — redshirt junior Josh Ross — who missed the second half with an injury. And they did a fine job, combining for 11 tackles between the two, while second-year freshman Nikhai Hill-Green, already a starter, picked up the slack as well, leading the club with eight stops, including two crucial ones on the second-to-last possession.

Harbaugh said after the game that Ross should be fine and return to action next week against Wisconsin.

Luckily for Michigan junior kicker Jake Moody, who missed a 47-yard field goal that would've given the Wolverines a two-possession lead with 1:49 to go, the worst miss was from Rutgers' Valentino Ambrosio. The junior pushed a 29-yard attempt wide right. If he made it, the Scarlet Knights would've pulled within four points and put even more pressure on Michigan.

The kick was reminiscent of his 45-yard miss in overtime last season that, if it split the uprights, would've won the Scarlet Knights the game against Michigan in the first overtime session.

Rutgers converted on one of its four fourth-down attempts, and the one in the clip below was certainly not that one. Scarlet Knight head coach Greg Schiano tried to get fancy with it, having Vedral look over to the sideline, seemingly confused about the play call, all while junior running back Isaih Pacheco rushed under center, took the snap and was pushed back by second-year freshman safety R.J. Moten and the Wolverines at the line of scrimmage.

In a game void of a lot of chunk plays, Michigan second-year freshman wide receiver Roman Wilson was able to flash his high-end speed on a 38-yard reception in which he caught the ball over the middle and raced up the sideline, setting up a Wolverine field goal.

Just like the Wolverines drew it up, redshirt junior Brad Robbins' punt hit the turf between the hash and the numbers, then proceeded to bounce perpendicular with the sideline and go out of bounds at the Rutgers' 3-yard line, pinning the Scarlet Knights deep in their own territory.

Sophomore defensive tackle Christopher Hinton was proud of his team for gutting out the victory, but made sure to note that improvements must be made to win against tougher opponents ahead, especially on the road.

"Going to Wisconsin next week, and we play at Penn State and other places like that ... it’s going to be pivotal that we keep giving [our offense] a chance to do what I know they can do," Hinton said. "Every game is going to be gritty. The Big Ten is a tough conference; I have a lot of respect for the other teams.

"Just talking about Wisconsin, we know what type of offense they like to run, what type of ball they like to play — downhill ball — and we know it’s going to be a gritty game next week."

... Or at least summed up the second half. We're thinking this was the expression of most Michigan fans down the stretch.

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