Defense/ST Notes: Wolverines Are Opportunistic, Not Flawless In Rutgers Win

Michigan Wolverines football's defensive performance against Rutgers wasn't its best of the year. In fact, the 13 points it gave up were second to the 14 yielded against Western Michigan, and the 352 yards allowed were the most of the campaign. But the Maize and Blue came up big when they needed to, securing the 20-13 win.

That started with two fourth-down stops in the second quarter, when Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano tried to roll the dice. His decisions didn't pay off, with the Scarlet Knights turning it over on downs at the Michigan 43- and 31-yard lines, respectively.

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Rutgers had a tough time moving the ball in the first half, averaging 3.8 yards per play and scoring just three points, before finding success after the break. In the second half, the Scarlet Knights amassed 231 yards (5.6 per play), but scored just 10 points, thanks in large part to opportune stops by the Michigan defense.

The Scarlet Knights drove 91 yards for a touchdown on their second drive of the second half, building some momentum. They were able to gash Michigan — which was playing without redshirt junior linebacker Josh Ross, the team's leading tackler, in the second half — on the next two drives, gaining 58 and 59 yards, respectively, but settled for field goal attempts after being stopped on third-down plays.

Rutgers traveled into the red zone three times, with one touchdown, one made field goal and one missed kick.

"Thank goodness for red-zone defense," Harbaugh said after the game. "We’ve put a lot of time into it, practiced it a lot."

On Rutgers' second-to-last possession, it was second-year freshman linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green who came up with two big plays — notching a tackle for loss on third-and-one and the fourth-down stop short of the line to gain at the U-M 38-yard line.

“Something we preach on defense is win," Hill-Green said. "What was important today is coming out with a win. We made key stops down the stretch."

"HUGE fourth-down stops," Harbaugh stressed. "Two that I can think of, one right before the half and then the other one in the second half. Then the third-down stop in the red zone forced a field goal which they ended up missing. Those are huge."

Michigan's defense was on the field for 17:42 of game time and 41 plays in the second half, with the U-M offense possessing the ball for only 12:18 and 21 snaps, struggling mightily after halftime. That led to some fatigue from the unit, which rotated heavily to stay as fresh as possible.

"When there’s that many three-and-outs, [fatigue] is going to be a factor," Harbaugh said. "All those things kind of stacked up against them where they were out on the field too much, field position. We just talked about that. Momentum against them and all stuff that is going to be a learning and growing thing for our guys."

The Maize and Blue kept fighting until the final defensive snap, which was a run up the middle by Rutgers junior quarterback Noah Vedral, who was stripped by redshirt freshman linebacker David Ojabo. Freshman linebacker Junior Colson recovered the coughed-up ball, notching the team's third takeaway of the season and sealing the victory. Once again, the Michigan defense made a play when the team needed it.

"I thought it was a gritty win that way, handling the circumstances," Harbaugh said. "I thought it was great character of our defense. They competed through some of those things where it was going against us. When things were stacked up against us, they competed right until they got that fumble in the two minutes defense."

Harbaugh said on his Monday radio show that the Wolverines would need to be on high alert for Rutgers' junior return man Aron Cruickshank, the reigning Co-Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, who had returned a punt 62 yards for a score against Delaware and averaged 26.2 yards per kick return on the year.

There's no better way to keep the ball out of Cruickshank's hands than to notch touchbacks, which is exactly what junior kicker Jake Moody did on all five of his kickoffs. Redshirt junior punter Brad Robbins punted five times, pinning Rutgers inside its own 20-yard line twice, and gave Cruickshank only one returnable ball (he gained just eight yards after fielding it).

The negatives on special teams started with Robbins' 32-yard shank late in the third quarter, allowing the Scarlet Knights to begin on their own 35-yard line, and his 42-yard punt, which gave Rutgers the ball on its own 30-yard line.

Moody's missed 47-yard field goal with 1:49 to go in the game was crucial as well. Had the kick split the uprights, Michigan would've gone ahead by 10 points, just about ending the Scarlet Knights' chances for a comeback.

• Michigan is 4-0 and has never trailed in a game to start a season for the first time since 1973.

• Michigan junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson notched a sack in the third quarter, pushing his sack total to 5.5 on the season (the 4.5 he entered the game with were tied for first nationally).

He has dropped an opposing quarterback behind the line of scrimmage at least once in every game (he was retroactively credited with a sack against Northern Illinois, despite not being awarded one immediately following the contest).

• The Wolverines' six tackles for loss are their second-most in a game this season, trailing the seven they put up against Western Michigan.

• Hill-Green and second-year freshman linebacker Kalel Mullings both set career highs in total and solo tackles. Hill-Green finished with eight total stops and six solos, while Mullings concluded with six total tackles and four solo stops.

• Ojabo's forced fumble was the second of the season for the Wolverines. Fifth-year senior safety Brad Hawkins dislodged the ball against Washington, and Ojabo came up with the recovery.

• Redshirt junior defensive tackle Donovan Jeter became the 13th Wolverine to notch a pass breakup this season, when he batted a pass down at the line of scrimmage early in the second quarter.

• Vedral completed 18 of 31 pass attempts for 156 yards and one touchdown, a 14-yard strike to sophomore running back Aaron Young. The Scarlet Knights' 156 passing yards were the second-fewest Michigan had yielded in a game this season (46 against Northern Illinois is the lowest amount allowed).

• Rutgers' 196 rushing yards stand as the most Michigan has allowed in a game this season.

• Michigan second-year freshman wide receiver A.J. Henning returned one punt for 29 yards. He has handled the ball 11 times this season (two rushes, three receptions and six punt returns), averaging 21.4 all-purpose yards per touch.

• Ross recorded six tackles, including two stops for loss, before leaving the game with the aforementioned injury.

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