Michigan Football Report Card: Grading A 14-7 Win Over Wisconsin
Grading Michigan after a hard-fought, 14-7 win over Wisconsin.
Rushing Offense: B-
Michigan averaged only 3.0 yards per carry, but the numbers were skewed heavily by sack yardage. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight went down four times for minus-32 yards, bringing the net rushing yardage down from 162 to 130. The Wolverines rushed for 160 yards on 39 designed running plays, or 4.1 yards per carry, against a very stout Wisconsin front seven and only lost three total yards when backs were caught behind the line of scrimmage.
Redshirt junior Ty Isaac came up big in the second half, helping the Wolverines move the chains and gain valuable yardage in what was a field-position game. He finished with 48 yards, 44 in the second half, and averaged 6.0 yards per carry.
Passing Offense: C+
Speight completed 20 of 32 passes for 219 yards with one touchdown and one interception (probably should have been two), and he made the biggest play when it counted. He opted out of a play designed for senior tight end Jake Butt to find fifth-year senior receiver Amara Darboh down the left sideline on a perfectly thrown ball for the 46-yard, game-winning score.
The passing game is about more than just Speight, though — pass protection was sketchy, at best, leading to four sacks and three pressures officially (though it was probably more — that’s a subjective statistic), and there was plenty of blame to go around. Senior De’Veon Smith, fifth-year senior right tackle Erik Magnuson and fifth-year senior left guard Ben Braden all had blatant whiffs in pass protection. Darboh also dropped a critical third-and-two pass.
Rushing Defense: A
Michigan owned the trenches on defense, limiting running back Corey Clement to 68 yards on 17 carries, 19 of them coming on one play on which it appeared redshirt junior linebacker Mike McCray was held on the edge and 16 on another in the second half. He managed only 35 yards on his other 15 runs. The Badgers continued to try to run into the heart of the Michigan line on first down, usually to no avail. Eleven of their 15 first-down carries went for three yards or less, and that played a big role in Wisconsin’s 4-of-15 third-down conversion success. Down and distance favored the Michigan defense throughout because of how they stopped the run.
Passing Defense: A
Michigan’s secondary was one of the primary differences in the game. Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis showed his athleticism by closing quickly on a first-down run and a third-down pass that forced a punt on one of Wisconsin’s late drives, and then he sealed it with his one-handed interception on fourth down. Senior cornerback Channing Stribling was one of the stars of the game with two interceptions, and the safeties were also exceptional in coverage. Badgers quarterback Alex Hornibrook threw for only 88 yards and was picked off three times, sacked twice and pressured (officially) three more times — though again, it was likely more. The Wolverines also broke up five passes.
Special Teams: D
What would have been an “F” due to three missed field goals “improves” to a D because of some good punts and some solid coverage. The field goal misses included two by fifth-year senior Kenny Allen and one by redshirt freshman Ryan Tice. Allen redeemed himself with a couple of booming punts and averaged an impressive 46.6 yards per kick. He also managed two touchbacks on three kickoffs.
Redshirt sophomore punt return man Jabrill Peppers notched a 13-yard return on his two attempts and fair caught three more punts cleanly.
U-M also moved backwards on three different penalties against the punt team, though Harbaugh took exception to all of them.