To say Michigan held Wisconsin's offense in check on Saturday night would be a major understatement.
The Wolverine defense dominated them in every facet, putting on arguably their most impressive performance of the year.
Wisconsin's 13 points were a season low, with the 21 it posted in a loss to BYU on Sept. 15 being the previous floor. In fact, the Badgers had scored 28 or more in every game this year, with the contests against the Wolverines and Cougars being the lone exceptions.
Sophomore running back Jonathan Taylor tallied 101 rushing yards, but had been averaging 169.8 entering the contest, which was 14.2 more than any other player in the nation.
After Michigan let him rack up 11 carries for 79 yards in the first half, it limited him to just six touches for 22 yards after the break.
Taylor had ran for at least 113 yards in every affair prior to Saturday, and had even gone over the 221-yard mark twice.
"He’s a heck of a good back," head coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward. "It’s about getting off blocks, and I thought our guys did that well up front. Our linebackers were swarming, and we knew that's the kind of mentality it was going to take.
"We needed to have multiple guys getting to the ball to contain a back like Taylor — it’s really tough to shut somebody completely out when you’re that good, but I thought we did a heck of a good job today."
The Wolverines limited redshirt junior quarterback Alex Hornibrook, Pro Football Focus' top-rated Big Ten quarterback heading into the game, and the Badger passing attack in an even bigger way.
He only connected on seven of his 20 attempts, throwing for 100 yards, a score and two picks. Hornibrook had only tossed two interceptions all season long. Additionally, 75 of those 100 passing yards came on the Badgers' final drive, after the outcome had been decided and his team trailing 38-7.
From the end of the first quarter through the five-minute mark of the fourth, Hornibrook completed more passes to Wolverines (two) than he did to Badgers (zero), throwing 12 consecutive incompletions to his own team.
Junior safety Josh Metellus first picked him off late in the second quarter on a pass that was tipped, while junior cornerback Lavert Hill joined in on the action with a pick-six in the fourth quarter, blowing the game wide open at 31-7.
"We played really well in the secondary and got our hands on balls," Harbaugh observed. "Coverage was tight, and we made big plays with Lavert and a couple of pass breakups — it was nice to see us get our hands on the ball."
The Badger offense had racked up at least 394 yards in every game in 2018, and had eclipsed 491 yards in three of the five.
Junior linebacker Josh Uche — who recorded one of two sacks on the night (junior linebacker Devin Bush had the other) — explained the mentality the Michigan defense had coming into the game.
“Wisconsin was coming into our house trying to take something away from us," he stated. "We weren’t going to let that happen.”
Quinn Nordin Endures An Up-And-Down Evening
Redshirt sophomore kicker Quinn Nordin attempted five field goals against Wisconsin, but made only three of them.
His first miss came from 41 yards out late in the first quarter when the game was still knotted at 0-0.
Two consecutive makes in the second frame gave U-M a 13-7 lead, before Nordin attempted a 54-yarder to close the half — it had plenty of leg but wasn't on the mark.
He added a 35-yarder in the fourth quarter for good measure, which at the time extended U-M's edge to 24-7.
It marked just the second time in Nordin's career that he missed two kicks in a game, with the other being last season's opener against Florida (he made four of six against the Gators).
Redshirt sophomore punter Will Hart, meanwhile, was fabulous once again, averaging 45.5 yards on two boots (he had boasted a clip of 51.7 entering the contest).
Sophomore wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones also shined, compiling 32 yards on his two punt returns, including a long of 26.
Miscellaneous Notes
• The Wolverines won the time of possession battle, 37:01-22:59.
• Hornibrook is now 11-2 in road starts in his career, with both losses coming at the hands of Michigan (2016 being the other). He threw for 88 yards and a career-worst three picks in the affair with the Wolverines two years ago.
• The Maize and Blue only allowed the Badgers to convert two of their 11 third downs. Wisconsin had been successful on 49.1 percent of its tries coming in, which was 17th best in the country.
• Michigan improved to 51-15-1 in the all-time series against the Badgers, dating back to 1892. The Maize and Blue now hold a 24-6 advantage in games played at Michigan Stadium, and have won the 19 of the last 26, and 33 of the last 41.
• U-M held Wisconsin to just 25 passing yards in first half, yet that is only the seventh-lowest first-half total in a game under defensive coordinator Don Brown (since 2016).
• Metellus' 31-yard pick was his team-leading third of the season; he also ran one back 73 yards for a touchdown against SMU on Sept. 15.
• With the loss, Wisconsin fell to 15-2 in road games under head coach Paul Chryst, with both setbacks occurring in Ann Arbor.
• U-M committed just one penalty on the evening, even though it had been averaging 8.7 (119th nationally).
• The announced attendance of 111,360 people marked the 283rd consecutive game at Michigan Stadium with a crowd of at least 100,000 people, while also establishing a new season high at The Big House in 2018.
• U-M forced at least two turnovers for just the third time in its last 10 games, dating back to last year.
• Hill's 21-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter was the second of his career (a 24-yard return against Cincinnati last season), making him just the third player in school history to record multiple pick-sixes in their career — Lance Dottin (1989-91) and Thom Darden (1969-71) are the other two, and both had two.
• U-M now has three pick-sixes on the year, with Hill joining Metellus and fifth-year senior cornerback Brandon Watson (46 yards vs. Maryland).
• Junior defensive end Rashan Gary sat out his second straight contest with injury, and sophomore defensive end Kwity Paye once again started in his place. The junior had never missed a game in his U-M tenure prior to the past two, and Harbaugh said after the contest he "doesn't know" when Gary will return.
• Sophomore defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon returned from an injury that had kept him out the past five games.
• The last time Michigan held a ranked team to 13 points or fewer was on Oct. 1, 2016, when it defeated No. 8 Wisconsin, 14-7.
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