Michigan's defense did something in Saturday's 42-7 win over Rutgers it has seldom done this year — come out a little flat. Although the Scarlet Knights' first possession ended with a punt, they were still able to advance 26 yards before booting it away.
A three-and-out was the result of Rutgers' second drive, but its third series saw freshman running back Isaih Pacheco rip off an 80-yard touchdown run against the Michigan defense with 26 seconds left in the first quarter, giving his team some life.
"They tried it a couple more times after that, but we made the adjustments and then stopped it for a one or two-yard gain the next time," Jim Harbaugh noted after calling it a good play.
Pacheco's scoring run was the longest play Michigan had given up all year and was a big reason Rutgers was able to rack up 193 total yards on the ground.
The Wolverine defense buckled down after the score, however.
Here is what Rutgers' next eight series went: punt, turnover on downs, halftime, punt, fumble, punt, punt, interception.
The turnovers forced by the Michigan defense were a fumble recovery from fifth-year senior defensive tackle Lawrence Marshall in the third quarter and a pick from sophomore cornerback Ambry Thomas late in the fourth.
The Maize and Blue weren't able to rack up many tackles for loss or sacks, though, tallying four of the former and none of the latter.
They didn't need stops in the backfield to be successful — Rutgers only mustered 252 yards of offense, 11 first downs (tied a season-low for the U-M defense) and a 4-of-12 mark on third-downs.
Without Pacheco's big run, Rutgers ran 32 times for 113 yards (3.5-yard average) and gained just 172 yards on 52 plays (3.3-yard average).
Will Hart Tallies Lowest Punting Average Of The Year
Michigan's special teams had a very quiet day, but perhaps the biggest takeaway from it was redshirt sophomore punter Will Hart's performance.
He had been averaging 48.9 yards per boot entering Saturday, but tallied a season-worst 41.7 on three punts against Rutgers.
With that being said, Hart was still able to down two of his kicks inside the Scarlet Knights' 20-yard line. The other punt was returned for just one yard.
Redshirt sophomore kicker Quinn Nordin, meanwhile, connected on all six of his extra points, but did not attempt a field goal in the 20 to 30 mile-per-hour wind gusts.
No punts were brought back for Michigan's return men on the afternoon, while Thomas averaged 24.5 yards on two kick returns.
The U-M kickoff team allowed seven runbacks for 120 yards, an average of 17.1 yards per attempt.
Miscellaneous Notes
• The victory was U-M's ninth straight, marking the first time it has won that many games in a row since starting 9-0 in 2016.
• Rutgers compiled just 59 passing yards, which were a season low for the Michigan defense. U-M's secondary entered the weekend allowing an average of 122.3 passing yards per contest, which ranked first nationally.
• Saturday's showdown lasted just two hours and 51 minutes.
• After coming up with only six turnovers through their first six games of 2018, the Wolverines have since forced nine in their last four.
• Marshall's fumble recovery was the second of his career, with the other coming in last year's season-opening win over Florida. After the defense hadn't grabbed one through the first eight clashes, it has now recorded one in consecutive weeks (Winovich had a recovery last week against Penn State).
• Freshman cornerback Vincent Gray made his U-M debut, playing eight snaps on defense late in the game.
• Sophomore safety and New Jersey native Brad Hawkins made his first career start in place of junior safety Josh Metellus and posted five tackles.
"Josh had done something to himself on Thursday — a soft-tissue deal," Harbaugh revealed afterward. "He's still working through that and really wanted to play, but we wanted to see how it loosened up before the game. We were going with Brad as the starter and had Josh more in an emergency role."
• Sophomore defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon missed the game with an illness, while both junior cornerback Lavert Hill and sophomore defensive end Kwity Paye left with injuries.
"Lavert is being evaluated for a concussion," Harbaugh noted. "Aubrey got sick the last two or three days before we left for the game, and I'm not exactly sure what happened to Kwity."
• Rutgers became the fifth team U-M has limited to fewer than 10 points in 2018, and the third straight. In fact, the Wolverine defense has given up a total of 21 points its last three outings.
• After the Scarlet Knights' 4-of-12 third-down performance, Michigan has held its foes to an 8-of-46 (15 percent) mark on third downs over its last four games.
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