By The Numbers: ND Win Was U-M’s Fourth-Largest Ever Over A Top-10 Foe

The Michigan Wolverines' 45-14 football blowout of No. 8 Notre Dame last Saturday was the second win over a team ranked inside the Associated Press top 10 during the Jim Harbaugh era (since 2015).

The lone other occurred on Oct. 1, 2016, in The Big House when the Wolverines took down No. 8 Wisconsin in a 14-7 nail biter, with quarterback Wilton Speight's 46-yard touchdown pass to wideout Amara Darboh with 7:58 remaining marking the game-winning score.

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The majority of Michigan's top-10 victories throughout its history have occurred in close fashion like the 2016 affair with the Badgers, and not in beatdown form like what the fans witnessed last Saturday against the Irish.

Prior to the triumph over Notre Dame, U-M's last 10 wins over AP top-10 squads came by an average of 10.1 points per game. Seven of those 10 occurred by seven points or fewer, with a 47-21 blowout of No. 2 Notre Dame in 2006 and a 31-3 destruction of No. 10 Purdue in 2003 skewing the final margin a bit.

To further exemplify how rare Michigan's 31-point obliteration of the Irish truly was, we've taken a look back at all of the Wolverines' blowout wins over top-10 clubs in school history.

What constitutes a blowout can be debated, but we've categorized it as a victory that came by 20 or more points.

The Maize and Blue had recorded 16 such wins against top-10 foes in its history entering the weekend (Saturday was the 17th), but only four of the 17 have occurred by 30 or more.

Last Saturday's triumph over Notre Dame was Michigan's fourth-largest margin of victory ever over an AP top-10 squad (the AP poll was introduced in 1936), trailing the 49-0 beatdown of No. 8 USC in the 1948 Rose Bowl, the 41-3 annihilation of No. 5 Texas A&M in 1977 and the 34-0 blanking of No. 8 Minnesota in 1954.

Head coach Lloyd Carr (1995-2007) owns the most blowout victories over top-10 opponents on the list above with five, including two in the Wolverines' national championship season of 1997 (27-3 over No. 8 Colorado and 34-8 over No. 2 Penn State).

Three other U-M coaches, meanwhile, possess three triumphs apiece on the table, including Bo Schembechler (1969-89), Bump Elliott (1959-68) and Bennie Oosterbaan (1948-58).

Harbaugh (2015-present), Fritz Crisler (1938-47) and Gary Moeller (1990-94) each grabbed one such win, with Crisler's perhaps being the most notable. His 1947 team's (often dubbed as the "Mad Magicians") 49-0 shutout of No. 8 USC in the Jan. 1, 1948, Rose Bowl capped off a perfect 10-0 campaign and allowed the Maize and Blue to take home the national crown.

Crisler — who was also serving as U-M's athletic director at the time — then stepped down as head coach following the season and named Oosterbaan his successor.

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8.2 Yards per carry for Maryland junior running back Javon Leake, which is the highest average in the Big Ten and the sixth-best mark nationally. Leake has averaged at least 6.3 yards per carry in seven of the Terrapins' eight games this season (with the exception of the Penn State loss, when he tallied 1.7).

9 Rushing touchdowns for freshman running back Zach Charbonnet, which are tied with Ohio State junior running back J.K. Dobbins and OSU sophomore quarterback Justin Fields for the second most in the Big Ten. Wisconsin junior running back Jonathan Taylor leads the way with 15. Charbonnet's nine scores are also tied with Mike Hart and Tyrone Wheatley for the most among U-M freshman rushers in school history.

53.1 Completion percentage for Maryland's passing attack, which is the second-worst mark in the Big Ten (Northwestern's 48.4 tally is the worst) and 115th nationally. The Terrapins' top two quarterbacks, redshirt juniors Josh Jackson and Tyrrell Pigrome, are connecting on just 50.4 and 59.8 percent of their passes, respectively. Michigan's secondary, on the other hand, held Notre Dame to a 37.9 completion percentage (11 of 29) last weekend.

56 Degrees for a projected high on Saturday in College Park, with nothing but sunny skies. Wind gusts are also only expected to hit three miles-per-hour, which should make for an unusually warm November day.

71 Points Maryland averaged in its first two games, defeating Howard, 79-0, and Syracuse, 63-20. The Terrapins have averaged just 19.5 points in the six outings since, and have been held to 17 or fewer in four of those six.

100.6 Rushing yards per contest for redshirt freshman running back Hassan Haskins over Michigan's last three clashes, following his career-best 149-yard showing against Notre Dame. The Missouri native is now tallying 6.2 yards per carry on the year, which is tied with Illinois fifth-year senior running back Dre Brown for the fifth-best average in the Big Ten.

164-34 Is what Michigan has outscored Maryland by in the four meetings under Harbaugh. The closest game of the four was U-M's 42-21 triumph last season.

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