The Michigan Wolverines' football defense dominated Maryland on Saturday in College Park, never allowing a point to its offense (the Terrapins' lone touchdown came on a 97-yard kick return in the third quarter).

U-M limited the Terps to just 233 total yards and was extra stingy in the red zone, where it held Maryland scoreless on three trips.

The Maize and Blue defense yielded just 104 yards through the air and 129 on the ground, and have now held each of their last six opponents to 293 yards of offense or fewer.

They also grabbed a turnover for the fifth time in their last six games, when senior safety Josh Metellus picked off redshirt junior quarterback Josh Jackson at the U-M 9-yard line in the first quarter with the Terrapins threatening offensively.

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Not only did Metellus pull down the interception, but he also chipped in a career-high nine tackles, including two stops behind the line of scrimmage.

"He had big ones too, statement kind of tackles," head coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward. "I think one of those picked up a first down, but that’s as fast as I’ve ever seen a back hit a hole.

"Josh got from point A to point B and made the tackle. To have a safety come up and make that kind of play is a statement in a game. That was really impressive."

Senior linebacker Josh Uche, meanwhile, led the club in sacks with two, in what was a four-sack, eight-tackle-for-loss outing by the Michigan defense.

"Josh is a relentless football player, and you see it every day in practice," Harbaugh noted. "He practices all the time, never misses one, and after watching him in one-on-one pass rushes every day, he’s tough to block.

"Josh is on a mission when he’s in pass rush, and that was the way our guys were getting to the quarterback — that was big today."

Maryland possessed the ball 12 times and punted on eight of them. The other four resulted in (in chronological order) Metellus' interception, a missed field goal, the end of the first half and the conclusion of the game.

Michigan's special teams made two massive plays on Saturday, both of which contributed heavily to the Wolverines' win.

The first came on the opening kickoff, when freshman wideout Giles Jackson ran the ball back 97 yards for a game-opening score, marking the Maize and Blue's first kick return for a touchdown since cornerback Ambry Thomas took one home 99 yards in the club's 24-17 loss at Notre Dame last season.

"Giles Jackson's confidence is real high right now," Harbaugh noted in the postgame. "He just hit it. That’s a great way to start a game. You can’t start any faster than returning the opening kick for a touchdown. It was really well blocked.

"[Running backs coach] Jay Harbaugh and [special teams/safeties coach] Chris Partridge do a phenomenal job on special teams. They’ve been working at it, and it was good to see one hit. We almost had another one too."

The special teams made another crucial play with 2:33 remaining in the first half, when U-M faked a punt on a fourth-and-one play at the Wolverines' own 27-yard line. The ball was snapped directly to redshirt freshman viper Michael Barrett, who rumbled ahead 14 yards to easily pick up the first down.

Harbaugh's gamble wound up paying off, with freshman running back Zach Charbonnet finding the end zone three plays later to put U-M up 21-0.

"We thought we could get it," the head coach revealed afterward. "We’ve practiced it now for several weeks. I was waiting for a fourth-and-one, fourth-and-two situation on our own side.

"It was there, so we took advantage of the work that we’ve put in. We thought it was a good time to call it, and it helped us win this game. The look is an element of surprise, and the way we practiced it made us confident we’d execute it."

Sophomore kicker Jake Moody missed his lone field goal attempt of the afternoon (a 37-yarder as the first half expired), while redshirt junior kicker Quinn Nordin converted on his (a 38-yard try at 9:04 of the fourth quarter).

Redshirt junior Will Hart also had an outstanding day punting the football, averaging 49.8 yards on five attempts, recording two 50-yarders and dropping two inside the Terrapin 20-yard line. The Terps returned just one of his punts for two yards.

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• Freshman defensive tackle Mazi Smith made the first appearance of his Wolverine career on Saturday.

• Nordin's field goal in the fourth quarter was his first make of the season, and his first successful kick since the win over Wisconsin last year on Oct. 13.

• Maryland's 104 passing yards were the second fewest Michigan had allowed this season. The 43 the team gave up to Army on Sept. 7 were the fewest.

• Uche logged both of his sacks in the first half, marking the second time this season he'd racked up at least two in a game (he had three in the Oct. 12 win at Illinois). The senior now has six quarterback takedowns over the club's last three games, and a team-best 7.5 on the year (he finished with a club-best seven in 2018).

• Opposing offenses have racked up 388 rushing yards on 208 carries against Michigan in its last four games, which equates out to 1.87 yards per carry. The Wolverine defense has only given up three runs of 15 yards or longer in its last 24 quarters.

• The 31-point triumph was U-M's biggest on the road since a 42-7 victory at Rutgers last season on Nov. 10.

• Barrett's 14-yard run in the second quarter was the second time he had helped successfully convert a fake punt on the year, with the other occurring in the Sept. 7 win over Army when he completed a 25-yard pass to freshman safety Daxton Hill.

• Metellus' second-quarter interception was the fifth of his career and his second of the season. It also stood as the sixth pick of the year for the Wolverine defense.

• The Maize and Blue's victory snapped a streak of three straight Homecoming wins for the Terps.

• Michigan improved to 8-1 all time against Maryland, with the lone setback occurring at The Big House in 2014.

• Following Saturday's missed field goal, Moody has only converted two of his previous five attempts dating back to the Oct. 5 win over Iowa.

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