Offense Notes: Karan Higdon, Quarterbacks Run All Over Wisconsin
Michigan's ground game has continually improved all season and put on its best effort of the year in Saturday night's win over Wisconsin.
The Wolverines racked up 320 yards on the ground and averaged 6.7 yards per carry against a Wisconsin front seven that had only been yielding 130.2 entering the contest (42nd nationally).
Senior running back Karan Higdon led the way, racking up 105 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
The senior's effort marked his fifth straight 100-yard outing and the ninth of his career, with the Wolverines coming out victorious in all nine.
Higdon has now become the first Wolverine to post triple digits on the ground in five consecutive contests since quarterback Denard Robinson in 2010, and the first U-M running back to do so since Mike Hart in 2007.
“Karan is a horse," junior quarterback Shea Patterson said after the game. "He’s our horse and the leader on the offense — we follow him. He sets the tone for the game and opens up everything else.”
The U-M quarterbacks were actually heavily involved in the rushing attack as well, most notably Patterson.
He got the action started with an 81-yard scamper early in the second quarter, on a drive that was capped off with two-yard touchdown run from Higdon to put the Maize and Blue up 7-0 at the time.
"Shea really got things going in the first quarter with the long run, and the touchdown run he had [in the third quarter]," head coach Jim Harbaugh noted in the postgame. "He allowed us to stretch their defense and all their gaps. We made them cover and account for as many gaps as we could. It was just a good game plan that was well executed."
Patterson wound up rushing for 90 yards on 10 carries, while redshirt freshman backup Dylan McCaffrey even joined in on the action in the fourth quarter, finding the end zone on a 44-yard run.
A third signal-caller in freshman Joe Milton (two carries for 22 yards) made his Wolverine debut, showing plenty of mobility and athleticism on a 23-yard rush late in the fourth quarter.
Due to the NCAA's new redshirt rule, Milton will be allowed to play in three more games this year and still redshirt.
U-M Offense Continues Racking up the Points at Home
Michigan has been posting points in bunches at The Big House this season, and the 38-point outburst against Wisconsin only helped the cause.
However, the 38 tally was actually a season low for the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, with the previous low being the 42 it put on Maryland last week.
U-M has dominated its competition inside The Big House in 2018, winning all five affairs by at least 21 points, an average of 32.6 per contest and a combined margin of 230-67.
To put in perspective how seldom the Badgers get beat down the way they did by Michigan on Saturday, consider this — it was just Wisconsin's second 25-point loss since the 2009 season began, with the other being a 59-0 blowout to Ohio State in the 2014 Big Ten Championship.
Michigan's scoring barrage on Saturday night didn't begin until the second half, though.
After racking up 13 points and 83 rushing yards prior to the break, the Wolverines exploded for 25 points and 237 yards on the ground (7.4 average) after halftime.
"We went to as many C-gap plays as we could [in the second half]," Harbaugh revealed. "We took our six best [plays] at halftime, and ran those pretty much the whole second half. They were effective because our guys were doing a great job up front. I can’t think of any missed assignments or penalties they had."
Miscellaneous Notes
• Patterson's 81-yard run in the first quarter was the second-longest run by a U-M quarterback in school history, trailing only Robinson's 87-yarder at Notre Dame in 2010. The junior's 81-yard scamper was the 15th-longest rush by any U-M player ever.
“That’s the first 80-yard run I’ve had in my whole entire life," Patterson laughed after the game. "I was surprised by that — whenever teams give me that read, I’m going to take it.”
His 90 yards on the ground were a career high (including his time at Ole Miss; 73 was his previous best), and his seven-yard scoring run in the third quarter was his first rushing touchdown at Michigan (and second of his career).
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• Michigan's 124 passing yards marked its lowest output of the season; the previous low had been 143 against Western Michigan on Sept. 8.
• Sophomore wideout Nico Collins led the team in both catches and yards, with just four for 31, respectively.
• McCaffrey's 44-yard score in the fourth quarter was the first rushing touchdown of his collegiate tenure. The last time two U-M quarterbacks found the end zone on the ground in the same contest was on Oct. 8, 2011, at Northwestern when Robinson and Devin Gardner tallied three.
U-M's three signal-callers — Patterson, McCaffrey and Milton — combined for 156 rushing yards on just 12 carries against the Badgers (13.0-yard average).
• Redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry hauled in one reception for five yards, extending his consecutive games with a catch streak to 11.
• Patterson failed to toss a touchdown against Wisconsin, after compiling 10 over his previous five outings.
• The 320 rushing yards were Michigan's most against a ranked opponent since racking up 341 on Illinois in 2000.
• Junior running back Chris Evans returned from injury — he had missed the last three games — and carried five times for 18 yards.
• The 38 points U-M posted were its most against a ranked opponent since tallying 41 against No. 19 Florida in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl Jan. 1, 2016.
• Before the game, Michigan honored more than 20 offensive linemen in a pregame ceremony, all of which played at least five years in the NFL, and were either an All-Big Ten selection or a team captain at U-M. They served as the game's honorary captains.
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