Michigan's passing attack put on an impressive display in a 45-20 win over SMU on Saturday.
After tossing three touchdown passes last week against Western Michigan, junior quarterback Shea Patterson threw three more against the Mustangs, with all of them going to sophomore receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones.
The first came in the second quarter when Patterson found the wide-open sophomore for a 35-yard score to put the Wolverines up 14-7 with just 2:34 to go before halftime.
The second one occurred with 9:07 remaining in the third when the junior signal-caller lobbed a short seven-yard fade to Peoples-Jones who was being defended in man coverage.
The trifecta was completed with 1:23 to go in the third quarter, when Patterson threw a deep ball to the Detroit native in the end zone for a 41-yard pitch and catch.
“I’ve got a lot of teammates that make my job easy," Peoples-Jones said after the game. "Shea is out here delivering beautiful balls that are very catchable. That makes it very easy to catch the ball and run.”
The sophomore receiver hauled in 90 yards on the afternoon, but redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry's 95 yards actually led the team.
The tight end only caught four passes, but they were receptions of 32, 28, 24 and 10 yards, equating out to a 23.8 yard per catch average.
Patterson had plenty of praise for both of his leading targets in the postgame.
“Donovan is a freak athlete," the quarterback exclaimed. "I don’t think there’s anything he can’t do. He's very smart, fast and football savvy. I know if I throw it, I’ve just got to put it up in his vicinity. There’s a lot of trust in him.
“Zach is also a very special player at 6-7, 6-8. Even when he’s got a guy on him, I'm just putting it high for him to go up and grab it. He’s a huge aspect in this offense, especially in the run game, because he’s a great blocker."
Patterson threw for 237 yards on the Mustangs, narrowly edging out the 227 he tossed at Notre Dame on Sept. 1 for the most in his short Michigan career.
The only blemish of the game came when he tossed an interception at the SMU two-yard line, which marked his second pick of the year.
Patterson has now tossed three touchdown passes in consecutive games, the first time a U-M signal-caller has done so since Wilton Speight threw three against Hawai'i and four versus Central Floirda on Sept. 3 and Sept. 10 of 2016, respectively.
Rushing Attack Still Finding Its Way
Senior running back Karan Higdon missed the contest with injury, so junior Chris Evans got the start in his place.
Evans ran for 85 yards on 18 carries (4.7 average), while junior Tru Wilson added 53 on 11 touches (4.8 average).
"Karan was a game-time decision, just didn’t feel like he could go," head coach Jim Harbaugh said afterward. "Chris [who left the game with injury], we’ll see what his situation is exactly, if it was a strain or a cramp.
"I thought Tru Wilson also took a step in the right direction. He is a really good, solid contributing back."
The team as a whole compiled 197 yards and two touchdowns on the ground (4.8 yards per rush), but still saw the offensive line have issues creating holes at times.
The starting five up front remained the same as the first two games — redshirt junior left tackle Jon Runyan, junior left guard Ben Bredeson, sophomore center Cesar Ruiz, junior right guard Mike Onwenu and fifth-year senior right tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty.
Sophomore fullback Ben Mason also got into the ground action, carrying three times for six yards, including a score in the second quarter.
Sophomore cornerback Ambry Thomas was also inserted into the game on offense for a second week in a row, and rushed one time for 11 yards — he was also used as a decoy several times.
Miscellaneous Notes
• Peoples-Jones' three touchdown catches marked the most by any U-M receiver in a single game since Jehu Chesson hauled in four (tied for a school record) in a 48-41 double-overtime victory at Indiana on Nov. 14, 2015.
It was also the first multi-touchdown game of the sophomore's career — he had just one previous scoring grab in his tenure, and that came last Saturday against Western Michigan. His 90 yards against SMU were also a new personal best.
• U-M wideouts have now hauled in six scoring grabs this year (four by Peoples-Jones, and one each by sophomore Nico Collins and redshirt freshman Jake McCurry). Michigan's receivers tallied just three all of last year (one each by Grant Perry, Tarik Black and Kekoa Crawford).
• Gentry accumulated career highs in both yards (95) and receptions (four), and has now caught at least one pass in nine straight games. His previous career bests in both categories occurred last year in the Nov. 11 win at Maryland, when he hauled in three balls for 63 yards.
Junior tight end Sean McKeon's 12-game reception streak, meanwhile, came to an end.
• Wilson recorded his first career touchdown with a nine-yard run late in the fourth quarter. He also posted a career-best 11 carries, which gained 53 yards and just barely missed his previous high of 54 yards — which he established last week against WMU.
• Michigan now has three touchdown passes of 35 yards or more (a 35-yarder and a 41-yarder to Peoples-Jones against SMU, and a 44-yarder to Collins versus WMU) on the year, after having two all of last year (a 46-yarder to Black against Florida and a 43-yarder to Crawford against Cincinnati).
• The Wolverines had five passes of 20 yards or more against SMU, after only racking up 34 all of last year (2.6 per game, which tied for 87th nationally). U-M came into the Mustang game with four of 20 or more and two of 30-plus (they had 15 of at least 30 yards in 2017 — an average of 1.2 per contest — to tie for 88th in the land).
• Michigan has scored 45 or more points in consecutive games for the first time since victories against Colorado (45-28) on Sept. 17 and Penn State (49-10) on Sept. 24 of 2016.
• The last time U-M compiled a minimum of 434 yards in consecutive contests was against Michigan State (436) and Maryland (660) in 2016.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
