Junior quarterback Shea Patterson came to Michigan with incredibly high expectations and has exceeded those in every way this season.
His brilliance continued in a 42-7 win at Rutgers on Saturday, when he completed 18 of his 27 passes for 260 yards with three touchdowns and no picks, in blustery conditions that featured 20 to 30 mile-per-hour wind gusts.
Patterson's first scoring throw was a 36-yard strike to sophomore wideout Nico Collins at the 5:07 mark of the second quarter, which put U-M up 21-7 at the time.
The junior's next touchdown toss came just four minutes into the third quarter when he found redshirt freshman receiver Oliver Martin in the corner of the end zone for a 16-yard connection, extending Michigan's lead to 28-7.
His third and final end-zone throw of the day occurred with just eight seconds left in the third frame when he found Collins once again, this time on a 10-yard touchdown to give the Maize and Blue a 35-7 edge.
Patterson has now thrown for 1,927 yards on the year with an incredible 17-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. In comparison, U-M quarterbacks threw nine touchdowns all of last year.
"Shea looked as good as he’s ever looked in the pocket tonight," head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the win. "He doesn't panic and moves subtlety to get to the quiet spots. Those are definitely things you coach, but I’ve done the same drills with some guys, and they don’t ever get it. He's special."
The contest marked the fourth time this year Patterson has tossed at least three touchdowns in a game, while his 260 yards were just 22 shy of the season-high 282 he had against Maryland on Oct. 6.
Pro Football Focus thought it was his best performance, awarding him a season-high grade of 94.2, 2.4 points higher than any other quarterback in the country this week.
Higdon Hits 1,000 Yards On The Year, But 100-Yard Streak Come To An End
Senior running back Karan Higdon needed just 37 yards against Rutgers to hit 1,000 on the season, and he accumulated 42 to get him over the milestone.
He became the first U-M running back to reach quadruple digits on the group since Fitzgerald Toussaint tallied 1,041 in 2011, and the first Wolverine overall since Denard Robinson in 2012.
Higdon also tacked on two touchdowns for good measure against the Scarlet Knights, giving him nine on the year.
The senior saw his seven-consecutive-games streak with at least 100 yards come to an end, though, a stretch that dated all the way back to the Sept. 8 win over Western Michigan. If Higdon would've hit the century mark on Saturday, he would have tied Mike Hart's school-record of eight straight contests with at least 100 yards set in 2007.
Saturday was actually the senior's worst statistical outing of the year, with his 42 yards and 2.8-yard average both being season lows.
Fortunately for U-M, a pair of juniors in Tru Wilson and Chris Evans were able to pick up the slack a bit. The former ran for 58 yards on just eight carries, while the latter compiled 75 yards on six runs, 61 of which came on a touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter.
Harbaugh praised Wilson's efforts, in particular, after the victory.
"Tru really did a heck of a job today," the head coach exclaimed. "He was running hard and keeping his speed the entire time. He has gotten so much better at knowing when to cut back and when not to, and when to lower the shoulder."
Miscellaneous Notes
• Michigan has scored a combined 204 points in its last four games against Rutgers, winning the four by an average score of 51-9.
• Martin's touchdown grab was the first of his career and made him the seventh different Wolverine to catch a touchdown this year — the other six are Collins, redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry, redshirt freshman receiver Jake McCurry, junior tight end Sean McKeon, Peoples-Jones and fifth-year senior fullback Jared Wangler.
• U-M successfully converted nine of its 14 third-downs (64 percent).
• The 42 points marked the sixth time the Wolverines have scored at least 40 in a game in 2018. They never tallied more than 36 all of last year.
• Collins' 36-yard touchdown catch was the seventh contest this season where he has had at least one grab of 20 yards or more.
• The team did not commit a turnover for the fifth time in a contest this year and has given the ball away just three times in its last six outings.
• Evans' 61-yard touchdown was his longest run of the season.
• U-M's 24 first-downs tied a season high, which it also accomplished against Maryland on Oct. 6.
• Peoples-Jones' 83 receiving yards were the second most of his career, narrowly behind the 90 he accumulated against SMU on Sept. 15.
• Freshman tight end Luke Schoonmaker made his Maize and Blue debut, playing six snaps on offense.
• Both redshirt sophomore Brandon Peters and freshman Joe Milton saw time at quarterback once Patterson departed the contest in the fourth quarter. Milton has now played in two games, and can still afford to compete in two more and maintain his redshirt.
• Michigan's 453 yards were the third most it had racked up this year, trailing only the 491 it put up against Nebraska and the 465 it had against Maryland.
• With his three grabs on Saturday, Gentry has now caught at least one pass 14 straight showdowns.
• U-M's 42 points were the most it had scored in a road game since the 78-0 shellacking at Rutgers on Oct. 8, 2016.
• The Wolverines have scored in 33 of 40 quarters this season, including all four against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday.
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