Grading Michigan football in all areas of a 24-21, double-overtime win over Army.

The Wolverines ran for 108 net yards, 100 by freshman running back Zach Charbonnet. The long runs, however, were only 12 and 11 yards. The Wolverines ran nine times on first down in the third and fourth quarters for only 24 yards and were stopped twice on fourth-and-short (after being stopped on third-and-short).

This was a pedestrian effort for a line expected to be among the Big Ten’s best. U-M averaged just 2.4 yards per rush.

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Senior quarterback Shea Patterson was sacked four times and lost two fumbles in the process. His first fumble changed the entire dynamic of the game for the second straight contest, a first-drive miscue after the defense held Army to a three-and-out.

Running back pass-rush pickups were lacking besides Charbonnet, and the offensive line was leaky at times, too. Patterson completed 19 of 29 passes for 207 yards, but his long of 25 (to sophomore Ronnie Bell) was one of the few plays over 20 yards (another was a 25-yarder on a fake punt).

Michigan simply didn’t stretch the field like they should have. The Wolverines also dropped three more passes.

It’s hard to explain how tough this Army triple option is to defend. As Michigan defensive line coach Shaun Nua said earlier in the week, three yards is a win for the Black Knights, and there were a lot of those. At the same time, there was only one carry over eight yards (for 31) and Army averaged only 3.3 yards per carry — its lowest rushing clip in a game since 2015.

The Black Knights were second in the NCAA last year, averaging 312.5 rushing yards per game. U-M’s run defense wasn’t perfect, but it did force four punts on Army’s 10 possessions in regulation. Army also had to keep three drives alive with fourth-down conversions on the ground.

Overall, 200 rushing yards to that offense is not bad.

Army didn’t throw enough to judge here (2-of-5 passing for 43 yards), but the Black Knights did take advantage of one breakdown in the secondary for a 34-yard gain. Senior cornerback Lavert Hill negated it with a goal-line interception forced by great protection. However, Hill also picked up an unnecessary holding penalty on a key third-down play.

Kick returner Giles Jackson had a nice return called back by an illegal block, while sophomore punt return man Ronnie Bell put the ball on the ground and was lucky his teammate recovered.

At the same time, redshirt freshman viper Michael Barrett’s fake punt pass to frosh Daxton Hill for 25 yards on fourth-and-10 set up the tying touchdown in the first quarter and was critical.

U-M punted only once — Will Hart boomed it 61 yards — and sophomore Jake Moody made a huge kick in overtime, 43 yards for the win.

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