The Michigan Wolverines' football team didn't duplicate the 303-yard rushing performance 9y7yjmu in its 45-14 blowout of Notre Dame, but still managed to find the end zone three times on the ground in Saturday's 38-7 destruction of Maryland in College Park.
The ground game is what had been carrying Michigan over the last three weeks leading up to Saturday's showdown with the Terrapins (246.3 rushing yards per outing during that span), and it added three more touchdowns on Saturday, with two from freshman running back Zach Charbonnet and one from redshirt freshman Hassan Haskins.
The latter led the way with 60 rushing yards a week after he racked up a career-high 149 against the Irish, while the former compiled 28 in College Park.
Senior running back Tru Wilson was Michigan's second-leading rusher on the day, chipping in 50 of the Maize and Blue's 155 yards on the ground.
Redshirt freshman running back Christian Turner saw some brief action as well, carrying three times but losing six yards.
Long runs were difficult to come by for Michigan's offense on Saturday, though; Wilson tallied a career-long 39-yarder in the third quarter, but no other Wolverine ball carrier recorded a run north of 14 yards.
“With the way the running backs are running the ball right now and how the O-line is pass protecting, it's allowing our guys to get on the perimeter and make plays down the field," senior quarterback Shea Patterson said after the win. "It makes a dynamic offense.”
"Thought [offensive coordinator] Josh [Gattis] called a really good game today," head coach Jim Harbaugh chimed in. "Good mix of running game, the downfield game was there, the RPO [run-pass option] throws were there. We made some plays from those.
"There were some three-and-outs we wish we were better at, but we'll keep building and keep improving. I feel like it’s going in the ascending direction."
Michigan Football Starts Fast on the Road
Slow offensive starts have plagued the Wolverines in two of their three road games coming into Saturday (a combined seven points in four first half quarters in losses at Wisconsin and Penn State), but the Maize and Blue bucked that trend in College Park by tallying 21 points before the break.
Freshman wideout Giles Jackson gave the club a boost with a 97-yard kickoff return to start the game, and the U-M offense followed it up by finding the end zone on a 41-yard drive on their first series of the game, capping it off with a two-yard Charbonnet touchdown run.
“We always try to start the game off fast, and that was a big emphasis coming into this game on the road," Patterson noted in the postgame. "It was cool to see him [Jackson] take off and set the tone for the game.”
The 21 first-half points were more than the Wolverines had scored in the first four quarters at Penn State and Wisconsin combined (seven), and were the most on the road since they posted 28 prior to the break in the Oct. 12 win at Illinois.
Michigan had been outscored 56-35 by its opponents in the first half of its three road games entering the weekend, but flipped the script on Maryland by taking a 21-0 lead into the break.
Miscellaneous Michigan Football Offense Notes
• Saturday's win was the fourth game in a row where Michigan compiled at least 300 yards of offense. The last time it didn't was in the Oct. 5 win over Iowa, when it only mustered 271.
• Junior receiver Nico Collins' 51-yard grab in the second quarter was the sixth different game this season when he's recorded at least one catch of 25 yards or longer, and his third contest with a reception of 40 yards or more.
• Patterson connected on 13 of his 22 attempts for 151 yards with one touchdown and no picks. The senior has not thrown an interception in three of the team's last four games.
• Haskins' three receptions on Saturday were the first three grabs of his career.
• Charbonnet's 28 rushing yards were his fewest since only compiling 22 in the Sept. 28 win over Rutgers.
• Maryland had forced at least one turnover in 20 straight games entering the weekend, which stood as the longest streak of any team in the nation. Michigan did not give the ball away for the second game in a row, after committing at least one turnover in the first seven tilts of the season.
• Redshirt sophomore quarterback Dylan McCaffrey came in on U-M's final possession of the third quarter and ran the offense for the rest of the afternoon. He completed three of his seven passes for 25 yards, with his seven attempts standing as his second most of the year (trailing only the eight he had in the Sept. 21 loss at Wisconsin).
• Entering the weekend, Collins had been averaging 18.7 yards per reception, which was the third-best mark in the Big Ten. He pulled down two catches for 65 yards against the Terrapins, equating out to 32.5 yards a catch.
• Haskins' 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was just the second score of his career. His lone other came on a 29-yard scamper in the Oct. 12 win at Illinois.
• Charbonnet's two rushing TDs gave him 11 on the year, setting the record for the most touchdowns on the ground by a U-M freshman. The California native had nine entering the day, which was tied with former Wolverine greats Mike Hart and Tyrone Wheatley.
Charbonnet also tied former running back Karan Higdon (11 rushing scores in 2017) for the most touchdowns in a season by a single player under Harbaugh during his time at U-M.
• Redshirt junior tight end Nick Eubanks' five-yard TD grab in the third quarter was the third of his career, with his previous two coming Oct. 12 at Illinois and last season against Indiana.
• The Wolverines have accumulated 884 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground in their last four games. With three more rushing scores against the Terrapins, Michigan has registered at least three ground TDs in five of its last six outings.
• U-M has outscored Maryland 202-41 in the five meetings under Harbaugh.
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