Michigan Football: Wolverines See Red, And Crush It
Michigan players insisted they wanted to make a statement to open Big Ten play. This one consisted of chiseling their message in stone tablets and smashing them over Nebraskan heads.
The Wolverines (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) ground the ‘Huskers into corn meal, pounding out a 56-10 win at Michigan Stadium that ended, in reality, well before halftime. They buried Scott Frost’s squad (0-3, 0-1) in a crushing ground attack, out-rushing Nebraska 285-39, on the way to a 491-132 yards total offense avalanche.
They scored on a breakaway by senior tailback Karan Higdon (12 carries, 136 yards, one TD), three bruising bull rushes by sophomore fullback Ben Mason (six carries, 18 yards, three touchdowns), a breathtaking 60-yard punt-return TD by sophomore wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones and a touchdown toss by efficient junior quarterback Shea Patterson (15-of-22 passing, 120 yards).
On defense, the Wolverines buried the ‘Huskers like last year’s corn stubble. They harassed starting quarterback Adrian Martinez into a 7-of-15 day throwing, with 22 passing yards and a pickoff. Martinez sat out most of the second half for his own safety — and because the game was long gone.
Aided by 39 lost yards on sacks, the Wolverines stonewalled Nebraska with 39 net yards on the ground. In other words, Michigan planted Nebraska more thoroughly than spring crops.
“It definitely was a statement game,” noted junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr., who posted a sack among his team-leading six tackles. “Nebraska being a Big Ten team, and this being the start of the Big Ten season, why not pop it off like that?”
Why not, indeed? The Wolverines weren’t going to be outhit, outscored or out-anything on this afternoon.
“I thought our team played very physical in all phases, offensively, defensively, special teams,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “It showed up in a lot of the one-on-one matchups, it showed up in the goal line, short-yardage football on both sides. I thought our receivers blocked extremely well again. Donovan was blocking extremely well. It showed up on the punt return, some great blocks there. I thought physically our team played well today.”
Nebraska might have thought it had a chance to turn its season around, coming into Big Ten play. Those thoughts didn’t last long, when reality hit.
Michigan’s defense delivered from the opening possession, fifth-year senior defensive tackle Lawrence Marshall tipping a Martinez pass high into the air. Junior safety Josh Metellus slashed in and slid under it for his second interception in as many weeks, giving the Wolverines the ball at their own 36.
Six plays later, Mason crashed in from the 1, putting U-M on top just 4:33 into the contest. Higdon set the table, breaking off a 46-yard run, and Mason played hammer thereafter, slamming four straight times into the Cornhuskers’ defense to score.
“Ben Mason is incredible,” Higdon said. “He comes in, each and every day, working hard, lifting other guys up. He plays with a mentality unknown, and I love it.”
The Wolverines didn’t wait around to blast Nebraska in the mouth with the combo punch, either. A 14-yard sack on Martinez by redshirt junior viper Jordan Glasgow and a subsequent punt catch interference penalty on Nebraska set U-M up at the Cornhuskers’ 44.
This time, Higdon burst like a bullet train through a leveled cornfield, chugging untouched to the goal line on a one-play touchdown surge. At 8:58 of the first quarter, Frost’s team trailed, 14-0, stunned as a man taking a 100-foot plunge off a silo into waste-deep pig slop.
“It was great,” Higdon said. “We came out fast and strong. We jumped on them quick, and I think we made a statement. Opening up Big Ten play is always difficult, and I thought we did a good job.”
And it only grew worse.
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary’s 10-yard sack on Martinez set up Michigan’s next drive, a 66-yard, eight-play march. Patterson’s 21-yard toss to redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry, along with a 26-yard third-down run by junior tailback Tru Wilson, led to Mason’s four-yard touchdown run.
Redshirt sophomore Quinn Nordin’s missed extra point couldn’t dampen the celebration at the 3:09 mark, U-M taking a 20-0 lead into the second quarter.
Nordin proved better from longer moments later, after a muffed punt set U-M up in Nebraska territory. Nordin wound up nailing a 50-yard field goal, making it 23-0 just 49 seconds into the second quarter.
The Wolverines just kept on rolling, treating Nebraska like a rented tractor. They went 59 yards in 10 plays the next time they touched the football, Patterson starting the drive with a perfect 23-yard sideline toss to sophomore wideout Nico Collins.
The U-M quarterback finished it on a five-yard TD toss to Gentry, who was lonelier than Nebraska’s bowl game ticket office after a Cornhusker defender fell down. At 30-0 with 8:20 left in the half, Nebraska fans were aching to get back to the relative safety of the Big Ten West.
Here, there wasn’t a place to hide. Sacks by fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich and Bush buried Martinez in the shadow of his own goal posts, setting up yet another Michigan touchdown.
The Wolverines needed only 34 yards this time, Higdon breaking off a 25-yarder and Mason husking two would-be Nebraska tacklers on a one-yard TD plunge to make it 37-0.
Still under siege, Martinez caught his own pass — tipped by freshman defensive end Aidan Hutchinson — and threw it forward to the ground with both hands. Officials ruled the illegal forward pass a safety, bumping the margin to 39-0.
“It was a real solid game on our end,” Bush said. “I feel like we can still get better in a lot of areas, but I felt like today was a dominant performance.”
Just in case anyone mentally unplugged at intermission, Peoples-Jones provided an electrifying start to the second half.
He caught a Nebraska punt at his own 40, swept to the eastern sideline, cut back, executed a full 360-degree spin that left a would-be ‘Huskers tackler lying face down in silage and raced all the way back to the western sideline behind a wall of blockers for a 60-yard touchdown.
“That was incredible," Higdon marveled. "I talked to him after that play. That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t be more happy for a guy like that. He works hard on his punt returns every day. Every break he gets, he’s working on punt returns. It was incredible seeing him make that play.”
The ‘Huskers finally got on the board via s 35-yard field goal with 5:23 left in the third quarter. By then, Martinez had retired for the day, living to play another game.
Nordin matched that with a 38-yarder moments later, making it 49-3 in the final minute of the third quarter. A 75-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman quarterback Dylan McCaffrey got wiped out by a holding penalty earlier on the possession.
McCaffrey then gunned a 56-yard TD bomb to true freshman wideout Ronnie Bell, who took it perfectly in stride then executed a stop move to let the last possible tackler fly by. With 14:21 left, the Wolverines led, 56-3.
Nebraska running back Wyatt Mazour scored from four yards out with 4:14 left, the ‘Huskers finally managing a touchdown against U-M backups.
As Big Ten openers go, it couldn’t have been much more convincing, even against a winless team. The Wolverines hadn’t seen the Cornhuskers since 2013, but this one left a mark.
“I’ve said it really from the beginning, they’re improving, spring ball to training camp, first game, second, third now the fourth,” Harbaugh assured. “Hard work’s paying off for our entire team. It’s very noticeable.”
Five Best Players Of The Game
1. Junior linebacker Devin Bush Jr. — Bush was simply all over the field, stopping sweeps, sniffing out swing passes and using his incredible speed to lead a defensive performance that gave Nebraska no chance. His team-best six tackles included a sack among a pair of tackles for loss, and he always keeps the pressure on.
2. Senior tailback Karan Higdon — This one always comes with a big nod to Michigan’s offensive line, and that’s especially so for this game. Higdon bolted untouched to the end zone on his long TD run, and piled up 92 of his 136 yards in the first quarter alone.
3. Junior quarterback Shea Patterson — Patterson deftly led the show again, not lighting it up in stats, but running the offense extremely well. He didn’t toss an interception and made all the plays when necessary.
4. Junior safety Josh Metellus — Metellus’ interception on Nebraska’s opening drive set up a U-M touchdown and set the tone for the day. His presence was felt over and over, with his pickoff, a pass breakup and 1.5 tackles for loss along with strong coverage.
5. Sophomore wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones — Just in case Nebraska had any ideas about a face-saving push back in the second half, Peoples-Jones stunned them out of the second-half gate. His 60-yard punt-return touchdown was a thing of beauty, and the play of the game on a very blue day for Nebraska.
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