It wasn't the most comforting start for Michigan against Rutgers on Saturday but things quickly corrected itself in a hurry as the Wolverines cruised to a 31-7 victory over the Scarlet Knights to open up Big Ten play.

On the Scarlet Knights' very first drive of the game, the Wolverines gave up an uncharacteristic 69-yard touchdown to open up the scoring.

It was the only big play the defense would end up giving up the rest of the way.

While it wasn't clear who was at fault, defensive captain Mike Sainristil took responsibility for the touchdown during his postgame press conference.

He said he wanted to make up for the mistake immediately and credited Jesse Minter's game plan to make adjustments and make Rutgers' offense uncomfortable all game long.

"For me, personally, I feel like I allowed it and that was my man that scored," Sainristil said. "Good players make good plays, good players make mistakes. He scored a touchdown, I brush it off right away and I am going to get y'all one back. I told Coach Clink when we went into the third quarter that I'm going to get one. Overall, the defense, we did a great job. The guys up front did a great job in the run game, great job putting pressure on the quarterback.

"I just feel like Coach Minter, he gameplan he had for us, we planned on making it tough for their quarterback. We wanted him to go out there and have to play quarterback against us and the players, we all did a great job executing the plan after that first drive."

Sainristil certainly made good on his promise to his coach, as the Scarlet Knights were driving in the third quarter and threatening to make it a one-score game, the offense was facing a fourth and short.

Rutgers ended up calling a screen play that was quickly diagnosed by the U-M defense and, somehow, the pass ended up in the arms of Sainristil, who took it 71 yards to blow the game wide open for the Wolverines.

"Just an opportunity, we knew it was fourth down and they kind of played it aggressive," Sainristil said. "Coach called man, he wanted to play it aggressive. Bow up, that's all that means. Just bow up, be ready to do whatever it takes to get the ball back for the offense whether it's a regular stop or a takeaway.

"We were in man coverage, I read the play, made a great play on it and the rest of the defense helped lead me into the endzone."

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