Offense Notes: Charbonnet's 100-Yard Effort Overcomes U-M's Fumble Issues
The final offensive statistics weren't pretty (340 total yards and three turnovers) for the Michigan Wolverines' football team in their 24-21 double-overtime victory over Army on Saturday, Freshman running back Zach Charbonnet served as one of the few bright spots.
RELATED: U-M Turns Back Army in Double OT, 24-21
He carried 33 times for 100 yards and three touchdowns (the first three of his career), a week after racking up 90 yards on Middle Tennessee State in his collegiate debut.
In fact, Charbonnet became the first Wolverine freshman running back to find the end zone three times in one game since Mike Hart did so in a 42-20 win over Northwestern on Nov. 13, 2004.
His first score of the day came with 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter and capped off an 11-play, 70-yard drive, while also tying the game at 7-7.
Charbonnet's second TD occurred late in the third quarter when he ran it in from a yard out to once again knot the score, this time at 14-all.
Following that same trend, the freshman's third and final touchdown of the afternoon occurred from three yards out in the first overtime, deadlocking the score at 21.
"I just really felt like we had to go with and really lean on Zach today," head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game. "[Redshirt freshman] Ben [VanSumeren] fumbled, and we had another missed protection. We just felt like we had to go with Zach — more than we really wanted to.
"That’s tough, tough duty to go a whole game on a hot day. You’ve got to give the kid a lot of credit. He rose to the occasion and had to be tired, but did a heck of a job in my opinion."
The California native became the first U-M player to garner 33 carries in a single contest since Karan Higdon matched that total (for 144 yards) in a 21-7 triumph at MSU last season, and just the second player to do so since Hart in 2007.
Additionally, Hart is the only U-M freshman running back (since 1949, which is how far back U-M's statistics database goes) to match Charbonnet's 33 carries in a game, doing so four times in 2004.
A U-M back receiving 33 totes (regardless of class) has only happened 27 times (not including today) since 1949.
U-M Commits Four Fumbles, Loses Three
Michigan put the ball on the ground four times (two were lost) last week against Middle Tennessee State (two by senior quarterback Shea Patterson).
The Wolverines matched that number against Army (three lost) — two more by Patterson, one by VanSumeren and one by sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell.
The Maize and Blue have now fumbled eight times and lost five through two games.
The three lost fumbles in the first half against the Black Knights marked the first time U-M had committed three turnovers in a half under Harbaugh.
Losing fumbles actually hadn't been much of an issue in the previous four years under the U-M head man, with the Wolverines ranking 21st nationally in the category in 2015 (six lost on the year), 12th in 2016 (five), 95th in 2017 (11) and first in 2018 (three).
“It’s tough when you’re trying to get things going and you make mistakes," senior left guard Ben Bredeson admitted. "We had some penalties and turnovers, and things we need to clean up. It’s hard to get in a rhythm with that. We fought through all those mistakes at the end of the game and were able to close it out.”
"Shea just can’t get that loose with the ball," Harbaugh added. "The first one [fumble] was his and the second one was a missed protection with the running back."
U-M had not lost three fumbles in a game since 2008, when it gave up four (on seven total loose balls) in a 35-17 loss to Notre Dame.
Miscellaneous Notes
• Bell registered career highs in both receptions and yards, with seven and 81, respectively. His previous high in grabs had only been two (which he had done four times), while his former best in yards were the 56 he had in a 56-10 win over Nebraska last season.
• The announced attendance of 111,474 marked the 288th straight game at The Big House with a crowd of at least 100,000 people.
• Junior wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones missed his second straight contest with a foot injury. The win over the Blue Raiders was the first tilt he had missed in his career.
• Saturday's victory was Michigan's first overtime contest since a 27-20 win at Indiana on Oct. 14, 2017. The Wolverines improved their record to 12-3 in overtime affairs since 2000, including a perfect 5-0 mark in Ann Arbor.
• The Maize and Blue ran 76 plays against Army, after executing 78 last weekend against Middle Tennessee State.
As we noted earlier this week, U-M ranked 74th nationally with an average of 70.8 plays per game last year and has a high season-long clip of 74.3 under Harbaugh (which ranked 52nd in 2016).
• Michigan's 108 rushing yards were its fewest in a game since the 41-15 Peach Bowl loss to Florida (77) last season, and its second fewest in its last 14 tilts.
• Patterson attempted 29 passes against Army, after throwing 25 in the first half alone last week.
• Freshman wideout Giles Jackson reeled in his first career catch (though it went for no yards) in the first quarter.
• Michigan ran the ball 22 times on first down against Army while attempting just 12 passes, and threw it 13 times on second down while keeping it on the ground 12 times. Third-down play calls, meanwhile, were dead even, with eight pass attempts and eight runs.
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