Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Click here to get your 30-day free trial!

Grading every aspect of Michigan's 42-21 win over Maryland:

Michigan senior running back Karan Higdon ran for 90 yards in the first half alone, averaging 4.7 yards per carry, and sophomore fullback Ben Mason was a wrecking ball in short yardage. His 12 yards on five carries kept drives alive and provided eight points on the scoreboard (a touchdown and two-point conversion).

Higdon finished with 103 yards on 25 totes before being pulled, and Tru Wilson averaged 6.4 yards per carry in the fourth quarter while adding 32 yards. U-M took control in the second quarter , rushing 16 times for 62 yards, including four times for 21 yards (minus a rush at the 1 for no gain by Higdon against a stacked line) on first down.

Junior Shea Patterson completed 19 of 27 passes for 282 yards and three scores, and they turned him loose a bit more Saturday. His only interception was off redshirt junior Zach Gentry’s hands and should have been caught, and he avoided at least two sacks by getting away from pressure. He wasn’t sacked once.

The Wolverines averaged 10.5 yards per attempt and 14.7 yards per completion. Nine different players caught passes, led by Gentry’s 112 yards. There were three completions for 30 yards or more, and another long touchdown to sophomore Donovan Peoples-Jones on a perfectly thrown ball was erased by a phantom holding call.

The Michigan line was dominant up front when it mattered, limiting the Terrapins to 46 yards on 23 carries through three quarters. They let the Terps hang around a bit by allowing 101 yards on 14 carries in the fourth quarter, including a 42-yard run by quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome … but that came when defensive linemen Carlo Kemp and Michael Dwumfour were out with injuries (starting end Rashan Gary also missed the game). U-M needs to get some guys back before next week’s game with Wisconsin.

Maryland had only 20 yards on the ground at the half, and the Wolverines showed great discipline against the Terrapins’ misdirection game.

Maryland quarterbacks were sacked twice when they tried to pass in the first half, and they only dropped back seven times. They barely tried to throw in the game and completed only seven passes for 73 yards total. Fifth-year senior cornerback Brandon Watson picked and returned one of the 17 attempts for a touchdown that sealed the win.

Maryland’s passing game wasn’t expected to test Michigan, and it didn’t.

Maryland returner Ty Johnson’s 98-yard kick return in the first quarter was one of the only positives for the Terrapins in the first quarter, and it kept them in the game. Drew Singelton's 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct came on the second-half kickoff and gave Maryland field position.

Quinn Nordin made his only two field goals, from 34 and 31 yards, and Peoples-Jones’ punt returns (two for 21) were highlights, but U-M got nothing on kick returns (54 yards on three).

Bottom line ... big returns can't happen. Michigan would have controlled this game comfortably start to finish without the kick return touchdown.

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.

• Like us on Facebook