Superlatives For U-M's 2019 Regular Season: Surprise Player, Best Win, More
With the Michigan Wolverines' 2019 football regular-season in the books, we've decided to take a look back at several important categories surrounding the campaign, including who the team's biggest surprise was and which player put on the most impressive single-game performance.
We've also examined the Maize and Blue's best victory of the 2019 regular-season, along with the year's most crucial play.
Surprise Player — Hassan Haskins
Redshirt freshman running back Hassan Haskins gets the nod here, and it's a fairly easy choice.
Sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell and redshirt freshman linebacker Cam McGrone were also candidates for this spot, though the duo were each expected to contribute heading into 2019.
Haskins, on the other hand, was not expected to at all. He was viewed as fourth-string (at best) on the running back depth chart in the preseason, behind the likes of freshman Zach Charbonnet, redshirt freshman Christian Turner and senior Tru Wilson (and maybe even redshirt freshman Ben VanSumeren).
Instead, Haskins wound up becoming the team's second leading rusher on the year with 561 yards and four touchdowns, and appeared to be the coaches' preferred back during the regular-season's final month (averaged 11 carries per game in November, compared to Charbonnet's 6.7).
Once viewed as a player without a position (he came in as a running back before moving to linebacker, and then back to running back), Haskins now appears to be arguably the best rusher on the team heading into next season, thanks to his bruising style and ability to consistently break tackles.
Best Individual Performance — Shea Patterson Against Michigan State
There were several options for this spot (Haskins' 149-yard effort in the beatdown of Notre Dame and Patterson's five-touchdown outing at Indiana were also considered), but the senior quarterback's outstanding efforts in the obliteration of Michigan State ultimately gets the nod.
He completed 24 of his 33 passes for 384 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions, setting several records in the process.
It was the most yards any U-M signal caller had ever thrown for against MSU, and were the fifth most yards in a single game in school history.
The 44-10 win over the Spartans was also the first time Patterson had eclipsed 300 yards in his Michigan career (and unbeknownst at the time, he would do it in the next two games as well).
The senior's 72.7 completion percentage that afternoon was his second best of the season, and his final two scoring tosses were the exclamation points that signified the 'stepping on of MSU's throat' (a 22-yard touchdown pass to junior wideout Nico Collins following a blocked punt that made the score 34-10, and then a 39-yard scoring toss to freshman wideout Cornelius Johnson with only 2:34 remaining that served as the icing on the cake).
Best win — Notre Dame
Michigan entered the Oct. 26 showdown with No. 8-ranked Notre Dame fresh off the narrow loss at Penn State, with most viewing the game with the Fighting Irish as a complete tossup.
ND came into the contest with a 5-1 record and hopes of a College Football Playoff berth still very much alive, with its lone loss having occurred by just six points at then-No. 3 Georgia.
What transpired, however, was one of the most dominant beatdowns of a top-10 team in Michigan football history.
The Maize and Blue blew the doors off the Irish in a 45-14 annihilation, marking the program's fourth largest margin of victory ever against a top-10 opponent, and the biggest since a 41-3 destruction of No. 5 Texas A&M in 1977.
In a torrential downpour, Michigan did most of its damage on the ground, racking up 303 yards, led by Haskins' 149 and 7.5 yards per carry.
The Irish were still clinging to life when they trailed just 17-7 late in the third quarter, but an eight-yard touchdown pass to junior wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones to make it 24-7 with 2:37 remaining in the frame opened the floodgates.
The Wolverine offense would go on to score three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including two within the first seven minutes of the frame.
The 31-point win stood as Michigan's third largest ever against Notre Dame.
Crucial Play — Ronnie Bell's Drop in the end Zone at Penn State
Yes, this one contains some what-ifs, but the trajectory of Michigan's season could have wound up playing out differently if sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell caught the pass thrown to him in the end zone with only 2:01 remaining at Penn State.
A successful catch by Bell on the fourth-and-goal play would have knotted the game at 28 in a second half the Wolverines had dominated.
A win in Happy Valley that night also would have kept Michigan's Big Ten title and National Championship hopes alive.
Would the club still have gotten steamrolled by Ohio State in late November had it entered the game with a 10-1 record and a Big Ten East title on the line? We'll never know the answer to that.
Bell's drop may have served as a wakeup call for the club in some ways, as the Maize and Blue went on to play their best ball of the season after the loss, winning their next four games (Notre Dame, at Maryland, Michigan State and at Indiana) by an average of 30.2 points.
Nevertheless, a triumph in State College would have been a top-10 road victory the program has been lacking in recent years, and would have improved the overall perception of Michigan's 2019 season.
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