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MINNEAPOLIS — No. 18 Michigan football got a decisive 49-24 win over No. 21 Minnesota to open the Big Ten season on Saturday night, but there were certainly a few deficiencies in the game.
The most obvious was on special teams, as the kicking game left 9 points out there.
Jake Moody hit all seven of his extra point attempts, but went 0-3 in his field goal attempts on the night, missing from 38, 48 and 33. While Quinn Nordin appeared to be involved in pregame warmups, he didn’t end up being good to go, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh confirmed after the game.
He shared Nordin’s injury status as well as spoke on Moody’s errant day.
“Quinn Nordin has been working through something,” Harbaugh said. “Got healthy and then had a little bit of a setback during the week. But I think he’ll be fine going forward.
“With Jake, the first field goal, it didn’t feel like he hit it with the authority that he usually does and hte confidence. It spilled off to the right. The next one I thought he hit really good. And he started kicking extra points and really getting into his rhythm. The second missed field goal, I thought he hit it good, just went left on him. And the last one was the only low snap of the entire game. Will (Hart) didn’t quite as well as he could have. The whole mechanic was off. The whole battery of snap, hold, kick — it was off from there.”
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Equally as notable was the second-half absence of Daxton Hill.
Last week, Harbaugh said that Hill might be the most talented player on the team, praising his coverage ability. That showed early, as Hill often found himself on Gophers star receiver Rashod Bateman. However, he disappeared from the field late in the first-half, and never returned.
Harbaugh was less clear on Hill’s status in the postgame, but said that he continues to be evaluated.
“Dax had to leave the game,” “Being evaluated, so we’re seeing where that is.”