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MINNEAPOLIS — Michigan (eventually) eviscerated Minnesota, in a game that wasn’t close once the Gophers went for a risky fake punt near what would be the Wolverines red zone — which was wisely sniffed out by the maize and blue.
While you may have watched the game and gotten a sense of what happened, the braintrust at MGoBlue.com compiled some factoids and things you may not have known about the Wolverines decisive season opening victory over Minnesota. Check them out below.
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• Michigan opened the 2020 season with a resounding 49-24 victory at Minnesota, winning the Little Brown Jug for the 72nd time in the rivalry (72-23-2 record for the Jug). Michigan owns an overall 76-25-3 advantage in the all-time series against Minnesota, dating back to 1892.
• The Wolverines have won 17 consecutive games in Minneapolis: 3-0 at TCF Bank Stadium, 11-0 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and winners of their final three games played at Memorial Stadium. The last loss in Minneapolis came in 1977.
• Michigan improved to 115-23-3 in season openers and 87-26-2 in Big Ten Conference openers. The Wolverines have claimed 49 of their last 53 conference openers.
• Eleven Michigan players saw their first career game action: sophomore offensive lineman Zach Carpenter, freshman running back Blake Corum, freshman wide receiver A.J. Henning, sophomore quarterback Cade McNamara, freshman linebacker William Mohan, freshman linebacker Kalel Mullings, sophomore linebacker David Ojabo, freshman defensive back Makari Paige, sophomore long snapper William Wagner, freshman wide receiver Roman Wilson and freshman offensive lineman Zak Zinter.
• Eight Wolverines made the first starting assignment of their careers: senior offensive lineman Chuck Filiaga, graduate student offensive lineman Andrew Vastardis, sophomore tight end Erick All, junior quarterback Joe Milton, Corum, junior linebacker Michael Barrett, junior cornerback Gemon Green and Wagner.
• Michigan’s 49 points against Minnesota are the second-most scored in a true road game against a ranked opponent in school history, trailing only those scored in a 54-51 loss at Northwestern in 2000. It also ties for the fifth-most points in a season-opening game in program history.
• The Wolverines’ 35 points in the first half are their most since scoring 35 in the first half against Western Michigan on Sept. 8, 2018 — and the program’s most against a ranked opponent in the AP Poll Era (ESPN). The last time U-M scored 21 in the first quarter was Sept. 22, 2018, against Nebraska.
• U-M’s three first-quarter touchdowns came on just a combined 0:26 of possession — two 13-second drives and a zero-time drive off a fumble recovery.
• Michigan’s average starting field position in the first half was the 50-yard line. Six of seven drives started in Golden Gopher territory.
• In his first collegiate start, junior quarterback Joe Milton completed 15-for-22 passes for 225 yards and one touchdown and rushed eight times for 52 yards and a touchdown, tying or surpassing his career highs in every category. His 23-yard rush in the second quarter also tied a career long. Milton now owns two career passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns, including two in as many appearances, stretching back to the Rutgers game last season.
• Junior running back Hassan Haskins, who led the Wolverines with 82 rushing yards on six carries, posted his first collegiate multi-touchdown game with two four-yard scoring runs in the second quarter — the fifth and sixth touchdowns of his career. Haskins also recorded a career-long rush of 66 yards in the third quarter. His previous long was a 49-yard run last season against Notre Dame.
• Sophomore running back Zach Charbonnet opened U-M’s scoring on a career-long 70-yard rush in the first quarter. His previous long was 41 yards, which he recorded last year against Middle Tennessee State, while it was Michigan’s longest rushing touchdown since Karan Higdon’s 77-yard run against Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2017. The touchdown was the 12th of Charbonnet’s career.
• Fifth-year senior running back Chris Evans posted a five-yard run early in the fourth quarter for his 15th career touchdown and first since 2018. Evans carried the ball five times for 19 yards and made a 10-yard reception in his first game action since Dec. 29, 2018 in the Peach Bowl against Florida.
• Senior tight end Ben Mason earned his 10th career touchdown — and his first receiving touchdown on just his second career reception — on an eight-yard catch late in the first quarter. It was Mason’s first touchdown since the 2018 Ohio State game (Nov. 24, 2018).
• Defensively, senior linebacker Josh Ross led the defense with nine tackles. Ross also earned his first career interception, returning it 18 yards, in the fourth quarter.
• Senior defensive lineman Donovan Jeter registered his first collegiate touchdown on a 15-yard fumble return in the first quarter. It was the Wolverines’ first defensive touchdown since 2018 and their first fumble recovery for a touchdown since Noah Furbush against Florida on Sept. 2, 2017.
• Junior defensive lineman Julius Welschof and junior defensive back Michael Barrett both registered their first collegiate sacks — and tackles for loss — for losses of 10 yards and five yards, respectively, in the first quarter. Barrett’s sack preceded Jeter’s fumble recovery for a touchdown.
• Michigan posted three consecutive sacks in the fourth quarter, with senior defensive lineman Kwity Paye going back-to-back for losses of seven yards and six yards. Paye upped his career total to 11.5 sacks.
• The announced attendance of 589 fans is the smallest crowd that Michigan has played in front of in more than 100 years; the attendance for many games in the early 1900s is unknown with the smallest crowd on record below today’s crowd at TCF Bank Stadium being the Ohio Northern game on Oct. 11, 1905 (crowd of 200 fans).
• Today’s Oct. 24 start to the season is the latest that Michigan has ever kicked off a season since 1889, when the Maize and Blue played three games in November; the season started on Nov. 9 against Albion.
• Tonight’s game featured the first all African-American officiating crew in Big Ten history.
• Seven players were selected 2020 captains for the Wolverines: Nick Eubanks, Ben Mason and Andrew Vastardis on offense and Aidan Hutchinson, Carlo Kemp, Kwity Paye and Josh Ross on defense. Kemp is the 13th two-time captain in U-M history.
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