ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No. 4 Michigan entered the ballgame against Maryland completely unchallenged though the first three weeks. But that changed on Saturday against the Terps.
The Wolverines won the contest 34-27, but the game back-and-forth, and it never completely felt over until the clock hit zero.
The maize and blue entered the game going against the 107th-ranked passing defense. It appeared to be a game that J.J. McCarthy could control and he would put up some gaudy numbers, but that didn’t necessarily happen. The sophomore appeared to be a little off with his deep ball. McCarthy missed on four deep balls that could’ve been caught if thrown properly, but even with missing those, he still threw for 220 yards, two touchdowns, and completed 69% of his passes. Not a bad game.
The real reason Michigan won this game was because of the run game — more so because of Blake Corum. Corum had a career day against Maryland. He carried the rock 30 times, rushed for 243 yards, and two touchdowns.
After the game, Corum was asked if bulking up 11-pounds this past offseason allowed him to carry the ball 30 times. Let’s be honest, we don’t hear of running backs in today’s day and age carrying the ball 30 times in a single game. But instead of crediting himself, Corum wanted to credit his offensive line that gave him the holes to run for. The junior running back believes Michigan has the best offensive line in the country.
“My mindset for like, I was always able to carry the ball that many times,” said Corum. “But not 100-percent? You know, I’ve prepared all season for a reason. You really want to talk about how many yards I put up, the whole O-line killed it today. I say this every time and I really mean it. Because I feel like we have the best O-line in the country, like they made my job easier. It allowed me to get to the second-level defenders real quick and things like that. So well. Yeah. You know, the 11-pounds I put on definitely helped.”
The first touchdown that Corum scored against Maryland came with 22-seconds left on the clock. The Wolverines were down 13-10 and Michigan had the ball on 4th-and-1. The maize and blue hurried to the line after failing to gain a first down after the third down call and called a quick run to Corum. The speedster then ran 33-yards for a touchdown before the half ended. This was obviously a huge momentum shift for the Wolverines.
“Oh, yeah,” said Corum. “100-percent. You know, you know, I was only supposed to one or two yards. But you know, the coaches got the play in quick and J.J. snapped the ball quick. We caught them off guard. You know, against a good Maryland team. Like I say Maryland’s defense was good. Maryland’s offensive was good. It wasn’t some scrub team. That definitely wasn’t a minimal change. In my opinion. I definitely think so.”
Corum had one other touchdown run that all but sealed the deal for Michigan to walk out of the Big House remaining undefeated. With a little under four minutes left on the clock in the fourth quarter, Corum ran for a 47-yard touchdown run to put Michigan up 34-19. He was asked after the game to go through that play, and Corum said that he had to differ from the call and instead, trusted his guys would make the correct block to set him free.
“So my pre-Snap read,” Corum began. “I knew they were bringing pressure from the field. They’ve been doing it — they did it a lot throughout the game. And so if I would have kept it front side, it would have been over with but, I saw there was no corner there. And I trusted my guys to block. It scared me for a second because I’m like, if I do it, there might be a holding call. But I just did it.”
Last week after defeating UConn, Corum said he didn’t know what Michigan was yet. The Wolverines never faced adversity all season until Maryland came along, but now that the maize and blue overcame that adversity, Corum believes Michigan is ‘great’. Corum says that Maryland is a good team and presented a good challenge to the Wolverines. But after the win against the Terps, the sky is the limit for Michigan according to Corum.
“This team is great,” said Corum. “We have a great team and we’re building something really special. Man, like I said Maryland was — Maryland was a good team. They’re stout up front. They’re good athletes, they played pretty well as a team. So this is definitely a great challenge for us. You know, obviously, we can go back to the drawing board, see where we made a few mistakes and where we can get better and where we can grow. But the sky’s the limit for this team. I believe we have something special here.”
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