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While Michigan football gutted out a win over an improved, but still bad Rutgers team in 3OT on Saturday night, even though the Wolverines found some semblance of positivity after the game, that’s not the impression that the national media walked away with.
We found a handful of positives: Michigan got a spark from QB Cade McNamara, who came in down 17 and managed to mount the second-best road comeback in team history; the running game found a little consistency personnel-wise; the defensive line did a better job of generating pressure; and Michigan had more intensity throughout the game, not giving up when the going got tough.
No, going to overtime against Rutgers of all teams isn’t a good thing, but losing to the New Jersey flagship school would be worse — just ask Michigan State. Nonetheless, regardless of a win being a win no matter how you get it — and the maize and blue needed a win, no matter what — the national media used it as a springboard to continue to pile on after weeks of struggles in Ann Arbor.
So here’s what the three we usually profile had to say in the weekly roundup:
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel was less than impressed by what he saw on Saturday, even if Michigan seemed to turn some things around:
Michigan managed to lose by winning — even a victory can be a confirmation of a lost season when it’s done like this. And the most damning part came from what was so clear throughout the game. Rutgers played with an indomitable spirit, creative gameplans and relentless energy, early signs of extreme progress in coach Greg Schiano’s first year back at Rutgers. They played connected and inspired.
Michigan, yet again, looked listless and directionless. They brought a clear talent advantage they failed to exploit, exposing a lack of physicality on the offensive front and looked lost enough on defense that they yielded 486 yards and 5.8 yards per play to Rutgers. Last year they gave up 152 yards and 2.9. Forget the final score and ponder those trendlines 14 months apart.
Michigan survived after a much-needed spark from sophomore quarterback Cade McNamara, who finished with four touchdowns, no interceptions and 260 passing yards. The Michigan media already made the mistake of hailing Joe Milton as the quarterback of the future early this season, so we should be especially skeptical of McNamara until the competition level increases. But for a program that was on the cusp of flatlining down 17-0 late in the second quarter, McNamara has proven he can shock a team back to life.
It’s surreal to be writing that Michigan lacked so many things as a program that Rutgers had. But in Schiano’s first season, an energy has accompanied the baseline competency that he’s delivered after the dreadful Chris Ash experiment. Rutgers is 1-4 after squandering double-digit leads in back-to-back weeks, but inability to hold large leads wasn’t high on Rutgers’ prediction list for 2020.
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The best way to sum up the conundrum of Michigan’s administration with Harbaugh after a triple-overtime clunker is this: When watching Michigan on Saturday night, it became clear the Wolverines needed to be more like Rutgers.
USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken wouldn’t go as far as either putting or removing Michigan from his weekly ‘misery index,‘ but he had the Wolverines as the first school on the cusp of being included after the Rutgers game:
It’s never a good mental space for a fan when there’s uncertainty about whether a loss or a win would be better for the long-term health of the program. Had the Wolverines lost to Rutgers, as they seemed on track to do at various points Saturday, there would have been no doubt about the direction to take. Instead, Michigan won 48-42 in the third overtime, which isn’t much to celebrate for a 2-3 football team that remains quite bad. But by avoiding a catastrophic loss, the final chapter to the Jim Harbaugh era doesn’t quite seem written. Really, that’s the worst of all worlds.
As usual, ESPN’s David Hale didn’t have anything good to say about the game:
Speaking of Harbaugh, he delivered Saturday’s most quintessentially 2020 moment. After a day of dazzling highlights, a bleary-eyed nation turned its attention to Piscataway, New Jersey, for an absolute train wreck of a game between two 1-3 Big Ten teams. Just more than a year ago, back in more comprehensible times, Michigan beat Rutgers 52-0. On Saturday, things went a little differently, as the Wolverines fell behind early, benched their QB, blew an eight-point lead with less than a minute to play and missed a kick in OT before finally prevailing 48-42 in triple overtime.
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