Halftime Analysis of No. 13 Alabama vs No. 14 Michigan

It’s halftime in the VRBO Citrus Bowl and Michigan is up 16-14 against Alabama. What’s going the Wolverines way and what isn’t so far?

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Coming off their 56-27 beatdown from Ohio State, Michigan is looking to finish their 2019 season on a high note with an upset over the Alabama Crimson Tide. Michigan is looking for their 10th win of the season, the fourth 10-win season under the five years head coach Jim Harbaugh has been at Michigan. Alabama is 10-2 coming in with close losses to LSU and Auburn, with their chance to finish their season 11-2, or possibly 10-3, which would be their worst record since 2010.

Starting the game, Michigan had wide receiver Giles Jackson returned the opening kickoff 50 yards to midfield. The offense would stall out and get only two yards, punting the ball away on the first series. Alabama would respond with a bang, as quarterback Mac Jones found wide receiver Jerry Jeudy for an 85-yard touchdown pass and the Crimson Tide took the 7-0 lead.

Both teams would punt once again, then on Michigan’s third offensive possession, they would finally get a spark as the running game started to move the ball as the wide receivers couldn’t get much separation from the Alabama secondary. They would finish the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Shea Patterson to tight end Nick Eubanks and Michigan tied the game at seven.

Alabama couldn’t do much on their following drive and had to punt again, and Michigan would keep on scoring. While it wasn’t a touchdown, Michigan was able to move down the field again and kicker Quinn Nordin would make a 36-yard field goal to take the 10-7.

Once again Alabama wasn’t able to get much of the offense rolling and was forced to punt. Michigan had some issues on offense but still was able to fight through the penalties they got on themselves. They could have possibly been able to keep fighting for more yards, but an illegal touching penalty killed them on third down and once again Michigan would have to kick a field goal. Nordin would make a 42-yard field goal to make it 13-7 Michigan.

Alabama would drive down the field, with some help from the Michigan defense as they had two penalties that extended the drive for the Crimson Tide. The drive would finish with a nine-yard touchdown run by running back Najee Harris to give Alabama the 14-13 lead.

Michigan wouldn’t finish the half quietly though, as they would get a first down on a crucial fourth and short play. While they couldn’t get further down the field, Nordin would barely make a 57-yard field goal and the Wolverines have the lead at halftime 16-14.

POSITIVES:

The ground game was working for the Wolverines, with running back Zach Charbonnet getting 10 carries for 73 yards. Running back Hassan Haskins got the start but hasn’t been able to do too much, getting 11 carries for 47 yards.
The offensive line has been giving Patterson time for most of the game. That has been huge for the offense as the receivers are needing time to separate themselves from the Alabama secondary players. The offensive line needs to keep Patterson upright and creating holes for the running backs as they have been the biggest difference so far today.

NEGATIVES:

While the Michigan secondary has been containing the Alabama wide receivers, the one they haven’t been able to contain well is Jeudy. He has four catches for 132 yards with a touchdown. While it is negative, the fact that Michigan is only letting one of the Alabama wide receivers play well instead of two or three of them is positive. Still, if the secondary can even slow down Jeudy somewhat, their defense has a better chance of keeping them in this game.
On the second touchdown drive for Alabama, Michigan had two penalties that kept Alabama alive, pass interference and a roughing the passer. Besides that drive, they have been doing well when it comes to not having penalties called on them. If Michigan didn’t hurt themselves on that drive, they could have held Alabama to three points, possibly zero. Those are when penalties are huge and can change up a game.

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Michigan football grades from Week 12 win over Michigan State

Michigan Football defeated Michigan State 44-10 on Saturday, how did each position grade out in the dominating rivalry win?

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Michigan had an extra week to prepare for Michigan State, as they had a bye week last week. The extra week of preparation seemed to be a big help for the Wolverines as they ended up dominating the Spartans, winning 44-10.

The offense exploded with points as quarterback Shea Patterson had his best game ever at Michigan, the defense kept the MSU offense in check, and special teams got involved in the game as well. Check out how each position graded out in the team’s big rivalry win.

OFFENSE

Quarterback: A

Patterson played lights out against his rival, in a game where he started out going 3/8 and already getting sacked once, it looked like it would be a long day for Patterson. Well, it was a long day, a long day of dominance as Patterson finished the game going 24/33 for 384 yards and four touchdowns as he had his best game as a Wolverine. He would throw for over 300 yards for the first time at Michigan, and he even broke a record that Tom Brady had against MSU.

Patterson used his legs when he needed too but he couldn’t make anything of it as he was sacked three times to knock his rushing yards into the negatives. The way he was throwing the football though was impressive as he made some quick, deep, and tough throws. Along with the throws, he made some good reads to set up those throws as he looked comfortable with multiple RPO plays.

The offense finally seems to be intact and what offensive coordinator Josh Gattis dreamt of and it started with Patterson. This offense was supposed to help him greatly and fit his style of play. It started out rough, but now it’s starting to come together at the right time.

Running Back: C+

While passing the ball worked really well against MSU, running wasn’t as effective but it still did some damage. Hassan Haskins was the only running back to find the endzone as he finished with six carries for 13 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Zach Charbonnet had the best day of any running back, finishing with seven carries for 30 yards. Tru Wilson had the most carries with 10, but for 26 yards.

Wide Receiver: A+

There hasn’t been a better game for the wide receivers than yesterday as six different wide receivers caught a pass, and if you include the other positions the number increases to nine. Ronnie Bell was the star receiver, finishing with nine catches for 150 yards, a career-best for him. While he wasn’t able to get into the endzone, three other wide receivers were able too.

Donovan Peoples-Jones finished with four catches for 48 yards and a touchdown. Nico Collins had three carries for 45 yards and a touchdown, while freshman Cornelius Johnson had one catch for 39 yards and a touchdown. Tarik Black had a nice 27-yard catch, while freshman Mike Sainristil had two good catches for 21 yards.

Tight End: B

Starting tight end Sean McKeon was a big help in the receiving game for Patterson has he had two big catches for 46 yards, while Nick Eubanks had one catch for five yards and a touchdown. The tight ends weren’t used often in the passing game but when they were they were effective. Their blocking was helpful as well.

Offensive Line: A-

Despite Patterson getting sacked three times and the rushing attack only putting up 83 total yards, the offensive line did a good job in giving Patterson time to throw the football. They also did a good job of blocking on some of the jet sweeps and wide runs/screen passes. They helped the offense do what they were able to do.

Now onto the defense and special teams…

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Michigan’s native-sons ball out against rival Spartans

On Saturday against the Spartans, Michigan got its best performances of the day from the players native to the state.

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The ‘Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy’ may not have the historical significance of ‘The Game’ at the end of November, but Michigan’s in-state rivalry provides something the matchup with Ohio State does not.

On Saturday, the Wolverines fielded 44 players native to the state of Michigan, while the Spartans fielded an additional 48. Many of these players have competed with or against one another throughout their years playing football.

Saturday in Ann Arbor, the Michigan natives sporting maize and blue out-performed their brothers donning green and white, and many of the biggest plays of the game came from those Wolverines who grew up watching and living this rivalry.

It started with Michigan State’s first possession. After forcing a punt, the Spartans crossed midfield and faced a third-and-3 from the Wolverines’ 38-yard line. Michigan’s Michael Danna, from Detroit, sacked Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke, ending the scoring threat.

Danna would finish the game with six tackles, including the sack and tackle for loss.

Michigan carried a 17-7 lead into halftime, but with the Spartans receiving the second-half kick, the outcome was still very much in doubt. That began to turn when Detroit-native Ambry Thomas picked off Lewerke to set the Wolverines up with great field position.

Michigan capitalized four plays later when Donovan Peoples-Jones – another Detroit native – scored from 18 yards out to extend the lead to 24-7.

“He’s got the ability to elude and also out-run people,” said head coach Jim Harbaugh. “Good to see him getting the ball and making those type of plays, and finishing in the endzone.”

Thomas would finish with six tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with his interception. Peoples-Jones had four catches for 48 yards.

Asked what it was like seeing players from Detroit making plays in this game, Peoples-Jones smiled.

“It means a lot. I can’t even describe it in words,” he said. “It’s a big game, big-time opportunities out there and we came out and…didn’t make the most out of our opportunities but made plays when they needed to be made.”

Later in the third quarter – after Michigan State closed to within 14 points – Wolverine kicker Quinn Nordin, from Rockford, connected on a 49-yard field goal attempt to extend Michigan’s lead back to three possessions, 27-10.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Quinn,” Harbaugh said. “He comes in, hits a 49-yarder from the right hash. He told me when I was recruiting him that someday he was going to kick a 49-yarder from the right hash to beat Michigan State. So, that was kind of a cool moment. After he kicked that one, I walked out there and reminded him of that. It was a big kick at that point in the game.”

The Detroit natives weren’t done, and next it was Lavert Hill’s turn. He intercepted Lewerke early in the fourth quarter, setting up a drive that would end with Nordin connecting on his third field goal of the game to make it 37-10.

“That was a big moment for us,” said defensive captain Khaleke Hudson. “Just being able to get the ball back for our offense and give us a chance to put even more points on the board.”

In addition to the interception, Hill broke up another pass attempt and made a tackle.

“It was great,” Josh Metellus said. “Ambry got the pick first, and he’s from Detroit and the Michigan [State] rivalry is really big to him. It’s also big to Vert, and when Vert got his pick, you could just feel the intensity. You could feel it through him, and the vibe that he had just went throughout the whole stadium. From the field, to the fans, to the top row – whatever you want to call it. You could just that this team knew what we did today.”

Rivalry games are the lifeblood of college football. Wins in these games can breathe life into a program, while simultaneously sucking it out of the program on the other side.

On Saturday, in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines who grew up calling this state home led the way against their hated rivals from East Lansing.

“We just came out here and played a physical game,” Peoples-Jones said. “It was obviously a rivalry game, the tension was up a little bit, and everybody wants to make a play. Everybody wants to make a play for the team. I feel that’s what everybody, individually, wanted to do for our team.”

5 Takeaways from Michigan’s 44-10 win against Michigan State

Michigan football destroyed Michigan State today 44-10. What are the main five takeaways from the Wolverine’s big rivalry win over MSU?

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Ann Arbor, MI — After a bye week Michigan came into this game against Michigan State refreshed and ready to go. They didn’t play like it though to start the game as within the first five minutes the Wolverines had three penalties called on them. Michigan soon figured out the MSU offense and calmed themselves down to dismantle MSU, winning 44-10.

The offense had themselves a good day against a top 25 defense in MSU as quarterback Shea Patterson seemed to be insulted that MSU took the lead at first 7-0. He looked really well today as the offense was executing on all cylinders and the defense was able to force MSU to air it out as the running game wasn’t working for them.

Check out my five takeaways from the big Michigan victory in the annual in-state rivalry game.

1. The offense has finally bought into Speed in Space

To begin the season we saw some different plays from the Wolverines offense, but nothing was notable as a big change. There was more RPO involved, but nothing that looked like this was a different style of offense. Then after some poor execution, it seemed like Michigan was reverting back to last year’s offense where it was run-heavy.

Ever since the second half against Penn State, Michigan has seemed to have adjusted their offense to the kind offensive coordinator Josh Gattis wanted to have when arriving in Ann Arbor. Today against MSU, we saw the offense look really different and knock out some solid plays against a top 25 defense in MSU, putting up 467 total offensive yards.

Patterson has been playing some good football lately and today was another solid performance by the senior, going 24/33 for 384 yards and four touchdowns. He has transformed as the season progressed as his fumbling issues are behind him, along with the nagging injuries. Patterson has finally been looking like his old self from last season. This was his first-ever 300+ yard passing game at Michigan, something people were expecting out of him this season.

2. The Kicker battle is over

The season-long battle at kicker between Quinn Nordin and Jake Moody seems to have finally finished. While the position started with a rotation between the two kickers, it would then move to Moody having the job for two games straight. After going 1-3 on field goals against Penn State, Notre Dame, and Maryland though, the job looked to be back open as Nordin finished the Maryland game as the kicker and was 2-2.

During the bye week, a big question would be if the rotation would return or if Nordin was able to pull ahead over Moody due to his recent struggles. That question was answered in the first half as Nordin was out for both extra-point attempts and he was the kicker for the 28-yard field goal attempt, which he made.

It seems like Nordin is now the Michigan kicker for the rest of the season unless he starts to struggle, then Moody could be put back in. Nordin finished the game going 3/3 on field goals, his longest from 49 yards out along with being 5/5 on extra-point attempts.

3. Ronnie Bell looks like the number one wide receiver

Despite receiving a lot of unneeded hate after dropping the game-tying touchdown against Penn State, wide receiver Ronnie Bell has exploded onto the scene as a clear number one receiver in this offense this season. All the talk before the season was about the trio of Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nico Collins, and Tarik Black at wide receiver. There was the chatter of Bell having an impact, but nobody expected this kind of result.

Today against MSU, Bell led the team in catches and receiving yards, finishing with nine for 150 yards. So far this season, Bell has 35 catches for 610 yards and while those numbers aren’t earth-shattering they are still impressive for a player who was looked at like the number four option heading into the season.

This offense uses the speed of the wide receivers effectively and Bell is possibly the fastest wide receiver on the team. Collins is a big man, and Black and Peoples-Jones are quick but don’t have the type of separation that Bell can have. 2020 with these four wide receivers could be really special as the team seems to have grasped the offense Gattis has tried to implement.

4. Jim Harbaugh finally gets back-to-back wins over Michigan State

For the first time since 2006-2007, Michigan has won back-to-back games against MSU. From 2008-2011 MSU went on a four-game winning streak. Michigan got a win in 2012, but then MSU went on a three-game win streak from 2013-2015. Since 2015 when Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor, the away team has won each game and neither team won back-to-back games.

That changes this year and now Harbaugh has a winning record over the Spartans as he is 3-2 in this rivalry game. Fans were tired of being beaten by MSU and Harbaugh was brought in to regain control of the rivalry, along with the Ohio State one but that hasn’t been done yet.

MSU is in rough shape for their future, with multiple players transferring, multiple seniors graduating and with their head coach Mark Dantonio on the hot seat possibly, Michigan might be in the driver seat with this rivalry for the next few years. This two-game winning streak could be the beginning of another long one for the Wolverines.

5. While it wasn’t 94 yards, Michigan’s defense contained MSU’s offense

Last year, the big talk after the game besides the pre-game antics by both teams, was how the Michigan defense held MSU to just 94 yards of offense. MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke didn’t play well at all and seemed to be playing injured. This year Lewerke was healthy and despite him playing better, MSU wasn’t able to move the chains besides on two drives against the Wolverines.

Lewerke finished the game going 17/30 for 166 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, along with 13 carries for 12 yards. The rushing attack for MSU couldn’t get the ball moving either, as the team finished with 54 rushing yards on 30 carries. The defense also blocked a punt in the fourth quarter from linebacker Khaleke Hudson to help set up a touchdown from Patterson to Collins to put Michigan up 34-10.

Michigan overall held MSU to 220 yards of offense and while that isn’t overly impressive, the two interceptions and the blocked punt were huge as they gave Michigan more time with the football. The defense did allow two solid drives by the Spartans, but on the second one, the Wolverines didn’t break as they held MSU to a field goal. After Michigan figured out the MSU offense after the touchdown, they were able to contain it for a majority of the game.

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3 Things to Watch for Against Michigan State

Michigan football takes on Michigan State this week as the in-state rivalry gets renewed. Check out which three things you should watch for.

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Michigan is coming off a bye week this week as they got extra time to prepare for Michigan State before they play on Saturday. The battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy will happen once again and this year the story is different for both teams.

Michigan is coming in 7-2 with their Big Ten title and College Football Playoff hopes slim, they could still reach a New Year’s Six Bowl. Michigan State is coming in 4-5 with their bowl game chances up in the air, and coming off a 37-34 loss to Illinois after being up 28-3 stings even more.

Check out my three things to watch this week below.

1. What kind of Brian Lewerke will the Wolverines face?

Last year against Michigan, MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke had the worst game of his career, going 5/25 for 66 yards. His throws were off and he didn’t seem to have his kind of touch he usually has. That was partially due to a shoulder injury that he played through, this year that injury isn’t there and Lewerke is playing well.

So far this season, Lewerke has thrown for 2,012 yards for 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions, along with 265 rushing yards and a touchdown. Lewerke started the season great but has been on a downward trend recently, but he could certainly still turn it around against his rival.

Michigan doesn’t know what version of Lewerke they will take on this week, but they better prepare for his best as if they doubt Lewerke can do certain things, he can surprise them and attack with ease. In this game, you can’t doubt anybody and Lewerke will want to help get his team closer to a bowl game, and beating Michigan in the process is just icing on the cake.

2. Michigan must get the ground game going

The biggest thing that the Wolverines must do on offense this week is to get the ground game working. Michigan State has the 24th ranked defense, 16th when it comes to the rushing defense. Michigan might have some trouble getting things moving against the Spartan’s defense, but they will have to find some cracks in the foundation if they want to win this game.

Michigan State linebacker Joe Bachie is already suspended for a failed drug test, so his presence in the run defense won’t be there but that doesn’ mean it will be a cakewalk. The Wolverines will have running backs, Hassan Haskins and Zach Charbonnet to deal some damage to the tough Spartan’s run defense.

Michigan has had struggles running the football this year, but recently it’s been their strength, putting up 303 yards on Notre Dame three weeks ago. If Michigan can get this ground game working, it will open more doors for the offense.

3. Who starts at kicker?

Michigan has had a kicker battle all year long. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said both kickers, Jake Moody and Quinn Nordin, were in a rotation to begin the season. As the season progressed though, we saw Moody be the lone kicker for two straight games, hinting that he won the job. After a missed kick against Maryland though, Nordin was the one on the field.

Nordin would finish the game as the kicker, and heading into the bye week the question would be who starts at kicker, or if the job was back on a rotation basis. Whoever comes out first to kick a field goal or extra point will be interesting, and if that same kicker comes out for the second attempt, you gotta believe they won the job. If the other kicker comes out for kick two, the rotation could be back.

The kicker is an important position and one that needs to have some consistency. This late into the season the position should already have been figured out, but with miscues and struggles it hasn’t been. Will it be figured out this week against MSU?