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Michigan football earned the right to retain the brand new George Jewett Trophy, given to the winner between the Wolverines and Northwestern Wildcats. Though it took the maize and blue some time to get things going in the 33-7 win, they were thoroughly dominant in the second half.
If you watched the game, while you may know what you saw, there’s a lot you might not have noticed. Thankfully, the sports information department at Michigan has come with help.
Here is some trivia, with some facts, factoids, and things you might have missed coming out of the Michigan-Northwestern game.
- Saturday’s victory marks U-M’s seventh straight win in the head-to-head series with Northwestern. In 76 all-time meetings, the Wolverines are 59-15-2 and 36-6-2 at home.
- The match up marked the first ever game contested for the George Jewett Trophy, a new trophy game between both of the two institutions where Jewett was each program’s first African American football player. It is the first and currently the only FBS trophy game named for an African American.
- The Wolverines are 7-0 for the second time under head coach Jim Harbaugh (2016) and the fifth time since 1980.
- After stalling on the first two possessions, the offense produced scoring drives on three of the next four possessions, resulting in scoring drives of 79 yards (touchdown), 55 yards (field goal), and 74 yards (touchdown).
- Quarterback Cade McNamara eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season with a 12-yard completion to Cornelius Johnson on Michigan’ s opening drive.
- Tight end Erick All led the Wolverines in receiving, setting new career highs with five catches and 34 yards.
- Running back Blake Corum rushed for over 100 yards for the fourth time this season while Hassan Haskins hit 100 yards for the third time. In total, the duo has all seven of U-M’s 100-yard rushing performances. It’s the sixth time under Jim Harbaugh that two backs have rushed for 100-plus yards.
- Saturday marked the second time this year that both Corum and Haskins passed the 100-yard mark in the same game. It’s the fifth time in Michigan history that two backs have hit 100-plus yards against Northwestern (last: 1987).
- The offensive line shut down Northwestern’s pressure up front, allowing just one tackles for loss/sack. U-M has surrendered just 14 TFLs and 3 sacks all year.
- U-M dominated the time of possession game with 39:19 minutes holding the ball.
- The defense has at least one turnover in six of seven games this season. After failing to record one in the opener, the Wolverines have at least one in six straight. U-M has forced 13 turnovers this season.
- The interception by DJ Turner in the fourth quarter was the first of his career.
- Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter, marking the first recovery of his career.
- The U-M defense limited Northwestern to its lowest offensive output on the season (233 yards). The Wildcats’ seven points also match their season-low.
- After being shut out in two straight weeks, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson returned to the sack column with 0.5 of a sack. Hutchinson has 6 sacks on the year.
- Two defensive players recorded career-firsts with David Ojabo breaking up his first career pass (3) and DJ Turner recording his first tackle for loss (1.0).
- DJ Turner’s start at cornerback was the first of his career. He is the eighth different Wolverine defender to earn a first career start this season and the 13th player overall.
- Cornelius Johnson blocked his first career punt to help set up a Michigan touchdown. Johnson is the first Wolverine to block a punt since Khaleke Hudson against Michigan State (Nov. 16, 2019).
With this game in the rearview, Michigan will head to East Lansing next Saturday to take on undefeated Michigan State.
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