Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Michigan Manhandles Mickey’s Men
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On a blustery November afternoon in Ann Arbor, the #3 ranked Michigan Wolverines dominated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 34-3, giving the visitors their 21st straight loss against a ranked opponent. Michigan, who has hopes to make the College Football Playoff, moves to 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the Big Ten while Nebraska loses its fourth straight to fall to 3-7 and 2-5.
Although most Cornhusker fans expected a blowout, the score was just 17-3 at halftime and for the game the Husker defense defended 20 more plays than their offense was on the field. With the 17 second half-points Saturday, Michigan has now outscored opponents 117-3 in the second half.
Like the previous two games, the Husker offense offered no help to the defense and even though the defenders played tough throughout, you knew that from the latter part of the third quarter to the end it was going to be tough. The defense held Michigan to just 67 total yards in the first quarter and with 12:10 in the second quarter, the Wolverines had just 7 points and 79 yards. Conversely, since Casey Thompson was injured in the second quarter of the Illinois game, the Husker offense has punted 18 times, had 2 interceptions, had 2 drives to end a half/game, lost a fumble, and had a turnover on downs while scoring just one touchdown and three field goals. Pathetic would be too kind. After Chubba Purdy was injured in the second quarter Saturday with a high ankle sprain, a sub-par Logan Smothers completed 4-of-8 passes for 15 yards, and added 1 net yard rushing while leading the team for 23 plays and 29 total yards.
Purdy led the team in rushing with 39 yards on five scrambles and threw for 56 yards on 6 for 12 passing. The totals are even worse when you consider that one of the completions was for 30 yards to Marcus Washington. Anthony Grant carried 11 times for just 22 yards which allowed him to surpass 1,000 all-purpose yards for the season. Nebraska had not had a player with 1,000 all-purpose yards since 2019 (JD Spielman & Wan’Dale Robinson). Rahmir Johnson added 13 on just 2 carries. Husker running backs carried the ball just 6 times in the entire first half and just 17 times for the game. Center Trent Hixson struggled throughout with low snaps before getting pushed into the backfield. I know it may not have looked like it given the lack of production from the quarterbacks, but I think the offensive line has shown some improvement as the season has progressed, even though they were pushed around by the Michigan defense Saturday.
The Husker receivers caught just 10 balls for 71 yards and dropped several other opportunities. Trey Palmer (5 catches for just 12 yards) led the team in receptions and drops and had his per catch average drop significantly. Palmer is now in the top 10 on both the season receptions and receiving yardage list as his 58 receptions this season rank eighth on the single-season list and his 831 receiving yards rank 10th on the NU season chart. If only we had a QB to get him the ball in space and if only he wouldn’t drop it. Marcus Washington (2 catches for 36 yards) accounted for more than half of the receiving yards and now has three receptions of 30-plus yards in the past two games. Alante Brown (1 catch for 13 yards) demonstrated he has an industrial strength cup as he attempted to leap over a defender and caught the crown of the helmet in his groin before landing on his head. Kudos for holding on to the ball.
As noted above, the defense played gamely even though they gave up 264 yards rushing and 412 total yards. While watching, it seemed the Wolverines had north of 400 yards on the ground. Blake Corum had 162 yards on 28 carries and it seemed as if 140 of those yards were after contact as he, with the Michigan line, pushed the pile consistently from a 2-yard gain to a 6-yarder. Corum’s longest carry was just 12 yards, but he is certainly strong and slippery. Five of the nine Michigan possessions consumed more than 4:04 on the clock as they scored on six drives. They were ploddingly consistent on the ground and were only stopped when they tried to test the Husker secondary who played pretty well. On another note, the last Michigan “touchdown” touched the end line and should have been a touchback but no officials were within 20 yards of the play and the replay booth must have been in a Wolverine Booster suite.
Linebacker Luke Reimer had 10 tackles to increase his career tackle total to 236, moving him up to 20th on the Nebraska career tackles list. Saturday marked Reimer’s ninth career double-figure tackle game and his second in 2022 (Northwestern). Freshman linebacker Ernest Hausmann tied Reimer for the team lead with 10 tackles, setting his career high. His previous best was seven tackles against Georgia Southern. Hausmann also had his first career sack (3 yards) in the third quarter. This kid is starting to figure it out and is going to only get better.
Edge rusher Garrett Nelson (6 tackles) had an 8-yard sack in the first quarter, giving him a team-leading 5.5 sacks this season. The 5.5 sacks are a career high for Nelson, and he has 12 career sacks. Caleb Tannor and Isaac Gifford added six stops a piece with Tannor also breaking up a pass. Colton Feist (5 tackles) played well and also garnered two tackles for loss. Malcolm Hartzog (3 tackles) added a pass breakup while playing solid in the secondary and is another freshman that has shown significant improvement this year. Phalen Sanford started for the suspended Miles Farmer and was not significantly exposed. Javin Wright (at nickel) and Ochaun Mathis (edge) both made their first career starts for Nebraska.
Special teams played reasonably well other than surrendering some return yardage. Placekicker Timmy Bleekrode connected on a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter, marking his seventh consecutive made field goal. Punter Brian Buschini averaged 43.1 yards on 7 boots with a long of 54 yards. Brendan Franke had both of his kickoffs returned for a total of 55 yards. Nebraska had no punt returns and Tommi Hill didn’t reach the 25-yard line on any of his 3 returns. Kudos to Javier Morton who made a beautiful open-field tackle on a punt for a 1-yard loss.
Saturday’s loss marks the sixth season in a row the Huskers will not be bowling. The Huskers are so beaten up that even the backups are beat up. Added to the carnage is offensive coordinator Mark Whipple going on the injured list. No matter what you may think of Whipple’s coaching prowess, I hate to see guys about my age getting nailed on the sideline.
Next week’s opponent is the Wisconsin Badgers who lost Saturday at Iowa 24-10 to fall to 5-5 on the year. Nebraska has not defeated Wisconsin since September 2012, a streak of eight straight losses and 10 out of the last 11 games in the series. If Casey Thompson can start to feel his pinky finger, the Huskers have a shot to turn the tide. Without him, we may be looking at Heinrich Haarberg or Matt Masker. Either way, the offense needs to be more productive and less offensive. Meanwhile, I leave next Saturday for the Caribbean because when the going gets tough, some of us just go on vacation. Go Big Red!!
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