Michigan vs. Maryland: Five takeaways from the Michigan football victory
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Wolverines entered the game facing zero adversity through the first three weeks, but all of that changed on Saturday when 3-0 Maryland came to Ann Arbor.
Things appeared like they would be easy sailing after Maryland botched the opening kick and the maize and blue recovered. J.J. McCarthy then threw a 10-yard pass to Luke Schoonmaker for a touchdown and the Wolverines were up 7-0 within seconds.
But the Terps came to play against the No. 4 ranked Michigan team. Maryland was able to run the ball efficiently against the Wolverines and Taulia Tagovailoa was able to get some easy throws in there with the Michigan pass rush being non-effective.
Maryland led for most of the first half until Blake Corum ran for a 33-yard touchdown on fourth-and-inches right before the end of the fourth quarter. The Wolverines went into the locker room up, 17-13.
Michigan turned back the blocks in the third quarter and went back into run-first mode. The Wolverines didn’t attempt many passes whatsoever. But the defense was much improved and the pass rush was improved.
Scoring appeared again in the fourth quarter. J.J. McCarthy found Roman Wilson for a 21-yard score. Maryland answered back with a touchdown but missed the two-point conversion. The Wolverines drove the field the next drive but stalled and Jake Moody drove through a field goal.
RJ Moten had an interception of his life to help Michigan put the game away.
Michigan finished the game-winning, 34-27.
Here are our five takeaways.
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Predicting every Big Ten college football game in Week 4
Michigan fought back to adversity
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
Michigan had the 131st strength of schedule entering Week 4 vs. Maryland.
Maryland may not be a top 10 team, but the Terps have an elite offense with Taulia Tagovailoa there with the receivers at his disposal. The Terps also entered the game with the 54th-ranked rushing attack in football, so Maryland has a formidable offense.
But the defense is what has struggled all season. The Terps entered the Big House with the 88th-ranked defense allowing 392 yards-per-game, but only 19 points-per-game.
A couple of new things happened against the Michigan defense on Saturday. When Maryland got its field goal, that was the first points allowed from the defense in the first half all season. Plus, the Terps took a first-half lead, and that was the first time Michigan has trailed all year — until Blake Corum took a 33-yard touchdown to the house with 20 seconds left in the second quarter.
Maryland stuck around the entire game. Michigan hasn’t faced that adversity all year, but instead of panicking, the maize and blue kept fighting and the different units did what they needed to do in order for Michigan to come out with a win.
Not every game is going to be pretty, and Michigan won’t put up 50 points every game, but the Wolverines walked out of the Big House 4-0 to start the 2022 season.
Corum was the leader on the offense
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
The prolific Michigan offense that we saw the first three games wasn’t so prolific on Saturday.
The passing game wasn’t up to the same standards that it was the past two games with J.J. McCarthy under center. While he still threw for 220 yards, two scores, and completed 69% of his throws, the sophomore missed on the deep ball three different times. Something that he excelled at the past couple of weeks.
But Blake Corum stole the show and dominated. Corum was the workhorse with Donovan Edwards being out for the second-straight game. The junior back ran hard and found some nice running lanes behind the Wolverines’ offensive line that had a really good game.
Corum ended the game rushing the rock 30 times for 243 yards, and two scores. Corum put the team on his back on Saturday.
Run defense wasn't up to par
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
As mentioned above, Maryland entered the game with the 54th-ranked rushing attack in football. Freshman Roman Hemby came into the Big House averaging 98 yards-per-game and he was the 26th-ranked rusher in the country.
The Maryland rushing attack was extremely effective on Saturday, until the Terrapins chose for it not to be. If you just look at the stats, Maryland finished with 128 yards on the ground, but that was because the Terps went away from the rushing attack — especially in the second quarter.
The Terps averaged four yards per carry against a top-five Michigan run defense. Maryland was able to methodically move the chains against the Wolverines because of the run game churning out yards four yards at a time.
The Wolverines have some work to do defending the run before the long road ahead in the Big Ten.
Pass rush struggled again but secondary did its job
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
The defense really wasn’t terrible as a whole against Maryland. The Terps were held to 19 points, but there were some negative areas for the Wolverines.
The Wolverines recorded zero sacks last week and three late against Maryland. Against UConn, the Huskies that was because they were getting rid of the ball right away, but against Maryland on Saturday, the pass rush was just not good — in the first half.
In the first half, the pass rush was non-existent and Tagovailoa had all day to do whatever he wanted. But coach Minter really brought the heat in the last two quarters. Michigan was consistently in the face of the quarterback, Mike Morris almost had Tagovailoa down twice — sacked the backup Edwards, and Mike Sainristil recorded the first sack for the Wolverines. Freshman Derrick Moore had the third sack late.
The group that was very impressive on Saturday was the Michigan secondary. As much time as Tagovailoa had to throw the ball on Saturday, the secondary basically shut down the pass. Gemon Green was attacked early through the air, but he played exceptionally well. Both D.J. Turner and R.J. Moten both came down with crucial interceptions.
Good learning experience for J.J.
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
J.J. McCarthy made the third start of his career against Maryland. The former five-star entered the game completing 88% of his passes and had a 234 QB rating.
While he had a good enough game, this was a good learning experience for the gunslinger.
McCarthy had two fumbles — both were recovered — and missed three deep shots to his receivers. We were accustomed to seeing him hit all the throws he attempted the past two games, but this was more of a high-pressure game and we could see some of the inexperience that McCarthy has.
There were times when McCarthy danced around the pocket forever instead of throwing the ball away and that was when he fumbled the ball. He took a sack for a 15 yard loss which resulted in a Jake Moody missed field goal.
McCarthy has a world of potential and he will only continue to get better each and every game.
