Cornelius Johnson Is A Budding Star, Don Brown Must Go, Cade McNamara Off To One Of U-M's Hottest Starts Ever

Michigan's offense finally showed some life against Rutgers and several noteworthy things happened because of it.

After catching five passes for 105 yards on Saturday, Cornelius Johnson has the same amount of 100-yard receiving games as Nico Collins, Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones had in their Wolverine careers COMBINED. In fact, Johnson is the only receiver out of the four to have over 80 yards receiving twice in three weeks.

With Haskins rushing for 111 yards in the game, it was the first time since 2016 that the Wolverines had a wide-out with over 105 receiving yards and a running back with over 105 rushing yards in the same game.

Cade McNamara also made history on Saturday, as he became the first Wolverine quarterback to not start and toss four touchdown passes in a game. McNamara also accomplished something Shea Patterson never did as a Wolverine, which is finishing a game with a completion percentage of at least 75%, while attempting at least 20 passes.

For the first time, the Wolverines went on the road and accounted for over 340 passing yards and 140 rushing yards without an interception. Seven Wolverines had at least four catches in the game, so McNamara also did a nice job of distributing the ball.

Defensively the Wolverines were pitiful, as the 486 yards and 42 points Michigan allowed to the Scarlet Knights on Saturday was the most a Wolverine defense has ever given up to Rutgers. In fact, heading into Saturday’s game Michigan had allowed Rutgers to score just 37 points combined in their previous five meetings.

Michigan has now allowed over 440 yards of total offense in their last four games. U-M has also allowed over 440 yards in six of their last seven contests dating back to last season. After allowing two Rutgers receivers to have over 100 receiving yards, the Wolverines secondary has now allowed seven different receivers to have at least 100 yards in the last seven games they have played.

The Wolverines run defense was better Saturday, as for the first time in seven games Michigan held their opponent to less than 115 yards rushing. The Scarlet Knights finished the game with 105 rushing yards on 2.6 yards per carry. Michigan also forced its first turnover since the season opener on Saturday.

Overall, it was another putrid effort by the Wolverines defense which has given up an average of 38.7 points and 463.7 yards per game in their last seven contests.