Quick Observations: Michigan Routs Minnesota In Season-Opener

Michigan football picked up a big 49-24 win over Minnesota on Saturday night.

I’m not sure what I expected ahead of No. 18 Michigan’s season-opener against No. 21 Minnesota, but I can assure you:

It wasn’t this.

The Wolverines got off to about as bad a start as was possible. A boneheaded unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Ben Mason halted their opening drive, the punt was blocked, and the Gophers scored just a couple of plays later to put Michigan in a 7-0 hole.

But the first half was all Wolverines from there. Sophomore Zach Charbonnet ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run to tie the game. Viper Michael Barrett laid a huge hit on Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan, forcing a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by defensive tackle Donovan Jeter. Barrett then returned a kickoff 65 yards to set up the Wolverines third score – a touchdown pass from Joe Milton to Mason.

After Minnesota answered with a score, tailback Hassan Haskins closed the half with a pair of touchdowns for the Wolverines, one coming off a Gopher fake punt that was halted by a Haskins tackle on special teams.

And that was just the first half!

Things settled down after the break. After a Minnesota touchdown brought the Gophers to within 35-24, Michigan responded with a 9-play, 68-yard drive which was capped by a rushing touchdown for Milton.

The Wolverines scored on their next drive as well to wrap up the scoring for the night. Sparked by a 66-yard run by Haskins on the first play, Michigan traversed 96 yards on five plays – fifth-year senior Chris Evans reached the endzone for the first time in two seasons to cap that drive.

There were certainly things to critique in this performance, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The youth in the secondary was glaring at times, especially once starting safety Dax Hill left the game with an undisclosed injury.

The young corners and safeties took some poor angles in run support, and the coverage wasn’t as tight as we’ve grown accustomed to in recent years. But all of that is somewhat expected after the departures Michigan experienced in the back end of their defense.

But when you’ve got a young defense still settling in, it helps immensely to have an offense that can carry the load, and that’s what the Wolverines had Saturday night. Michigan finished with 478 yards of offense with an impressive 8.5 yards per play. Six different players scored touchdowns for the Wolverines.

Minnesota was not at full strength. The kicking game was an absolute mess with both the Gophers starting kicker and punter out for unknown reasons, and Minnesota was missing a pair of starting offensive lineman as well. So, take this result in with the proper context, but it’s well within reason to be impressed with this debut performance by the Wolverines.

Other observations:

• Joe Milton showed why he won the starting job in camp with a calm, cool and collected debut. The redshirt sophomore went 15-for-22 passing for 225 yards and a touchdown, and showed his running ability with 52 yards on 8 carries with a touchdown. Milton spread the ball around to nine different receivers. Ronnie Bell led the receiving group with four catches for 74 yards. There is room for growth with Milton’s deep ball, but this was an excellent jumping off point for the sophomore.

• Michigan’s run game was punishing. You would have never guess the Wolverines had four new starters along the offensive line. There were seven different ball-carriers for the Wolverines, and the ground game churned out 253 rushing yard at 8.2 yards per pop. Minnesota lost a lot of production from last year’s defensive front, but that was an impressive showing by Michigan. Haskins was particularly impressive with 82 yards on six carries and a pair of touchdowns.

• Defensively, the Wolverines embodied a “bend don’t break” mentality throughout the night. That’s not what we’re used to seeing from Don Brown’s unit, but it was necessary given the amount of talent Michigan needed to replace on that side of the ball. The Wolverines defensive front was dominant, led by Kwity Paye, Aiden Hutchinson and Carlo Kemp. The linebackers and secondary have kinks to work out, but the Wolverines consistently found ways to keep points off the board despite Minnesota’s Mohamed Ibrahim (26 carries, 140 yards, 2 TDs) and Rashod Bateman (9 catches, 101 yards) cashing in with big performances. Allowing 24 points on the road in the season-opener with several new starters is acceptable. Game-by-game improvement on defense will be key going forward however.

What were your thoughts on how Michigan came out and steamrolled Minnesota in Week 1? What do you think Michigan's ceiling is this year after the big win? Let us know!