Quick Reactions: Michigan Effective If Underwhelming In 38-7 Win At Maryland

Michigan opened up the game with a kickoff return touchdown for a 7-0 lead. Everything after that was a methodical beatdown of Maryland. Read our quick post-game analysis of the Wolverines' 38-7 victory.

• Much of the first three quarters - when the starters played offensively -- unfolded exactly as I feared it would. Instead of Michigan recognizing Maryland (and its awful pass defense, which ranked 115th nationally) as a prime opportunity to build confidence and consistency in the downfield passing game, U-M emphasized the running game while ignoring its huge mismatches at wide receiver. 

The Wolverines didn't attempt a down field pass until its fifth possession and 22nd offensive play of the game. Not surprising, the Wolverines completed it - junior Nico Collins going up on an underthrown ball to wrestle it away from cornerback Lavonte Gater -- and U-M scored two plays later. 

On its next possession, Michigan completed a 29-yard pass on a tight end wheel route to senior Sean McKeon to set up an end-of-the-half field-goal attempt. 

After that, Michigan attempted its next down-field pass when ... backup QB Dylan McCaffrey appeared late in the third quarter, 25 plays later. 

Senior signal-caller Shea Patterson never threw another down-field pass, so in 48 plays for him, he attempted a single down-field pass to a wide receiver (and one more to a tight end). 

• One can certainly understand if Patterson doesn't inspire confidence. He finished 13 of 22 (59.1 percent) for 151 yards, a touchdown and 6.9 yards per attempt, with a passer rating of 131.7. 

Opposing QBs this season have completed 65.0 percent of their attempts for 273.6 yards per game, 8.2 yards per attempt and a passer rating of 148.75 against Maryland. Patterson fell short in every category. 

He played his best football in the second halves of the Penn State and Notre Dame games, but 22 starts into his Michigan career, he is what he is, and that's an inconsistent QB that can look great one series and lousy the next. 

He still represents U-M's best hope to win its final three games, but it would be a huge surprise to see him put it all together for 60 minutes, as he must, to lead Michigan to the upset of Ohio State. 

• Call it nitpicking, call it being overly-critical, but Michigan will need explosive plays to beat Ohio State, and there is no evidence that U-M will be able to "flip a switch" in its passing game. There's actually no evidence the coaching staff will have learned from last year; it's quite possible they repeat themselves with a game plan focused on running the football, playing great defense and field position.

Saturday was a wasted opportunity, if the goal is to actually beat OSU. If it was to simply win the football game in front of them, then the Wolverines succeeded. 

• After a slow first half in which U-M averaged just 3.4 yards per rush, the ground game came alive in the third quarter, averaging 7.4 yards on 13 rushes as senior Tru Wilson provided a spark (a game-long 39-yard run). Redshirt freshman Hassan Haskins reached pay dirt twice as he continued to make the argument to be Michigan's No. 1 ball carrier.

Freshman Zach Charbonnet has a role, though, as he is a touchdown machine - his two scores Saturday now giving him 11 on the season, a true freshman rushing record that eclipses the nine from Tyrone Wheatley (1991) and Mike Hart (2004). 

When U-M's rushing attack was struggling in the second quarter, Charbonnet provided some tough inside runs. He's taken a backseat to Haskins lately (13 to 8 carries Saturday for Haskins and 20 to 15 last week vs. Notre Dame) but deserves more rushes. 

This rushing game asserted itself for the second straight week to be the strength of this Maize and Blue offense, but can it succeed against the Buckeyes' ninth-ranked rush defense? It will have to be based on the way the coaches are emphasizing it and ignoring opportunities to increase the proficiency of the passing game.  

• Maryland ultimately didn't execute consistently enough, but the Terps unveiled a preview of what to expect from Ohio State in a few weeks - the Terrapins ran almost exclusively read-option and tried to put their athletes in space. 

Despite a few series in which it looked like Michigan's bend-but-don't-break defense was getting picked on, the Maize and Blue ultimately came up big when it mattered most, getting off the field in the red zone with an interception and QB takedowns that led to a field-goal try. 

It was an effective day for the Wolverines, who succeeded because they put pressure on Maryland quarterback Josh Jackson - he was sacked four times -  employed zone and man-to-man coverages that confused the Terps' signal-caller. , and didn't give up a big running play (UMD's longest run was 16 yards), making Maryland put together long drives to reach the end zone (something it can't do). 

• U-M's front seven continues to assert itself. Senior grad-transfer Mike Danna had his best game yet as a Wolverine (officially he wasn't credited with a sack or QB hurry but film will show him as a constant disrupter); senior linebacker Josh Uche was around the ball and had two sacks; sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchinson had a sack and another pass breakup - he is just five back of the career record of 10 by a defensive lineman.

Oh, and senior safety Josh Metellus and senior viper Khaleke Hudson were outstanding. In fact, it's one of those games where you'd really have to try hard to find one defensive player that didn't perform their best - the Wolverines held Maryland to 233 yards of offense, 3.4 yards per play and 2.8 yards per rush. 

 • Looking forward to our special teams talk this week with Sebastian Gaeta (the special teams coach at Brighton High School who also owns Arbor Motion and appears on our radio show regularly) as it was a really "interesting" day: a kickoff return touchdown for both teams, a fake punt conversion for Michigan, missed gimme field goals for U-M and UMD, a 38-yarder by Quinn Nordin (I guess we're back to rotating kickers) and a blocked punt by Wolverine Devin Gil. 

• Any of you that think I'm a big-time downer and overly critical (and I get it) ask yourself this: did Michigan utilize this game as an opportunity to make the strides necessary to beat Ohio State Nov. 30? Did the Maize and Blue inspire you to believe they will get it done in four weeks? 

Michigan finished with 331 yards of offense and 5.3 yards per play against a defense that came into play yielding 424.1 yards and 5.8 yards per play. 

If you want to celebrate the win Saturday, go for it. If you were looking to be inspired and have hope that Nov. 30 would look any different than last year's game - I didn't see it against Maryland. Did you?