Michigan’s 10 Longest Plays vs. Indiana

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10Oct 2023
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Michigan’s 10 Longest Plays vs. Indiana

Tony Boles

Michigan has played Indiana 71 times throughout history and has a 61-10 record against the Hoosiers. Indiana had not beaten the Wolverines since 1987 . . . until the COVID-married 2020 season. And Michigan has won both meetings since.

Here are the longest plays for Michigan in the history of the contests:

  1. Grant Mason 97-yard kickoff return (2004)
  2. Tony Boles 91-yard TD run (1989)
  3. Steve Breaston 83-yard punt return TD (2006)
  4. Jim Smith 77-yard TD run (1975)
  5. Leon Hall 76-yard punt return TD (2004)
  6. Shea Patterson 76-yard TD pass to Nico Collins (2019)
  7. Tom Brady 75-yard TD pass to Marquis Walker (2000)
  8. Denard Robinson 74-yard TD pass to Roy Roundtree (2010)
  9. Denard Robinson 72-yard TD run (2010)
  10. Chuck Heater 71-yard TD run (1973)
  11. Desmond Howard 71-yard kickoff return (1991)

Hit the jump for videos of Mason, Boles, and Hall.

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8Oct 2023
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Michigan 52, Minnesota 10

Cornelius Johnson (image via Star Tribune)

Zone coverage FTW. There was a time when we lamented that Michigan defensive backs were terrible at looking back and finding the ball. There were interceptions to be had, but Michigan didn’t, you know, have them. Don Brown had the defensive backs in chase mode all the time, and even though he was really good at his defensive coordinator job – Ohio State be damned – he hated zone defense. In this game a dose of zone coverage was enough to confuse inexperienced Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, and he threw more touchdown passes to Michigan’s guys (Will Johnson, Keon Sabb) than his own. In fact, he completed just 5/15 passes for 52 yards, 35 of which came on the final offensive play of the first half, a virtual Hail Mary that happened to come down in the hands of a diving Daniel Jackson for the Gophers’ only touchdown of the night. That passing total was the fewest amount allowed by Michigan since they allowed 24 against UConn in 2022.

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6Oct 2023
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Preview: Michigan at Minnesota

RUSH OFFENSE vs. MINNESOTA RUSH DEFENSE
Michigan is #31 in rushing offense (184 yards/game) and #33 in yards per carry (4.95). Blake Corum is at 5.74 yards per carry and is tied for the national lead rushing touchdowns with 9 despite being tied for #31 in rushing attempts. (The other two players with 9 scores are Marshall’s Rasheen Ali and Georgia State’s Marcus Carroll, who have 91 and 115 carries, respectively, compared to Corum’s 74.) Kalel Mullings had his first kind of breakout game with 5 carries for 43 yards last week and now has 15 attempts for 100 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown last Saturday. Donovan Edwards has been clunking along at 3.34 yards/carry (3.43 last week, though!) so we’re still waiting for him to show his elite capabilities in the open field. Minnesota is #54 in rushing defense (127.2 yards allowed/game) and #81 in yards allowed per carry (4.18). Somehow they held North Carolina to 2.84 yards/carry a few weeks ago, but last week Louisiana-Lafayette carved them up for 177 yards on just 27 attempts. Freshman linebacker Maverick Baranowski (6’3″, 230) leads the team with 35 tackles, followed by senior safety Jack Henderson (6’3″, 215) with 30 and sophomore safety Darius Green (6’1″, 200) with 27. The Golden Gophers play a 3-4 look with senior Kyler Baugh (6’2″, 305) at nose tackle, where he has 4.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks on the year. Baranowski has 3.0 tackles for loss and JACK linebacker Danny Striggow (6’5″, 255) has 4.0, so they’re decent at getting into the backfield at times. But Michigan should have good success in the run game.
Advantage: Michigan

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6Oct 2023
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Way Too Early 2024 Depth Chart: October 2023

Colston Loveland (image via MLive)

The following depth chart has removed these listed players from the depth chart, even though some could return with a fifth year or COVID year exception:

  • QB Jack Tuttle (graduation)
  • RB Blake Corum (graduation)
  • WR Cornelius Johnson (graduation)
  • WR Roman Wilson (graduation)
  • OL Karsen Barnhart (graduation)
  • OL LaDarius Henderson (graduation)
  • OL Myles Hinton (graduation)
  • OL Trente Jones (graduation)
  • OL Trevor Keegan (graduation)
  • OL Drake Nugent (graduation)
  • OL Zak Zinter (graduation)
  • DT Cam Goode (graduation)
  • LB Michael Barrett (graduation)
  • LB/RB Kalel Mullings (graduation)
  • LB Joey Velazquez (graduation)
  • CB Mike Sainristil (graduation)
  • CB Josh Wallace (graduation)
  • S Quinten Johnson (graduation)
  • K James Turner (graduation)

It also assumes that every currently rostered player and every currently committed prospect will be here in 2024, which is obviously not true.

Hit the jump for the depth chart.

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3Oct 2023
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Michigan 45, Nebraska 7

Kenneth Grant (image via AP)

That was domination. More so than any other game this season, that felt like Michigan truly dominated the team across from them. Despite winning by 24+ points against every other team on the schedule, it seemed like Michigan had gone through some rough stretches, including being down early against Rutgers and struggling for a while with Bowling Green. But right from the start, it seemed like Michigan just had way too much for Nebraska to handle. The #2 rushing defense in the country gave up 249 yards rushing to the Wolverines at 4.9 yards per carry. Punter Tommy Doman was only needed once – other than holding on kicks – and boomed his 1 punt for 65 yards. The only thing preventing Michigan from having a 45-0 shutout was a late 74-yard run by Joshua Fleeks, who sliced through a bunch of backups. Credit to him and Nebraska for not giving up, but it was indeed a garbage time score.

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