Tag: Minnesota

Michigan 52, Minnesota 10

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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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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Michigan vs. Minnesota Awards

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet’s first carry of the game was a 70-yard touchdown up the gut on power. He ended up with 70 yards on 4 total carries, so his other three carries netted zero yards, but I would still like to see Charbonnet touch the ball more if/when the game is on the line. Michigan did a good job of spreading out carries to keep people happy and fresh, but we know Charbonnet is tough – and that touchdown run showed more speed than what he had last year. In the 2019 season opener, he broke away against Middle Tennessee and didn’t have the same explosion he showed against the Gophers.

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Michigan 49, Minnesota 24

The elephant in the room. Joe Milton looked good. He completed 15/22 passes for 225 yards and 1 touchdown, while running 8 times for 52 yards and 1 touchdown. I thought he would look shaky, and he didn’t. Yes, there were some mistakes, but he also made some very nice plays. Obviously, the arm strength is impressive, but he didn’t really complete any deep shots. The throws he hit were in the short and intermediate areas. It was a good debut for a starting QB.

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Mini-Preview: Michigan at Minnesota

I have to be honest, and I’ve been so busy with finishing up the season preview and a bunch of other stuff that I haven’t had time to do a good preview. And tonight while I’m finishing this up, I’m deciding to watch the presidential debate instead of trying to watch a bunch of Minnesota stuff.

HOW TO WATCH

Saturday, October 24th, 2020: 7:30 p.m. EST on ABC

ROSTER NOTES

• Minnesota players offered by Michigan: OL Curtis Dunlap Jr., OL Daniel Faalele, DB Benny Sapp III, DB Benjamin St-Juste
• Minnesota players from the State of Michigan include: LB Trenton Guthrie (Northville), DL Ali Saad (Dearborn), TE Bryce Witham (Grand Rapids West Catholic)
• Minnesota DB Benjamin St-Juste signed with Michigan out of high school before transferring to Minnesota
• Minnesota DB Benny Sapp III is the son of former NFL DB Benny Sapp II, who played with the Chiefs, Vikings, and Dolphins

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