Michigan football defeats Rutgers, 31-7: Game recap, highlights

The meat of Michigan football’s schedule started at noon against Rutgers in Ann Arbor at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines breezed through nonconference play in the first three weeks without head coach Jim Harbaugh but had their coach back for the first time Saturday. And he made a difference.

Michigan was a 24-point favorite, the first time this season the Wolverines have not been a five-touchdown favorite, but not all national pundits were convinced Michigan would get the job done at home. That proved wrong, as the Wolverines pulled away in the second half for a 31-7 win — a 24-point victory. Not bad, Vegas.

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Final: Michigan beats Rutgers 31-7

Michigan ran out the final seven minutes of the clock with a flurry of runs to drown out the clock. The Wolverines moved to 4-0 in Harbaugh's return from suspension after outscoring Rutgers 17-0 in the second half.

Blake Corum added two touchdowns to his season total and Mike Sainristil put the finishing touch on the game with a pick-six. Freshman wide receiver Semaj Morgan (West Bloomfield) scored the first touchdown of his career that gave Michigan the lead, and the Wolverines never looked back.

It was another dominant day for Michigan's defense, who held a shutout after giving up a long touchdown in the first minute of the game. Michigan moves to 1-0 in Big Ten play and continues at Nebraska next week.

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6:57, fourth quarter: Rutgers fails on fourth down

Rutgers had its best drive of the second half but Michigan's defense stopped Rutgers at the gate of the red zone. Greg Schiano decided to go for it on fourth down from the Michigan 19 yard line, but Gavin Wimsatt misfired on his pass and the Wolverines took over on downs.

12:38, fourth quarter: Corum scores second TD, extends lead to 31-7

Michigan got the ball back after another Rutgers punt and manufactured a drive lasting over four minutes again. This time it ended with another bruising Corum touchdown run from five yards out. Corum has 72 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.

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4:31, third quarter: Sainristil returns interception for Michigan TD

Mike Sainristil completely made up for his missed tackle on Rutgers' touchdown with his own big play. Sainristil jumped in front of a underneath pass from Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt for the interception. Sainristil made the catch through contact and maintained his balance to return the interception to the house for the 24-7 lead.

7:00, third quarter: Michigan adds field goal, leads 17-7

Michigan's offense found a groove on its first drive of the second half. The Wolverines carved eight minutes off the clock on the drive, which included a fourth down conversion on the ground from J.J. McCarthy, but were stopped in Rutgers territory after a third down sack.

Michigan kicker James Turner redeemed himself after the first half miss and split the uprights from 46 yards to extend the lead to 10.

Halftime: Michigan leads 14-7

It wasn't pretty, but Michigan holds a lead in the halftime locker room. The Wolverines gave up a touchdown in the first minute on a long touchdown pass and immediately answered with a Blake Corum touchdown to even the score. Michigan took the lead late in the second quarter on a contested touchdown catch from freshman wide receiver and West Bloomfield native Semaj Morgan.

J.J. McCarthy has bounced back after his three-interception performance last week, completing nine of 13 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown so far. Corum has 10 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Michigan was relatively sound outside of the touchdown. Rutgers missed a long field goal to start the second quarter but hasn't found any success outside of that.

1:41, second quarter: Semaj Morgan puts Michigan ahead 14-7

Freshman wide receiver Semaj Morgan scored his first collegiate touchdown at the end of a long Michigan drive to give the Wolverines the lead. Morgan fought through pass interference to catch the back shoulder fade from J.J. McCarthy for the touchdown.

9:35, second quarter: Michigan misses 42-yard field goal

The Wolverines could not take advantage of the missed field goal and made the same error. Michigan came up short on third-and-2 at the Rutgers 19-yard line and decided to kick. Michigan kicker James Turner initially made the 37-yard kick, but after a delay of game, missed the 42-yard kick left to keep the game tied at seven.

14:55, second quarter: Rutgers misses 51-yard field goal

Rutgers nearly took the lead again to start the second quarter after its drive ended in Michigan territory. Rutgers kicker Jai Patel pulled the 51-yard kick just past the upright and missed left. Michigan took over at its own 41 yard line.

5:56, first quarter: Michigan answers with Blake Corum TD

Michigan punted quickly on its first drive but quickly got things in order after the defense forced a punt. Donovan Edwards sparked the drive with a 33-yard end around and J.J. McCarthy followed it up with a 35-yard pass to tight end Colston Loveland. The big plays set up Blake Corum on the goal line and he easily navigated the crowd to tie the game.

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14:00, first quarter: Rutgers strikes immediately on long TD pass

Rutgers scored immediately after receiving the opening kickoff. Quarterback Gavin Wimsatt found wide receiver Christian Dremel on a slant for a 69-yard touchdown. Dremel beat cornerback Mike Sainristil one-on-one and outran the rest of the Michigan secondary for the early lead.

Pregame

Michigan won its first three games by an average margin of 26.7 points and will get its first test against another undefeated power five team Saturday. They enter conference play with the No. 1 ranked scoring defense in the country, surrendering an average of 5.3 points per game so far. Harbaugh called the unit the team’s “shining light” during his suspension and praised players on each level of the defense for impactful performances. 

The defense has carried the Wolverines as the offense has worked through some kinks. While the Wolverines have averaged 32 points per game, the passing and running game has yet to be in sync as Harbaugh wants. 

J.J. McCarthy matched his 2022 regular season interception total last week against Bowling Green with three giveaways and will look to bounce back against a stout Rutgers defense holding teams to 10 points per game. This is the third straight year head coach Greg Schiano has led Rutgers to a 3-0 record, which hadn’t happened since 2012 before that. Michigan is looking to win its ninth straight game over the Scarlet Knights.

Four Michigan players are listed out, including defensive tackle Mason Graham. Graham is one of Michigan's best run defenders and has a forced fumble this season despite just five tackles. Quarterback Alex Orji, defensive back Ja'Den McBurrows and running back CJ Stokes are also out.