We take a look inside the trenches to look at the performances from Michigan’s lineman on both sides of the ball that was pivotal to beating rival Michigan St.
Jim Harbaugh has been under scrutiny all year and it has been coming from his lost at Notre Dame to not being able to beat his rivals Michigan State and Ohio State. Since then lost to Notre Dame the Wolverines was on a 6 game winning streak going into East Lansing and all eyes were on Harbaugh to see if he can win a big game.
The run game was in full effect because of the in climate weather as the offensive line helped Karan Higdon rush for 144 yards on 33 carries. They also helped out Shea Patterson as well as he went 14 of 25 for 212 yards through the air.
The credit goes to center Ceasar Ruiz and company as they were able to push bodies all day. They were effective in the run game because the guards, Michael Onwenu and Ben Bredeson were able to win their one on one battles and double team up to the linebacker to make the way for Karan Higdon who continued his streak of 100-yard rushing performances.
They were able to handle a tough Michigan State defense who likes to show all kinds of fronts with the stunts and blitzes off the edge, credit Jon Runyan and Juwann Bushell-Beatty for slowing it down.
The offense of Michigan was able to outgain Michigan St in total offense by 300 yards, Wolverines had 396 yards while the Spartans had 94. Michigan defense played its best game on the year and it came at the right time. L.J Scott was able to get only 10 carriers on 25 yards rushing while Brian Lewerke went 5/25 for 66 yards.
All day the linebackers and the secondary were able to make plays. The real credit goes to the defensive line in this game as Chase Winovich and Kwity Paye as they were able to get pressure on Lewerke and cause trouble in the run game so the linebackers can come up and make plays. They were able to stay in the gaps, make plays at the line scrimmage and not get pushed around so the linebackers could flow to the ball. And they did all this without arguably their best player, Rashan Gary.
This was a classic Michigan football performance with a punishing run game and dominating defense. The Wolverines controlled the trenches and controlled the game on the road in poor weather conditions. If the lines play like this the rest of the way, they could very well be this year’s Big Ten champions and garner a berth in the College Football Playoff.