Photo Credit: Aaron J. Thornton
By Aaron J. Thornton
Right from the start, the Connecticut Huskies knew they would be in for a long day as the fourth ranked Michigan Wolverines football team went 72 yards in 4 plays on the opening drive and scored to make it a quick 7-0. It was another dominating performance, and the team’s third straight victory scoring 50+ points against an overmatched UConn squad at the Big House in Ann Arbor. At the end, Michigan got their first shutout since the 2019 season.
J.J. McCarthy, who was named the starting Quarterback again this week for Michigan, had another impressive day going 15 of 18 in passing and throwing for 214 yards with 0 interceptions. But it was Running Back Blake Corum who would end up in the record books, tying a Michigan record with 5 touchdowns in the game. Corum showed he can ultimately be effective in the red zone and with goal to go, as 3 of his 5 scores were in between the tackles from 1 yard out. Head Coach Jim Harbaugh had the chance to give playing time to many of his bench players in this game. In fact, seven different Quarterbacks not only saw the field, but actually completed at least one pass each. Backup QB Alex Orji also ran in a touchdown in the fourth quarter and fellow QB Alan Bowman threw for a TD as well.
Michigan’s Defense was again solid, holding Connecticut to 110 total yards (86 rushing and 24 passing) in the shutout victory. The Wolverines completely shut down Running Back Nathan Carter of the Huskies, who came in averaging over 120 yards per game. He had only 21 yards rushing on 6 carries. Connecticut QB Zion Turner had a rough outing against the Michigan pass defense. Despite avoiding being sacked in the game, he only threw for 4 completions out of 16 attempts and had a total of 17 passing yards.
We cannot leave out the great Special Teams play in the game. The Wolverine’s A.J. Henning produced one of the highlights for the Michigan Special Teams, returning a punt 61 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. He became one of a few players to wear a Michigan uniform, and have a punt return and kickoff return in his career. The Special Teams also had a blocked punt by Caden Kolesar early in the second quarter.
All in all, a pretty spectacular game for Michigan, who was playing without one of their offensive weapons in Donovan Edwards against the Huskies. Edwards sat out the game due to an injury suffered last week against Hawaii. After the game Coach Harbaugh stated that Edwards would probably be questionable for next week.
The fourth ranked Wolverines will host the Maryland Terrapins in their next game as they start Big Ten play this Saturday. Many are wondering just how good this Michigan team is. When asked during the post game press conference, Corum told members of the media, “We haven’t faced adversity yet. I feel it, I feel like we are going to be great”! Although Maryland is not one of the top teams in the conference this year, they will certainly be a better indicator how good Michigan may be. For Connecticut, they will look to regroup and travel to Raleigh where they have another challenging opponent waiting as they will face twelfth ranked North Carolina State in their next contest.
Final Score: Michigan 59 – Connecticut 0
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