3 things we learned after Michigan football beat Nebraska
No. 9 Michigan went into Lincoln trying to get its first-ever win in Memorial Stadium — the Wolverines were 0-1-1 entering Saturday.
Just like last week, when Michigan won in Madison for the first time since 2001, the Wolverines ended their losing streak in Lincoln with a crazy comeback win.
The first half looked like it would be all Michigan — it entered halftime up 13-0 and the defense controlled the option-attack that Nebraska has and Daxton Hill came down with a big interception. The Wolverines’ big issue in the first half was failing to score a touchdown twice in the red zone which resulted in two field goals.
The second half was another story, and it was wildly different. The Cornhuskers scored a touchdown four out of the five drives and the Michigan defense looked clueless against Adrian Martinez. The defensive line continued to play decent, but the second level, the linebackers, played poorly in the second half and were fooled by different play-action or option packages that Nebraska ran at them.
After Michigan tied the game up at 29-29 with a field goal, the next possession Nebraska had yet another errant turnover as Brad Hawkins stripped the ball from Adrian Martinez. The Wolverines were able to capitalize with a field goal but left 1:23 left on the clock for the Cornhusker offense.
The defense held its own in the final drive and Michigan came away with a 32-29 victory.
Here are three things we learned.
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New team at the top in PFF Big Ten team rankings after Week 5
The interior defensive line is starting to stand out
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
We all know how important Aidan Hutchinson, and now David Ojabo, is to this team, but the interior guys played a major role on Saturday.
Nebraska runs a form of a triple-option offense, which can be a very difficult offense to stop — as we saw on Saturday.
The key to stopping it is to have contain on the outside, where Hutchinson and Ojabo come into play, which means up the middle will need clogged by the interior big guys.
Christopher Hinton and Mazi Smith were huge in stopping the run up the middle — save for a long run in the fourth quarter. The former big-time recruits showed out on Saturday and didn’t allow the Cornhusker running backs to do much up the gut. Most of the rushing yards for Nebraska came on the outsides, or Martinez scrambles.
The Wolverines really needed some guys to really step up to help the edge defenders and Saturday was a big sign for things to come from Hinton and Smith.
Michigan held Nebraska to roughly 70 yards up the middle on Saturday.
Michigan still has plenty of weapons to throw to
Photo by: Isaiah Hole
The Wolverines took another big hit on Saturday when it was announced that Roman Wilson wouldn’t be playing due to an injury. Michigan was already without Ronnie Bell, who got a season-ending injury in week 1.
Wilson just had a break-out performance last week against Wisconsin and many people believed that was a sign of things to come for the sophomore.
The saying is ‘next man up’ and it proved true on Saturday.
Daylen Baldwin and Mike Sainristil, who both had enough playing time in the other games, really stepped up on Saturday in the absence of Wilson.
Baldwin took over as the ‘possession receiver — a big body to get some tough-fought yardage, and Sainristil showed his flashing speed on a 48-yard diving catch in the second quarter.
We don’t know the extent of the Wilson injury, how long he will be out, but it’s nice to know that other players have stepped up when needed and the Michigan quarterbacks have players to lean on.
Statistic-wise: Baldwin lead the team with six catches for 64 yards and Sainristil had two catches for 52 yards.
Running quarterbacks are still a problem for the Michigan defense
Oct 9, 2021; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Adrian Martinez (2) runs the ball against the Michigan Wolverines during the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
The Michigan defense has been as dominant as a defense can be this year. It looked as if the story would continue on Saturday.
The first half was all about the maize and blue defense — they controlled the line-of-scrimmage and stopped any type of option play that came its’ way. Michigan lead 13-0 going into halftime.
Then like the Rutgers game, it was a tale of two halves.
Nebraska came out and scored a touchdown four out of the first five drives in the second half, and the Wolverines looked completely confused out there.
Martinez could run the ball, pass the ball, throw up for grabs with the Cornhusker receivers coming up with it — it didn’t matter. The Michigan linebackers were all out of sorts against Martinez and weren’t where they needed to be the majority of the fourth quarter.
This was the first true dual-threat quarterback Michigan has faced all season, and once again, it proved to be difficult for the maize and blue — even in a new defensive scheme.
Luckily, the defense buckled down the last two drives and forced a fumble, and then a game-ending fourth-down incomplete pass.
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