Michigan delivers epic 78-0 beatdown at Rutgers
No. 4 Michigan marched into Piscataway on Saturday night and subjected Rutgers to a beatdown of epic proportions.
The Wolverines demolished the Scarlet Knights 78-0. Yes, you read that correctly: 78-0. That’s the biggest margin of victory ever in a Big Ten game.
While gashing Rutgers for 600 yards of offense, including 481 on the ground, the Scarlet Knights could muster just 39 yards of total offense against Michigan. Rutgers didn’t even register a first down until there were under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and Michigan already led 71-0.
Rutgers was able to complete just two passes on 18 attempts for a total of five yards. It didn’t fare much better on the ground, gaining 34 yards on 36 carries. That’s a 0.9-yard average.
In all, Rutgers was 0-for-17 on third down. Things were so bad that Rutgers decided it wasn’t even worth it to try to convert a single fourth down. At least the punter, Michael Cintron, got plenty of work. He punted 16 times.
Of the 11 Michigan players to register a carry, five scored touchdowns with Karan Higdon, Ty Isaac, Jabrill Peppers and Khalid Hill all scoring twice. The Wolverines led 43-0 at halftime before adding on to the lead in the second half. And if it looks like Michigan tried to run up the score, it’s not exactly accurate as the Wolverines had only three pass attempts in the second half.
Michigan’s win comes on the heels of Ohio State putting a similar beatdown on Rutgers. The second-ranked Buckeyes won 58-0 in Columbus last weekend. The Wolverines tacked on an extra 20 points.
The win improves Michigan’s record to 6-0 on the year heading into a bye week. With Ohio State now 5-0 after its 38-17 win over Indiana, we’re another step closer to an epic showdown between the two rivals, with both teams going into that final weekend of the regular season undefeated.
What a show that would be.
The Chris Ash era at Rutgers has gotten off to a traumatic start as the Scarlet Knights dropped to 2-4 (0-3 Big Ten) with the loss. Things should be a bit easier with Illinois coming to High Point Solutions Stadium next weekend.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
