Michigan football riding youth movement, run game into College Football Playoff vs. TCU

Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia looks back at what happened during Michigan football’s 43-22 victory over Purdue in the Big Ten championship game and ahead to the College Football Playoff semifinal game against TCU on Dec. 31 in Glendale, Arizona:

3 things we learned

Youth movement has the future looking as bright as the present: Of Michigan's six touchdowns in the Big Ten championship game, three were thrown by a sophomore quarterback, one was caught by a freshman tight end and one was run in by a sophomore running back. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy only threw the ball 17 times, but his impact on Saturday was tremendous, connecting on 11 passes for 161 yards and three touchdowns. He has accounted for seven touchdowns over the past two games. Donovan Edwards continued his stellar run the past two games after taking over as the lead back for the injured Blake Corum, running a career-high 25 times for 185 yards and a score on his way to winning Big Ten championship Game MVP. He has 401 rushing yards and three scores in two games as a full-time starter. Tight end Colston Loveland, whose playing time has increased in recent weeks with Luke Schoonmaker limited by injury, caught the game's opening score on a jump ball from 25 yards out. And it's not limited to the offense. Freshman defensive back Will Johnson made the game's opening tackle for a loss and had two interceptions in the second half, the first on a ball lofted to the end zone, the second when he jumped a slant route midway through the fourth quarter deep in Purdue territory which set up the game-sealing score.

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Nobody will stop Michigan's running game: There were moments to question about how successful the running game would be once Corum went down. The team ran 18 times for 40 yards in the second half vs. Illinois after Corum was ruled out and ran 10 times for just 11 yards in the first half against OSU. In six quarters since, Edwards and company have amassed 466 yards and six touchdowns. Maybe with three weeks to prepare, TCU will have some new wrinkles to slow this Michigan rushing offense, but it doesn't feel likely, especially given TCU is ranked No. 66 (149.5 yards per game) against the run this season. Purdue held Illinois' Chase Brown to just 98 yards and entered the Big Ten title game with the 37th ranked run defense, but it was quickly clear they didn't stand a chance against the Wolverines. Michigan ran at will, carrying the ball 38 times for 225 yards — good for an average of 5.9 yards per carry, exactly what Corum averaged this season — and three scores. Edwards ripped off three rushes of 60 yards or more in the last five quarters of play. Kalel Mullings is clearly the new short yardage back which so far has worked well, he ran in two scores from inside of 3 yards. Edwards used part his media availability after the game to plead for his offensive line to be named the Joe Moore Award winning unit for the second consecutive season — he may get his wish.

Bend-don't-break mastery: Michigan's pass defense has been tested the past two weeks against two of the better quarterbacks in the conference in Ohio State's CJ Stroud and Purdue's Aidan O'Connell. In the last eight quarters, U-M has given up more than 700 passing yards, but allowed just two touchdowns with four interceptions. Michigan's defense has forced a turnover or field goal attempt in 12 of its opponents last 15 trips into Wolverine territory. On Saturday, Michigan forced five field goals and two interceptions on Purdue's final seven trips that got inside the 25 yard line. The second-half adjustments continue to be masterful on the defensive side of the ball. In the last eight games, Illinois is the only team that scored a touchdown against U-M in the second half.

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Fast facts

Matchup: No. 2 Michigan (13-0, 9-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 4 TCU (12-1, 9-0 Big 12).

Kickoff: 4 p.m. Dec. 31; State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona.

TV/radio: ESPN; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).

Line: Wolverines by 9½.

Know the foe

For the first time in history, Michigan will play against TCU. The Horned Fogs beat five ranked opponents in the regular season thanks to the sixth-highest scoring offense (40.3 points per game) in the nation, orchestrated by Duggan. The senior is a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation's best QB after he led Big 12 in passing yards (3,321), passing touchdowns (30) and yards per completion (13.9) and ranked ninth in the nation in passing efficiency (165.5). His favorite target is Quentin Johnston, the 6-foot-4 junior who leads the team in receptions (53), receiving yards (903) and touchdowns (five). Five different players have either four or five touchdowns. TCU is also quite effective on the ground thanks to Kendre Miller, the junior running back who ran 216 times for 1,342 yards (6.2 yards per carry) and 17 touchdowns. U-M protects the ball as well as anybody, ranking third in the nation with seven giveaways while TCU is seventh with 10. Cornerback Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson is a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award with 12 pass break-ups and three interceptions. Johnny Hodges, a junior, is TCU’s leading tackler (76) on the season, which includes 7.5 tackles-for-loss. Sonny Dykes, in his first season as head coach after four straight winning seasons at SMU, leads the Horned Frogs who are one win away from tying their school-record (13) set back in 2010.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Even without Blake Corum, No. 2 Michigan ready for No. 3 TCU