Michigan has rose in the Pro Football Focus Top 25 , from No. 5 to No. 4. Ahead of Michigan is Louisville, Ohio State, and Alabama. Next Saturday’s opponent, Wisconsin, came in at No. 7.
“Michigan continue to impress, this week with a one-sided victory over Penn State in which the Wolverines simply dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. That defensive dominance meant that Saquon Barkley, Penn State’s star running back, had no room to run. On offense, right tackle Erik Magnuson earned an 80.4 overall grade, and a 79.2 run blocking grade, which is about as good a performance as we’ve seen from him. Next up for Michigan is the visit of an impressive Wisconsin team — things are about to get real for the Wolverines.” Beyond rankings, PFF also evaluated the 49-10 victory over Penn State.
Wilton Speight
“It was a solid but unspectacular display from Wilton Speight, who relied on a strong running game and didn’t do much downfield after a rough Week 3. Of his 21 completions, 18 came within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, and all three of the downfield hits were at intermediate range, rather than deep (20+ yards). Like his counterpart, he preferred to scramble rather than climb the pocket against potential outside pressure, which resulted in several pressures easier than they should have been for the Penn State rushers.” Offense
“Michigan had massive success with power-and-man concepts in the run game, gaining more than 300 yards and scoring six times on the ground. Four rushers saw at least eight carries (De’Veon Smith, Ty Isaac, Karan Higdon, and Chris Evans) and each averaged at least 6.7 yards per carry and broke two tackles. The offensive line made much of that happen, especially right tackle Erik Magnuson, who made multiple key blocks to seal the edge and generated big movement on several double teams near the goal line. He also ended with just one pressure allowed in 38 snaps in pass protection.” Defense
“Among multiple standouts in the front-seven was tackle Maurice Hurst, who in 30 snaps compiled four defensive stops and three pressures (a fourth was nullified by penalty), including a sack at 0:26 of the second quarter, where Hurst won easily to the outside of guard Connor McGovern to drop McSorley. At the second level, inside linebacker Mike McCray bounced back from a below-average Week 3, getting his hands on two of four passes thrown into his coverage, including an interception late in the fourth quarter. Penn State’s QB had a meager 22.9 passer rating on those throws.”
Maize n Brew
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