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The Michigan Wolverines beat down the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a score of 49-24 on Saturday night to keep the Little Brown Jug and start the 2020 nine-game sprint with a bang.
The performance opened a ton of eyeballs across the country and in the fan base. Michigan players were not surprised, of course. They saw this is your first look at something that they have been seeing behind the scenes for months.
Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman had rave reviews for Josh Gattis and Joe Milton.
Josh Gattis' offense has been really impressive. His gifted young QB Joe Milton has backed up the hype tonight. #Michigan's averaging a gaudy 9.4 yards per carry and 9 yards per play. Wolverines also have scored five TDs in six Red Zone trips. Not bad.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) October 25, 2020
Aaron Torres said what we all were thinking. It’s been a long time since a lot of Michigan fans felt this way.
Maybe Minnesota is overrated. Maybe they arent. But its been a LONG time since Michigan just physically kicked the crap out a decent team like they are tonight. If we're going to criticize Jim Harbaugh for everything, we should probably give him credit on a night like tonight too
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) October 25, 2020
Minnesota certainly could be in for a bit of a comedown year.
Nothing too unexpected about a loss to Michigan but if today's results mean the second and third tiers of this league are going to be stronger this season, then Minnesota might have some real issues going forward.
— Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) October 25, 2020
Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider puts this one into perspective for for fans searching for negatives and dwelling on them.
The flaws were apparent -- they'll have to do a better job against the run, and the kicking competition is CLEARLY far from over, but Michigan made a good opponent look like a lower level Big 10 team tonight. That can't be anything but encouraging.
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) October 25, 2020
This is certainly one way to put it.
Harbaugh: Joe Milton was as "cool as a cucumber" tonight
— Ryan Zuke (@ryanzuke) October 25, 2020
More from Jim Harbaugh:
Jim Harbaugh on his expectations for Joe Milton's first start: "Put talented guys out there like Joe Milton and see what happens. Let everybody be surprised with how good he does. That’s what I envisioned. That’s how I visualized this game going."
— Austin Meek (@byAustinMeek) October 25, 2020
It was not official until recently, but Milton knew that he was the guy.
Joe Milton said that while Jim Harbaugh only recently told him he was starting, he knew a while back that he was going to win the job based on the number of reps he got.
— Orion Sang (@orion_sang) October 25, 2020
The young guys for Michigan lived up to the early hype they received in the offseason.
Notable true freshman stats for #Michigan in its season-opener:
— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) October 25, 2020
RB Blake Corum — 60 yards from scrimmage on 7 touches
WR Roman Wilson — 34 receiving yards on 2 catches
WR A.J. Henning — 20 yards from scrimmage on 2 touches
S Makari Paige — 3 tackles
Michigan’s five-star 2021 QB certainly liked what he saw.
Great Day To Be A Wolverine! LFG!!〽️〽️〽️ pic.twitter.com/TEuUGImeI4
— J.J. McCarthy (@jjmccarthy09) October 25, 2020
Player reactions
The boys just got away with a heist at TCF Bank! #GoBlue
— Kwity Paye (@KwityPaye_19) October 25, 2020
That man @mikebarrett_MB1 gon be a problem y’all. We been known, y’all just now seeing it.
— Cameron McGrone ✊ (@McGrone_Strong) October 25, 2020
My boy @KwityPaye_19 going crazy tonight!!! Big dub to keep the Jug.. Onto MSU
— Aidan Hutchinson (@aidanhutch97) October 25, 2020
JUG STAYS HOME BABY!!! Great TEAM dub!! 〽️
— Chuck Filiaga (@CFiliaga) October 25, 2020
How it started.... How it’s going.... pic.twitter.com/73vwyRzbd5
— Jalen Mayfield (@jay_may_11) October 25, 2020
One, and one more thing.
It's officially #BeatState week.
— Michigan Alumni (@michiganalumni) October 25, 2020