After a one-hour delay, Michigan football had no problem dispatching the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Week 10.
The game didn’t start when everyone had hoped, but the one-hour delay didn’t affect Michigan as the Wolverines took care of business against the ailing Minnesota Golden Gophers in Ann Arbor. The weather wasn’t pretty, but Michigan took advantage of a strong run game and elite defensive attack.
Minnesota’s bowl hopes hang in the balance after falling to 4-5 on the season while Michigan improves to 7-2 and 4-2 in conference play. The Wolverines still have a chance to win the Big Ten East with Ohio State’s loss to Iowa.
What did we learn about the Wolverines, though? This team may not be as soft as everyone thought after a Penn State blowout.
Here are three takeaways from the Wolverines’ blowout win over Minnesota.
3. Defense hasn’t skipped a beat
Watching this Michigan defense could give a grown man nightmares. Don Brown dials up more blitzes than any defensive coordinator in college football and that’s a major reason as to why the Wolverines have one of the top defenses in the country.
The Wolverines were smothering after giving up some decent rushing yardage in the first half and they made opposing quarterback Demry Croft dip, dive and duck from pressure on essentially every drop back.
Even after struggling against Penn State a couple of weeks ago and for a half against Rutgers, the Wolverines have gotten back on track. This team has plenty of talent on the defensive side of the ball, especially on the line and in the linebacking corps.
Michigan finished with five sacks, over a dozen tackles for loss and allowed 164 total yards and basically gave up nothing to the Gophers in the final three quarters. Opponents beware moving forward as the Wolverines are playing like a team possessed.