Defense, Run Game Pace Michigan In Win Over UNLV
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
ANN ARBOR (CBS Detroit) -- If there had been more space around the 108,683 in attendance at Michigan Stadium Saturday, fans at the Michigan-UNLV game probably would have laid out in the warm sun and taken naps. It was that kind of day for the Wolverines, as they rumbled to a convincing, but not awe-inspiring, 28-7 win over the Rebels.
Michigan has been efficient recently on the defensive side, allowing 14 combined points in the past two weeks. But the offense is also, to this point, an unexciting one – able to move the chains against two bad defenses in a row, but still struggling to connect on long plays through the air.
Coming into Saturday, Michigan was 95th in the nation (out of 128 teams) in plays of 20 yards or more, and 112th in plays of at least 40 yards.
Against UNLV, the longest pass Jake Rudock completed was for 21 yards to Maurice Ways. The next longest was for 12, to Jehu Chesson.
"It's frustrating, but at the same time – at the receiver position, it's so tough, because it's either you make a play or you don't," Chesson said of the lack of explosive plays. "In practice we just need to keep practicing those. It'll show up eventually."
Rudock finished with a respectable, but not remarkable stat line: 14-of-22 for 123 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He's combined for five picks now in the last three games.
"His job is to win football games," said head coach Jim Harbaugh. "It wasn't an ideal day to throw. There was a swirling wind the whole day. I thought he did a good job. He managed the game well and for the most part, the offense was moving."
It was the run game, though, that primarily made that happen, and that got the fans to peel themselves away from the wave that was rolling through the stands. After Michigan got on the board first with a five-yard Rudock touchdown pass to running back De'Veon Smith, Chesson – a wide receiver – actually got in on the ground game, too. He broke a 36-yard touchdown run off his only rushing attempt of the game – 24 yards longer than any pass he caught on Saturday.
Ty Issac, backing up Smith at running back, electrified with a 76-yard touchdown run up the left sideline midway through the second quarter. That's where the offense largely stalled, until backup fullback Sione Houma took it one yard to the end zone in the fourth quarter, after being called down at the half-yard line on his previous play.
Defensively, Michigan picked up where it left off last week against Oregon State, and continued to be the strength of the team. It allowed one 53-yard pass and one touchdown, but otherwise locked down UNLV, with the Rebels barely seeing Michigan territory the entire game. Jeremy Clark picked off quarterback Blake Decker and Michigan accumulated nine tackles for loss with two sacks to go along with it.
"Defense played pretty good, but we shouldn't have given up any points," said nose tackle Ryan Glasgow. "There was some sloppy play out there. But the encouraging thing is I think when we do clean it up, the defense is just gonna be real good the rest of the year … I think the identity we're establishing is we're going to hit you in the mouth, regardless of who you are."
