Michigan
Michigan State
Michigan Monday: Game 2 vs. Michigan State
10/26/2020 1:30:00 PM | Football
Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, Mich.
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020 • 12:05 p.m. EDT
Television: Fox
Radio: Michigan/IMG Sports Network
Monday, Oct. 26
Complete Game Notes (PDF)
Coach Harbaugh Weekly Press Conference | Watch
Inside Michigan Football Radio Show (7 p.m.) | Listen
• U-M holds a 71-36-5 edge in the all-time series with MSU.
• This will be the 67th meeting between the Wolverines and Spartans for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan has a 38-27-2 record in this trophy-game rivalry.
• The Wolverines will play a game on Halloween for the 20th time in school history (14-4-1 record).
• Joe Milton gained 277 yards of offense and accounted for two touchdowns (one rushing, one passing) in his first career start.
• Josh Ross led the defense with nine tackles and his first career interception at Minnesota.
Wolverines and Spartans
• This will be the 113th meeting between Michigan and Michigan State.
• The Wolverines hold a 71-36-5 advantage in the all-time series and have won 26 of the last 41 games played between the two schools.
• U-M has won the last two matchups between the schools, a 44-10 affair in Ann Arbor (2019) and a 21-7 victory in East Lansing (2018).
Series vs. Michigan State: Michigan leads 71-36-5
Series Streak: Michigan won 2
Last Meeting vs. Michigan State: 2019 (Michigan, 44-10)
Last Michigan Win: 2019
Television Coverage
Fox will broadcast the game to a national audience. Gus Johnson (play-by-play), Joel Klatt (color) and Jenny Taft (sideline) will call the game.
In the Polls
• The Michigan football team enters the Michigan State ranked in the top 15 of the national polls. The Wolverines are listed No. 13 in the Associated Press rankings and No. 14 in the Amway Coaches Poll.
• Michigan finished the 2019 season listed No. 18 (AP) and No. 19 (coaches) in the final polls, and 14th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
• The Wolverines have been ranked in the national polls for 29 straight games dating back to the start of the 2018 season.
• U-M has been ranked for all but eight contests during the tenure of Jim Harbaugh (59 of 67 games). The Wolverines were not ranked the first four games in 2015 and four games during the 2017 season.
• Over the last five seasons, Michigan has faced more teams that have finished in the top 15 of the national polls (16) than any other program. The next closest are Penn State and Ohio State with 12 each.
• Michigan faced six top 15 ranked opponents during the 2019 season and had a 2-4 record against those teams.
Game Notes Nuggets
• As the Wolverines and Spartans prepare to battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, Michigan seeks its third consecutive victory in the series rivalry, and the fourth in the last five matchups overall. To win a third straight would be U-M's longest streak since winning six straight from 2002-07.
• The U-M roster boasts 42 players who grew up calling the Wolverine State home, including five who started last weekend against Minnesota: defensive back Vincent Gray and defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson, offensive linemen Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield, and kicker Jake Moody. Makari Paige, Geoffrey Reeves, Nate Schoenle and Ben VanSumeren also started in special-teams roles.
• Eleven players made their Michigan debuts last weekend against Minnesota, six on offense: lineman Zach Carpenter, running back Blake Corum, wide receiver A.J. Henning, quarterback Cade McNamara, wide receiver Roman Wilson, and lineman Zak Zinter; four on defense: linebackers William Mohan, Kalel Mullings and David Ojabo, and defensive back Makari Paige; and one specialist, long snapper William Wagner.
• Among the 11 Wolverines making their first appearance were seven true freshmen Corum, Henning, Mohan, Mullings, Paige, Wilson and Zinter.
• Eight Wolverines also earned the first start of their respective careers: offensive linemen Chuck Filiaga and Andrew Vastardis, tight end Erick All, quarterback Joe Milton, Corum, linebacker Michael Barrett, defensive back Gemon Green and one specialist, Wagner.
• Milton was 15-of-22 passing in his first career start and finished with a rating of 169.1. Milton completed four consecutive passes on three separate instances and took just one sack.
• The Michigan offense was explosive, gaining six pass plays of 15-plus yards, including four plays of 20-plus yards. Wide receiver Ronnie Bell caught the two longest passes of the game (35 yards, 30 yards) on back-to-back plays to move the ball from the Wolverines' 19-yard line to the Gophers' 26-yard line in the game's final minutes.
• In the run game, U-M produced three plays of 10-plus yards, including a tied-career-best 23-yard pickup by Milton on a first-half, third-and-two situation from Minnesota's 27-yard line.
• But the big plays came from U-M's combustible backfield: a 70-yard scorcher from Zach Charbonnet on the game's first drive, and 66-yard burst in the waning seconds of the third quarter from Hassan Haskins. Both were career-long runs, and Charbonnet's touchdown was the longest by any Wolverine since Karan Higdon's 77-yard score in the 2017 battle for the Little Brown Jug.
MICHIGAN 70-YARD HOUSE CALL??
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 25, 2020
pic.twitter.com/QI6SBM0jrW
• The offensive line protected Milton well, allowing just one sack, and popped in the run game where the Wolverines averaged 8.3 yards per play and three players had runs of 20-plus yards.
• Diversification was the name of the game for U-M's skill players in the season opener. Twelve players caught or carried the ball against the Gophers: All, Charbonnet, Corum, Chris Evans, Henning, Giles Jackson, Ben Mason, Milton, Mike Sainristil and Wilson.
• The 49 points U-M scored in Minneapolis were the second most scored in a true road game against a ranked opponent in program history, eclipsed only by a loss to Northwestern in the 2000 season (54-51). It is also tied for the fifth-highest output in a season opener in Michigan history and the third time the Wolverines have broken 40 points in a season opener under Harbaugh (40 points vs. Middle Tennessee, 2018; 63 points vs. Hawaii, 2016).
• U-M has never scored more points in the first half (35) against a ranked opponent than it did against Minnesota last weekend since the AP Poll Era began in 1936. It also was the second time in the last three seasons that the Wolverines have registered 21 first-quarter points against a Big Ten opponent (Nebraska, 2018).
• The 15-yard fumble-recovery touchdown by defensive lineman Donovan Jeter was the first for a Wolverine defender since Noah Furbush recovered a fumble forced by Chase Winovich in Florida's end zone in 2017 -- also in a season-opening game.
• Linebacker Michael Barrett forced the fumble that Jeter recovered with a huge hit in his first start at the viper position. Barrett finished with seven stops (five solo), a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, and he also recovered a teammate's fumble on a kickoff return.
• The U-M defense allowed just four runs of 10-plus yards and no runs over 25 yards. The Gophers went six of 14 on third down with an average of third and 8.9 yards to go, but one of nine in situations of third-and-nine or longer.
• The Wolverines generated five sacks from five different players. Defensive lineman Kwity Paye had back-to-back sacks in the third quarter among three straight for the defense after lineman Carlo Kemp registered one.
Indiana Game Time, TV Announced
Michigan's game at Indiana on Saturday, Nov. 7 has been announced as a noon EST start. FS1 will televise the game live from Memorial Stadium.
