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Mike Sainristil's heads-up play helps Michigan football pull away from Rutgers, 31-7
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- Mike Sainristil's heads-up play helps Michigan football pull away from Rutgers, 31-7
With the "turnover buffs" resting on his face, Mike Sainristil raised his hands as he blew kisses to the 109,756 fans at Michigan Stadium.
He had made amends.
On the opening possession, Michigan football's standout defensive back fell down in man coverage, which resulted in Rutgers scoring a 69-yard touchdown exactly one minute in. No matter. With Rutgers down 10 and facing fourth-and-2 deep in U-M territory in the third quarter, Sainristil got it back.
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Sainristil watched the wide receiver screen develop to the left, jumped the route and took the interception 71 yards the other way for a touchdown, which proved the defining moment in Michigan's 31-7 victory over Rutgers in Ann Arbor.
"Good players make mistakes," Sainristil said. "He scored a touchdown, but I kind of brushed it off right away and said (to the defense), 'I'm gonna get y'all one back.' "
"That's a difference-maker," added coach Jim Harbaugh. "The guy that makes the magic happen when you need the magic to happen. ... It's a beautiful thing."
While Michigan's defense, again, sparked the win, the offense had plenty of positives in its own right.
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Quarterback J.J. McCarthy showed the turnover worries that surfaced against Bowling Green can be forgotten, at least for now. The Scarlet Knights , who entered Saturday with a Big Ten-leading five interceptions, had none at the Big House as McCarthy completed 15 of 21 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns.
TRENDING: Michigan football got punched in the mouth. Its response bodes well for future games.
He was also active in the ground game, running seven times for 51 yards.
"J.J., I mean he's tough to defend," Harbaugh said. "Can throw the ball in the pocket, throw the ball out of the pocket, really accurate thrower can get the ball to any part of the field. And he's super-athletic.
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"Had 214 yards throwing, 50-some running; that's a lot of production by the quarterback when we needed it."
It also kept the defense's attention on him, which helped open the rushing attack against the Scarlet Knights, who entered the game allowing just 69. 7 yards per game, No. 11 nationally. Blake Corum had 21 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns — the latter his 39th to tie Chris Perry for fifth-most in program history — as U-M ran 40 times for 201 yards in all.
Meanwhile, Gavin Wimsatt was 11-for-21 for 180 yards passing for the Scarlet Knights, who were also stonewalled on the ground. One week after running through Virginia Tech for 256 yards (at the pace of 7.5 yards per carry) and four touchdowns, the Scarlet Knights were held to 23 carries for 77 yards and no touchdowns on the ground.
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"That's a run wall," Harbaugh said. "That's big boy football."
Slow start
For the fourth straight game, U-M won the toss and deferred, which set the Scarlet Knights up with the ball first.
Michigan forced Rutgers into a quick third-and-6 from the U-M 31, but Wimsatt dropped back in the shotgun, looked left and found Christian Dremel in the slot on a slant. Sainristil fell down on the crisp route and Dremel made safety Rod Moore — playing in his first action of the season — miss a tackle, allowing a 69-yard touchdown.
"As soon as that play came out, that's one of those plays that's right out of the start of the game that could make the normal, or ordinary person or team, flinch," Harbaugh said. "That's the first thing I thought of, and they didn't flinch."
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A three-and-out from Michigan's offense didn't ease the tension. On Rutgers' next offensive snap, Kyle Monangai took the handoff 25 yards off the left side ... but a flag brought the play back. The Scarlet Knights ultimately had to punt on fourth-and-12, but a booming kick pinned Michigan at its own 6.
REACTION: Michigan played its best game of the season. The reason shouldn't be secret.
Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy looks to pass against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the first half at Michigan Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023.
The team's response changed the game, as McCarthy led the offense on a seven-play, 94-yard drive. Corum broke off a 14-yard run to get out of the shadow of the end zone. A few plays later, on third-and-3, Michigan sent Donovan Edwards in motion and no Rutgers defender followed him. He caught a pass and ran untouched for 33 yards.
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On the next play, U-M ran a reverse flea-flicker, and McCarthy found Colston Loveland for 35 yards to set up Corum for a 2-yard score.
"It was huge," Corum said. "Rutgers went up 7-0, we knew we needed to score just for the energy. ... I pitched it to Donovan, Donovan pitched it back to J.J. who hit Colston wide open. We planned that all week, we practiced it, we repped it and we were able to punch it in.
"That second drive was a huge part of the game."
Control the clock
Rutgers won the time-of-possession battle in the first quarter, 9:56 to 5:04.
Michigan would win it 31:12 to 13:56 the rest of the way, though, including a stretch of 1½ quarters, beginning in the second, in which U-M had the ball for 19:12 out of a possible 22:28.
Michigan Wolverines defensive back Mike Sainristil (0) tackles Rutgers Scarlet Knights running back Kyle Monangai (5) during the first half at Michigan Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023.
"At the end of the day, there can't be two smash-mouths and we were the first ones, so we had to go out and dominate up front," linebacker Junior Colson said. "Gotta show them who's boss: We've been here first and they've tried for so many years to take it from us. So that was our mentality going into the game."
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Michigan put together two long drives during the second quarter. The first went nine plays and got into the red zone, but clock mismanagement resulted in a delay of game penalty and a missed 42-yard field goal try. Again, the Wolverines shrugged it off.
U-M forced a three-and-out and then put together an 11-play, 79-yard drive for a touchdown, capped by an 18-yard contested grab by true freshman Semaj Morgan. The career-first TD for the West Bloomfield alumnus came with 1:42 to play in the half .
The Wolverines got the ball back in the third and chewed seven minutes off the clock with a 14-play, 62-yard drive that ended in three points.
Harbaugh said it was a classic "Bo Schembechler" game, then dropped into an impersonation of his former coach to emphasize wanting to run the ball for 200 yards and pass the ball for 200 yards in every game. For the first time in 2023, U-M did that Saturday.
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"Warms the cockles of the heart," Harbaugh said.
Saturday ended with U-M running out the final 6:57 with a 10-play drive. Or, as the team calls it, "smash-mouth."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football holds off Rutgers on Mike Sainristil's epic play
