KNOW THY RIVAL – Ohio State and Michigan cruise into week 6!

Miyan Williams Runs into The Record Books – Buckeyes top Rutgers 49-10

By Garrick Pitt

The Ohio State Buckeyes continued to add to the win column with another dominating performance against their conference opponents. This time it was the Scarlet Knights who were on the receiving end. The Buckeyes took their first lead late in the first quarter and never looked back, scoring 14 points in each of the first three quarters, including a Miyan Williams touchdown in the fourth, his fifth of the day, to cruise to a convincing 49-10 win. 

 

Williams Running Wild

Miyan Williams had himself a record setting day on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes running back stepped up in the absence of TreVeyon Henderson and ran for five touchdowns, tying the Ohio State record. He finished the day with 21 carries, 189 yards and five scores, which accounted for 71% of the Buckeyes points for the day. 

The Buckeyes offense is first in the Big Ten in average yards per game with 529.6 while scoring an average of 48.8 points per game. Miyan is a major contributing factor on why the Buckeyes are dominating so far this season. 

He currently leads the team in attempts, rushing yards, and touchdowns and is currently 2nd in the country for yards per carry with 7.77 and tied for 4th in rushing touchdowns with 8. 

Miyan Williams’ record tying fifth touchdown run

Miyan Williams. Program record.pic.twitter.com/tEh5TfXyPq

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 1, 2022

 

 

Running Backs coach Tony Alford on what Miyan brings to the program

"He's an Ohio kid"

Coach Tony Alford on Miyan Williams' recruitment and what he brings to @OhioStateFB 🎤#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/DfrTWCZSlj

— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) October 4, 2022

 

Defensive Dominance

All of the attention was on Miyan Williams Saturday, and rightfully so, but the Buckeyes’ defense put on a dominant performance to complement their offensive counterpart. Rutgers was held to a total of 187 yards, a Buckeyes low for the season, and prevented the Scarlet Knights from converting on 4th down twice. 

Steele Chambers finished the game with 11 total tackles and one interception to lead the way for the Buckeyes defense. Tommy Eichenberg contributed nine total tackles while Ryan Turner recorded the single sack of the game. 

Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles having fun with Steele Chambers after his interception

#OhioState defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said he joked with Steele Chambers after his interception.

"I did kind of bust on Steele after the game. I said, 'I thought you were a running back? No wonder they moved you to linebacker.'" pic.twitter.com/dGKZm4Nqdn

— Lantern Sports (@LanternSports) October 4, 2022

 

Michigan flexes their muscle with a win over Iowa

Last Saturday, Michigan went into Kinnick stadium knowing that five of the last six top 5 teams in the country lost when they went to Iowa City for a tussle with the Hawkeyes! So embracing the pink walls of the visitor’s clubhouse by coming out with pink towels, the men from Ann Arbor defeated Iowa, 27-14. Michigan sits at 5-0 and tied with their rival, Ohio State, for first in the East division for the Big Ten.

 

Spreading the love…and the ball around!

JJ McCarthy was 18/24 for 155 yards and a TD. Blake Corum raced for 133 yards on 29 carries and tallied a TD. It was nice to see Donovan Edwards (5/29 yards) and Ronnie Bell (2/26 yds 1 TD) get some touches in the run game.

Seven different receivers had at least one catch with TE Luke Schoonmaker again a top target for JJ. 

 

Getting Defensive!

4 straight plays of pure domination by our d-line#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/pgWEIijzU5

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) October 6, 2022

 

 

Defensively this was a good game against what is usually a tough Iowa offensive line. Mike Morris, the senior from Florida, had a pair of sacks. Mason Graham had a sack and Eyabi Anoma and Taylor Upshaw teamed up to sack Iowa’s Spencer Petras. No turnovers for the Blue defense, but even Harbaugh expressed his pleasure with the DL:

 

Just there was a lot of extra effort there. Both Eyabi and Mike, Jaylen Harrell, doing a really good job on the edge. But Mazi Smith and Kris Jenkins, inside, were doing a tremendous job forcing things to the outside. And getting the pressure up the middle that allowed those edges to come through at the end. They probably won’t show up in the statline.

 

He was concerned with giving up certain passing routes late in the game, but even Harbaugh appreciates games where you have things to still work on.

 

And then we gave [up] some inside breaking routes. And that’s an area we can look to improve on. Hit us on an out breaking route, a sail route and then came back with a dig route and had us on our heels there…And heck, I think we can get better, too.

 

Among defenders with at least 30 pass rush snaps, Mike Morris leads the Big Ten and ranks 2nd in the country in PFFCollege's PRP (pass rush productivity). PFF grades him with a 43.3 percent win rate in pass rush situations.〽️#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/Ob27GfECFM

— The Winged Helmet (@TWH_Chris) October 5, 2022

 

Next Man Up!

 

Injuries are starting to pile up for the Wolverines. Roman Wilson was injured in the Iowa game after he appeared to be knocked unconscious. TE Erick All has been sidelined now for two straight games. OLman Karsen Barnhart has been out since week one but did return last week. Linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green has been injured since before the season began with no clear idea when he will return this year.

 

But the worst injury happened to the most important special teams players, Caden Kolesar and William Wagner. Kolesar, the senior from Cleveland, tore his ACL and is out for the rest of the season. Wagner, the long-snapper, was injured on the same play as Caden. This was first reported by the Detroit News.

 

Wagner has been the long-snapper since 2020. Kolesar is the heart and soul of this unit. Expect some growing pains as the coaches try to find replacements.

 

JJ Learning Curve

This is a straight up NFL throw by JJ McCarthy. Wow! #GoBlue #iowafootball pic.twitter.com/3kg3Lw1TX0

— DNP Sports Show (@DNPSportsShow) October 1, 2022

JJ McCarthy’s progression as leader of this team will dictate the success of the Maize and Blue. He is learning this position with perhaps the greatest Michigan quarterback ever in Jim Harbaugh. He has led the Wolverine offense to a #4 ranking in total offensive touchdowns at 27. But with this weekend’s game in Bloomington looming, here’s why McCarthy might be in line for his marquee game as a starter spelled out well by Derick Hutchinson of clickondetroit.com.

 

1. Indiana is ranked 118th in the country in passing yards allowed per game. 
2. Indiana plays in the 2nd fastest offense in the country. Fast offense means more plays and more opportunities for the Michigan offense!
3. Three of the five QBs that played Indiana had their best statistical day. 
4. JJ had a solid game against the BEST defense against the pass in the country with Iowa. Imagine what can happen when he faces one of the worst!

 

And Harbaugh had this nugget to say about his starting sophomore QB from Illinois:

 

"He’s better than me — but I mean, he reminds me of a young Jimmy Harbaugh."

J.J. McCarthy reminds Jim Harbaugh of himself..

STORY: https://t.co/IqHXL2UrHD pic.twitter.com/jIBOPb7bqd

— Maize n Brew (@MaizenBrew) October 1, 2022

Next Game!

Saturday, Noon, in Bloomington, Indiana. The game will feature the Fox Big Noon Kickoff team of  Rob Stone, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn and Urban Meyer.

 

Michigan leads the all-time series against the Hoosiers, 60-10. The only loss recently the Wolverines had in Memorial Stadium was back in the pandemic 2020 season. And most of us Maize and Blue fans like to pretend that season never happened!