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Quarterback play was a big question mark for Michigan coming into the season. But who needs to throw the ball all over the field when you’re racking up over 300 yards on the ground?
That was the case in Ann Arbor Saturday night. The Wolverines ran the ball against Washington’s defense from start to finish. And when the clock hit zeroes, Jim Harbaugh decided to run it some more.
Michigan piled up the yardage on the ground on Saturday, totaling 343 yards in the run game. Blake Corum led the way for the Wolverines with 171 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. He was the spark early in the game, too, scoring on a 67-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to give Michigan a 10-0 advantage.
Fittingly, it was Corum who scored Michigan’s final touchdown of the game, a punishing 4-yard run to close out the 31-10 victory.
But it wasn’t just Corum who found success on the ground. Hassan Haskins puled up 155 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries in the win. No other running back took more than 1 meaningful carry in the contest.
Cade McNamara wasn’t asked to do much in the game, completing just 7-of-15 passes for 44 yards. Later in the season, he’s going to have to be better in order for Michigan to beat teams like Penn State, Michigan State and Ohio State.
Saturday, his performance was just fine.
Michigan’s defense was also outstanding for a second-consecutive weekend. The Wolverines did surrender 343 yards, but held Washington to 50 rushing yards and didn’t give up a touchdown until early in the fourth quarter.
It looked a lot similar to what we saw last week against Western Michigan.
The Huskies did come to Ann Arbor after a disappointing 13-7 loss to Montana, an FCS foe. It’s hard to know just how good Michigan’s defense — or Washington’s offense — is at this point in the season.
Through two games, though, it’s looked pretty solid.
Michigan found a lot of answers on the ground on Saturday night. Corum and Haskins are more than capable of carrying heavy workloads and being the stars of the offense. Running the ball is key to winning in the B1G.
McNamara has to prove he’s capable of being consistent, too. That’s something we’re still trying to figure out two weeks into the season.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB