The fourth ranked Michigan Wolverines head to their own personal nightmare venue as they travel to Iowa to take on the 3-1 Hawkeyes on Saturday afternoon. Michigan has lost four straight games in Iowa dating back to 2009. The Hawkeyes are coming off a 27-10 win over Rutgers and are at the start of a grueling schedule in which they host the Wolverines and then travel to Columbus, OH to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in two weeks. The opening kick is scheduled for 12:00pm EST.
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Once again, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is staring down a foe that has haunted the Wolverines in recent history and looking to turn his team's fortunes. Harbaugh is 0-1 in his brief tenure as Michigan's head coach but the Wolverines have lost four-straight in Iowa since 2009 heading into Saturday's showdown. The #4 Wolverines tuned up for Saturday's battle with a 34-27 home win over Maryland last Saturday to kick off their Big 10 schedule.
“I think he (Michigan QB JJ McCarthy) did a lot of great things. Game on the line throws to Roman (Wilson), to Ronnie Bell, just to name a couple. Thought he worked the ball to the tight end (Luke) Schoonmaker. He had a great game, seven catches, career high for him. And then it just kind of settled in, played good, fundamental football.” Harbaugh said in his postgame press conference about his team's performance against Maryland.
McCarthy was a solid 18-of-26 passing for 220 yards and two touchdowns in the win. He found tight end Luke Schoonmaker for one score and WR Wilson for another. The story of the day, however, was the Wolverines' ground game. RB Blake Corum had career-highs in both carries and yards with 30 rushes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. The red-hot Corum has now established his own single game records in yards and carries and a school-record with five touchdowns in a single game all in the span of two weeks. Michigan finished the game with 463 yards of total offense.
On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan held the Terrapins to 397 total yards but struggled to contain them on third and fourth down conversions. Maryland was 6-for-14 on third downs and a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth down. The Wolverines did have five tackles for loss on the day, three sacks and picked off two passes in the tight victory.
Hitting the road for the first time this season#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/6UXRtLkIEF
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) September 26, 2022
So, here we are, Harbaugh is once again in a position to exercise the Wolverines' demons and keep the team's playoff hopes on track. By the numbers, Michigan has been excellent on both sides of the ball thus far. The Wolverines rank #2 in scoring offense thus far and #14 it total offense. Michigan's ground attack is ranked 9th in the country and it passing offense is ranked 54th. On the defensive side of the ball, the Wolverines are ranked 6th in scoring defense and 4th in total defense. Michigan is ranked 28th against the run and 5th against the pass. In the turnover department, the Wolverines are ranked 20th in turnover differential.