The Original Michigan Monday: Takes a Early Look At Rutgers

I know lots of Blogs do a Michigan Monday post, but I wanted to remind all the loyal BHB readers where they got it first!  😀

The non-conference season is over and its time to focus on a Big Ten Championship that has alluded Michigan Football for 17 years.  Rutgers comes to town and then Michigan goes on the road against Wisconsin and Nebraska. 

Rutgers and MSU have a similar strategy, they are trying to rebuild their program with new head coaches through the transfer portal as they improve recruiting.  Rutgers in the 2022 recruiting class is ranked 19 and MSU is 20th.    Both teams are 3-0 and it seems the strategy is working.  

Rutgers has wins over Temple, Syracuse, and Delaware this year.   The only close game was a 17-7 win over the Orangemen.  That game was a bit of a strange one as nobody scored in the first half and a majority of the scoring happened in the 3rd quarter.  Syracuse also had 3 turnovers and Rutgers didn't have any.  The Big Ten scheduler didn't do Rutgers any favors to start the Big Ten season, as they visit Michigan, host Ohio State and MSU in consecutive games. 

Rutgers QB is Noah Vedral who is a transfer from UCF and Nebraska and now on is his 3rd team.  This season he has completed 37 passes at a 67% rate, with 2 TD's and no picks.  

Rushing is ranked 80th with 144 yards per 

Passing is ranked 90th at 206 yards per 

Defense is tied with Michigan giving up 11 points per game which ranks 8th in the country. 

Offense scores 41 per and ranks 40th in the country.    Michigan is favored by 19, which seems on the high side.  3:30 Kick on ABC

• Sadly it seems Brandon Graham's season is over with an Achilles injury. 

• Ryan Day is having trouble finding a good DC, as he pushed Greg Mattison into retirement last season and now has taken play calling away from current DC Coombs. 

• Interesting game this weekend with ND playing Wisconsin in Chicago.  ND is playing Cincinnati in 2 weeks in the Brian Kelly Bowl. 

• Michigan is now ranked #19 in the AP 

• MSU had one of the nice wins this weekend over Miami. 

• Is the shine off Indiana and Tom Allen now?  Did he take a decent team to a good place in a COVID year but now is back to being IU?  I really thought both Nebraska and IU had a chance to make statements about their programs on Saturday and missed the opportunity.  

• Hopefully Michigan's injury report is clean when Jimmy takes the mike in a couple of hours.