Rocky Lombardi Throws 3 TDs as Unranked MSU Upsets No. 13 Michigan
Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
Within the war for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, the Michigan Enlighten Spartans upset the 13th-ranked Michigan Wolverines 27-24 on the Mountainous Home on Saturday.
The Spartans entered their contention sport coming off a season-opening loss to Rutgers last week all over which they committed seven turnovers. Head coach Mel Tucker got his personnel abet heading in the suitable route with a marquee rob that retains the Spartans in the combine for the Mountainous Ten East title.
Coming off an announcement rob last week towards Minnesota, head coach Jim Harbaugh’s personnel would possibly maybe presumably well no longer retain its certain momentum. The Wolverines head into essentially the most sophisticated stretch of their season with a 1-1 account.
Rocky Lombardi had yet another vast sport with 323 yards and three touchdowns. Freshman vast receiver Ricky White torched Michigan’s secondary with 196 yards and one touchdown on eight receptions.
Valuable Sport Stats
- Rocky Lombardi, QB (MSU): 17-of-32, 323 yards, 3 TD
- Ricky White, WR (MSU): 8 receptions, 196 yards, TD
- Connor Heyward, WR (MSU): 2 receptions, 15 yards, 2 TD
- Joe Milton, QB (MICH): 32-of-51, 300 yards; 12 carries, 59 yards
- Blake Corum, RB (MICH): 5 carries, 15 yards, 2 TD
- Giles Jackson, WR (MICH): 7 receptions, 58 yards
Michigan Aloof Trying to fetch Offensive Id
After scoring 49 points last week towards Minnesota, Michigan looked to indulge in found the upright quarterback to suit Harbaugh’s machine.
Joe Milton modified into as soon as an surroundings friendly 15-of-22 for 225 yards by the air and had 52 speeding yards on eight carries in the rob over the Golden Gophers. Saturday didn’t watch noteworthy assorted from a statistical standpoint, and the skills is clearly there for him to turn into a quality quarterback:
Despite the numbers from Milton, the Wolverines offense had eight of their 12 drives terminate in a punt. Of those eight drives, 5 had been 5 performs or fewer.
Just some of the fault for Michigan’s offensive concerns lie on the toes of the coaching workers. On a 3rd-and-4 play from Michigan Enlighten’s 6-yard line, offensive coordinator Josh Gattis referred to as a Wildcat play for Hassan Haskins in location of keeping Milton below heart.
Michigan settled for a field map and a 14-10 deficit in location of doubtlessly tying the sport with a touchdown.
Historical past shows that Harbaugh wants to make exercise of a vitality working sport to raise his offense. Even though the Wolverines finished with 152 yards on the ground, they didn’t indulge in anybody player consume over the sport. Milton led the personnel with 59 yards on 12 carries.
Until Harbaugh and Gattis build their paunchy belief in Milton to bustle the offense without restrictions, the Wolverines will continue to war towards quality rivals.
Mountainous Performs Key Spartans’ Upset Do away with
Proving last week’s grotesque performance modified into as soon as a fluke, Michigan Enlighten rebounded thanks to a chain of vast performs on offense.
Lombardi didn’t indulge in an surroundings friendly passing sport, finishing up finest 53.1 percent of his makes an try. Nevertheless the passes he did total looked to consume up vast chunks of yards.
Michigan’s protection did a factual job to shut down the Spartans speeding attack. They averaged 3.3 yards per strive on 38 carries.
On the finest pressure of the sport with Michigan Enlighten main 20-17 in the fourth quarter, Lombardi led the personnel 92 yards on 11 performs in decrease than 5 minutes. He capped the pressure with a 13-yard touchdown to Connor Heyward.
Lombardi averaged 10.1 yards per strive and 19 yards per completion towards a Michigan protection that nearly all efficient allowed 326 yards of total offense last week towards Minnesota.
Clearly, Lombardi had succor on the out of doors thanks to a star-making performance from White. The correct freshman from Marietta, Georgia, had essentially the most receiving yards by a Spartans wideout towards Michigan since 1999:
Right here’s presupposed to be a rebuilding year for Michigan Enlighten. Tucker is in his first season as head coach after Impress Dantonio’s surprise retirement in February. He’s working with a neighborhood of players largely recruited below the old regime.
Nevertheless the early returns for Tucker and the Spartans all proper now watch very promising for what’s to come. If Lombardi continues to develop vast performs and White establishes himself as a No. 1 receiver, they’ll function off concerns for a quantity of teams in the Mountainous Ten this season.
What’s Subsequent?
Michigan Enlighten will shuttle to Kinnick Stadium for a matchup with Iowa on Nov. 7 at 12 p.m. ET. Michigan will play No. 17 Indiana at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 7.