Recent Play Details

Michigan has won seven-straight in this series, with six of those seven wins coming by 20+ points. The lone exception was last year's game where the Terps fell 34-27 in Ann Arbor. Jim Harbaugh wasn't on the sidelines, but his presence was certainly felt in Happy Valley last week. Discarding a pass play that was negated because of a penalty, the Wolverines ran the ball 32-straight times against the Nittany Lions in last week's win. Wolverines' quarterback JJ McCarthy did not attempt a single pass in the second half, which probably wasn't great for his Heisman campaign but it certainly sent a message to the rest of the Big Ten. The scheduling spot is obvious: This trip to Maryland is sandwiched between Michigan's games against Penn State and Ohio State. Obviously, that's not ideal. But the Terps are running out of steam. Maryland is 1-4 in its last five games, and they needed five turnovers to earn a three-point win over Nebraska last week. That's not encouraging. Michigan's offense is running at the No. 132 pace this season with only Air Force running fewer plays per minute than the the Wolverines. Michigan's use of McCarthy's legs is not a secret: In tighter, closer games he has the green light to scamper. When Michigan is comfortably ahead, they keep him out of harm's way. McCarthy ran more last week at Penn State than he had in the previous two games (Purdue and Michigan State) combined. Remember at the beginning of the season when the Wolverines weren't covering point spreads? McCarthy had four total rushing attempts against East Carolina and UNLV (he had eight last week at Penn State). When you discourage McCarthy's rushing, you take away a nice piece of the Wolverines' offense. He needs to save those legs for next week.