Michigan Wolverines

Michigan Football vs Wisconsin: Game Balls

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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For the first time this season, Michigan football was pushed to the brink, thanks to a strong effort by Wisconsin, but in the end, the Wolverines prevailed. Here are the game balls.

Say what you will about the Big Ten, but everyone has to at least kind of love the 14-7 victory for Michigan football over Wisconsin, in a knock-down-drag-out game that can cause heart palpitations in the final minutes.

Forty six yards was the difference between a quality win over a top ten opponent and a sloppy home loss in Ann Arbor today for the Michigan football team.

After a bad day against a good Wisconsin defense, Wilton Speight finally found a streaking Amarah Darboh down the sideline to take a 14-7 lead that the defense wouldn’t relinquish. It was the type of play that Michigan made a habit of allowing in close games under late-stage Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriguez, and Brady Hoke; the script was flipped today.

With its performance today, the defense might have proven that with one or two plays like that from the offense, Michigan football can beat anyone in the country. Just get them 14 points. Wisconsin doesn’t have the offensive firepower of an Ohio State or an Alabama, but they’re still a top ten team that has played some really good defenses.

Michigan ate their lunch today.

The Badgers amassed 159 total yards, turned the ball over three times, and only were on the field for twenty five minutes. The defense held up the offense all game, and even though there were some bright spots on offense, the game balls go to Jourdan Lewis and company today.

Jourdan Lewis

Lewis had two pass breakups to go along with a handful of open field tackles (four solo), including one on Robert Wheelwright that forced a punt on a pivotal drive in the fourth quarter. The best compliment you can pay Lewis at this point is just “he was his usual self” because he’s always awesome.

Dude lined up closer to the line of scrimmage than most of the receivers he was matched up against, he made tackles in the open field, he blitzed off the edge effectively, and even played some safety. Don Brown’s defense makes it a little more difficult to actually pinpoint positions, but Lewis played more centerfield than I’ve ever seen him play today.

Still, he spent most of his time at corner, shutting down his half of the field and allowing Brown to draw up all kinds of blitzes to throw at redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook. The line is full of terrifying monsters that rattled the Wisconsin quarterback to the point where he was flinching seconds before the rush actually got to him. The linebackers played a solid game and contained tight end Troy Fumagalli. Lewis’ fellow defensive backs made some great plays. Still, the day belonged to Lewis, mainly because of this:

Add “finish games in style” to the list of things Lewis is good at. Now, Lewis isn’t Charles Woodson, but that looks a hell of a lot like the sideline pick Woodson grabbed against Sparty in 1997.

And for good measure, here’s the man himself:

Yup.

Ryan Glasgow

It was difficult again this week to single out just one defensive lineman, but Glasgow stood ever-so-slightly out, especially in the first half. It was clear that the Wisconsin offensive line wore down in the second half, allowing Michigan to get to Hornibrook with just four rushers consistently. The first frame was a little bit more even. The big Wisconsin offensive line did a pretty good job around the edges despite blitzes from the secondary and the defensive ends’ best efforts, but Glasgow was able to penetrate consistently.

He finished with half a sack, five tackles, and two solo takedowns, which is pretty impressive for an interior lineman. The Badgers’ line is young but bigger and more athletic than any Michigan has faced this year, and Glasgow still looked bigger and stronger than just about everyone else on the line; his brother was with it:

He also gets bonus points for hiking his jersey up just enough for fans to get a peek of his hairy gut, which is an underrated look for chunky midwestern dudes. Glasgows are terrifying.

Channing Stribling

Strib has had his ups and downs so far this year, and today was unquestionably an up. He’s definitely settling in as the number two corner after getting moved around during Jourdan Lewis’ absence. He played more aggressively today than he has so far this season and it paid off in a big way. To go along with two huge interceptions, he also had two pass breakups and two solo tackles.

He got a little lucky on a deep out in the second half where he overplayed the inside and slipped while trying to adjust, but other than that I can’t recall him leaving a receiver open. He got beat by half a step by Wheelwright on the first drive, but other than that, every time his name was called it was because he made a play.

Hornibrook sailed a pass right to him for his first pick, but Stribling made a great play on his second, undercutting an anticipation out route at the sideline. Teams are going to attack him more and more moving forward. If he plays the way he did today, this defense will be absolutely unfair.

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