Blake Corum called it a "smash-mouth kind of game," just like the Wolverines wanted it to be. Greg Schiano and Rutgers thought they could slug it out with Michigan, and they came out swinging with a touchdown on the third play of the game. They got battered the rest of the way.
7-0 Rutgers turned slowly but surely into 31-7 Michigan, which was so stout up front it forced the Scarlet Knights to all but abandon their best asset. They entered Saturday averaging 210 rushing yards per game. They left the Big House with 23 carries for 73 yards. Michigan ran it 40 times for 201 yards -- and added 214 more yards through the air.
Jim Harbaugh spotted his dad, Jack Harbaugh, in the back of the media room after the game and beamed, "That’s the kind of game that Bo Schembechler would’ve been really proud of."
"Grinding meat!" came Jack's reply.
In Harbaugh's return to the sidelines, Michigan played Michigan football. It was stronger, sturdier and flat-out better than the team across from it. The Wolverines keep hardening their physical identity under Harbaugh, who cited Rutgers' rushing stats and praised his defense for building a wall: "That's big-boy football."
"They tried to imitate us," said linebacker Junior Colson, "how our offense is smash-mouth and runs the ball. And our mentality is, you can’t run the ball."
The game was 14-7 at the half, but didn't feel all that close. Michigan had already seized control, starting with a 94-yard drive to tie things up. By the time the teams got to their locker rooms, there was little doubt which one is 18-1 in Big Ten play the last three seasons. Since the start of last season, only one opponent, from any conference, has truly outmuscled Michigan -- and now the Wolverines run a drill in practice as a reminder: Beat Georgia.
On Saturday, they ran it on Rutgers.
"At the end of the day, there can’t be two smash-mouths," said Colson. "We’re the first ones, so we had to go out there and dominate them up front and in the backend. We gotta show ‘em who’s boss, who’s been here first, if they’re gonna try and come in here and take it from us."
"Who’s the bully?" said Corum, who rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns. "They come in thinking they’re the bullies, and we bully bullies. We take pride in that."
Corum wasn't the only one who charged through Rutgers on the ground. The Wolverines' second leading rusher was J.J. McCarthy, who deftly used the run-pass option to pick up 51 yards and a few key first downs with his legs. He also threw for 200-plus yards and a touchdown, bringing any boiling doubts after last week's three-interception game back down to a simmer. (He'll never silence them completely.)
And in fitting fashion, Michigan took over on downs after its defense forced Rutgers off the field with seven minutes to go and ran out the rest of the clock, one handoff after another.
"Grinding some meat," said Harbaugh said, echoing his dad. "That warms the cockles of the heart right there. Bo would’ve loved it, too."