Michigan Football Game Information vs. Iowa – Big Ten Championship Game
• Michigan is appearing its first Big Ten Championship Game since the conference switched to the two-division alignment in 2011.
• U-M has earned its first 11-win season under head coach Jim Harbaugh, who also reached 60 career wins leading the program. The 83 games needed for Harbaugh (60-23) to reach 60 career victories as U-M head coach is in the same territory as Fritz Crisler (79 games) and Lloyd Carr (77 games).
• Through 12 games, the Wolverines rank top-20 nationally in total offense and scoring offense and top-15 in total defense and scoring defense. Only U-M and Alabama are top-20 in total offense and defense. Only U-M, Georgia, and Cincinnati are top-15 in scoring offense and scoring defense.
• The U-M offense is directed by third-year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who was recognized last week as one of 15 semifinalists for the Broyles Award given to the top assistant coach in college football, and first-year co-offensive coordinator/run game coordinator Sherrone Moore, who also leads the offensive line.
• The Wolverines have scored first in 11 of 12 games this season (at Penn State). Over the last three games, the offense is 13-of-15 in the red zone with 12 touchdowns and one field goal, which came on the team’s final possession before the first half ended at Maryland.
• Michigan has registered 59 plays on offense of 20-plus yards (37 passing, 22 rushing), nearly five per game. The offensive unit has produced 10 touchdowns of 50-plus yards and has scored in 38 of 44 quarters of play including 21 of the last 22 quarters.
• Running back Blake Corum leads the team in 20-plus yard plays despite missing two games. Corum has 13 such plays with nine rushing and four via kick return, 16.4 percent of the team total (out of 76 including offense and special teams). His 55-yard run against the Buckeyes was his longest since Week 2 against Washington (67 yards), which remains his career long.
• The Wolverine offense is top-30 in seven categories overall: third down conversion rate (20th), total offense (19th), scoring offense (13th), red zone offense (10th), rushing offense (ninth), sacks allowed (third), and tackles for loss (first).
• Running back Hassan Haskins’s 2021 campaign sees him on the verge of matching the single-season rushing touchdown record at Michigan. He has 18 scores on the ground, one shy of Ron Johnson (1968) and the most by a U-M back since Chris Perry (2003).
• Haskins has also entered the top 20 for single-season and career rushing yards with last weekend’s performance. He has 1,232 rushing yards this season on 244 yards (5.0 per carry, 20th) and 2,333 career yards on 426 carries (5.4 per carry, 19th). He has 150-yard rushing games in three of the last four contests.
• Haskins’ 1,232 rushing yards represent the most in a season since Denard Robinson in 2012 (1,266 yards) and the most by a running back since his position coach Mike Hart, who reached that rushing total or better in three seasons (most recently in his senior season, 2007), including his 2006 season with 1,562 yards (sixth-most single-season all-time).
• Haskins is tied as the No. 2-graded running back in the FBS (91.7, min. 50 carries) by Pro Football Focus College (PFFCollege) and Blake Corum is the No. 6-graded back (90.5). The service credits Haskins with 96 runs resulting in a first down (No. 1 FBS) and both players with 48 missed tackles forced.
• The offense has produced a 1,000-yard rusher in Haskins and has a second rusher in range in Corum (865 yards). Together, they have anchored the nation’s No. 9-rated rushing attack (224.9 yards per game) in part due to just 15 negative rushing yards on 403 carries all season by non-quarterbacks (six from Haskins).
• The offensive line has allowed 24.0 tackles for loss all season (2.18 per game, NCAA No. 3) and only nine sacks (0.75 per game, NCAA best). Andrew Vastardis is the No. 24-ranked run-blocking center (77.2) and Andrew Stueber is the No. 35-ranked pass-blocking tackle (79.3). Collectively, the line is a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award.
• The line continues to protect quarterback Cade McNamara, and McNamara has done his part to avoid pressure. According to PFFCollege, McNamara averages a release time of 2.41 seconds per play, tied-29th fastest among FBS quarterbacks with 100-plus dropbacks, and second-fastest among Big Ten quarterbacks (Aidan O’Connell, Purdue, 2.26 seconds).
• McNamara has touchdowns to nine different pass catchers and a 14:3 touchdown to interception ratio on the season and a 19:3 mark in his career. He is 11-2 as a starter in his career, not including the comeback victory he led at Rutgers in 2020.
• Fourteen (14) different Wolverines have found the end zone on offense this season. Haskins (18) leads the team in touchdowns with Corum (10 rushing, one receiving) second.
• The defense lists top-25 in seven major categories: pass defense (23rd), rushing defense (22nd), third-down percentage allowed (20th), pass efficiency defense (16th), first downs (15th), total defense (14th), scoring defense (eighth).
• It is led by end Aidan Hutchinson, who broke the program’s single-season sack record by reaching 13.0 after a three-sack day against the Buckeyes. Hutchinson is up to 17.5 career sacks (13th all-time) with 28 career starts. Hutchinson recorded 15 pressures against the Buckeyes, the most in a single game since PFF started tracking the stat in 2014.
• Hutchinson is the No. 1-graded defender in all of college football at 93.8.
• The edge duo of end Hutchinson and outside linebacker David Ojabo are the first pair in U-M history to both reach double-digit sacks (10.0-plus each) in the same season. They own the combined single-season sack record (24.0), breaking a tie with Mike Hammerstein (9.0) and Mark Messner (11.0) from the 1985 season after combining for 4.0 against the Buckeyes.
• Ten (10) different players have at least one interception or fumble recovery on defense and Daxton Hill (two interceptions, one fumble recovery) is the only player with at least one of each. Ojabo broke the single-season forced fumbles record earlier this year (five).
• Twenty (20) different players have at least one pass breakup (61 total). That is the highest number of individual contributors to the team PBU total in the past 25 years.
• Kicker and Lou Groza Award finalist Jake Moody is tied-10th nationally with 9.7 points per game, the tied-fifth highest scoring kicker. With 115 total points on the season, Moody’s 2021 season is tied for the fourth-best single-season scoring campaign all-time and he’ll take the No. 2 spot with five more points.
• Moody has 22 made field goals this season, three shy of the single-season record set by Remy Hamilton in 1994. He is also three shy of matching former teammate Quinn Nordin (42) for a top-five career rank.
• Punter Brad Robbins is up to a 45.8-yard average, which would rank No. 2 all-time for a single season at Michigan. His career average (43.9) is currently second all-time, four-tenths of a yard behind former teammate Will Hart (44.3)
• Robbins has yielded 41 punt return yards on 38 punt attempts, pinning 17 punts inside the 20 with 18 forced fair catches. He commands the No. 6 net punt coverage unit in the country, with a net average of 43.68 yards.
• Moody is one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, given to the top place-kicker in collegiate football. Moody is U-M’s second-ever finalist for the award, joining Remy Hamilton in 1994.
