Monday, October 2, 2023

Michigan's 10 Longest Plays vs. Minnesota

 

Steve Breaston

Michigan has played Minnesota 104 times throughout history and has a 76-25-3 record against the Golden Gophers. They first played in 1892, and the winner of the game after each meeting earns the Little Brown Jug Trophy.

Here are the longest plays for Michigan in the history of the rivalry:

  1. Steve Breaston 95-yard kickoff return TD (2005)
  2. Chris Howard 86-yard TD run (1996)
  3. Gilvanni Johnson 85-yard punt return TD (1985)
  4. Carlos Brown 85-yard TD run (2007)
  5. Darrell Harper 84-yard punt return TD (1959)
  6. Courtney Avery 83-yard fumble return TD (2011)
  7. Karan Higdon 77-yard TD run (2017)
  8. Tom Brady 76-yard TD pass to Tai Streets (1998)
  9. Lowell Perry 75-yard punt return TD (1951)
  10. Steve Smith 75-yard TD run (1983)
  11. Scott Dreisbach 75-yard TD pass to Amani Toomer (1995)

Hit the jump for videos of Breaston and Brown.


9 comments:

  1. Carlos Brown was one fast dude

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  2. Here's an off-topic post about Joe Milton.

    PFF currently has Milton projected as a mid 4th round pick right now (116).
    I think he's more likely to be 6th or 7th but you never know.

    Tired: comparing Milton to McNamara. Wired: comparing Milton to Jake Rudock, who is better than McNamara.

    Career passer rating for Rudock was 134, Milton is at 142.
    Final season in a favorable context for Rudock was 142, Milton is at 139.
    Career completion percentage for Rudock was 62%, Milton is at 60%.
    Final season in a favorable context for Rudock was 64%, Milton is at 63%.
    YPA career for Rudock was 7.3, for Milton it's 8.1.
    Final season YPA in a favorable context for Rudock was 7.8, for Milton it's 7.3.

    Rudock threw way more interceptions, way more frequently, in his career and in his senior year as well. Milton is also a better runner.

    Rudock was a ho hum player, unexceptional, who got drafted anyway because one team liked his potential. Milton is likely to be drafted as well. Because of his arm talent and turnover avoidance he may be selected higher than Rudock. We'll see about that.

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    Replies
    1. But you can't compare Michigan and Tennessee because Harball and Air Raid are fundamentally different? I'm not so sure that holds up.

      JJ's current numbers at Michigan are 79% completion percentage, 10.2 YPA, and passer rating of 190.

      Hendon Hooker's 5th year at Tenn was 70%, 9.5 YPA, and passer rating of 175.

      JJ's numbers will very likely go down as competition gets tougher but there's nothing about the Michigan system that requires it to be a less efficient than Tennessee's. Volume - yes, we'll never match the Tenn yardage through the air with their tempo or more aggressive approach downfield. But with our running game being what it is there's no reason we can't produce equal or better passing efficiency stats as programs like Oklahoma, USC, and Tennessee.

      McCarthy shows that. But if you don't buy that Harbaugh's done it before with Andrew Luck at Stanford.
      Luck produced 71%, 9.0 YPA, and 170 passer rating

      Thunder has made a big thing about system in the past when arguing that Michigan QBs and WRs could not get the honors that programs that put up bigger volume numbers could produce. There's some truth to that. At the same time CFB fans are getting smarter and we have better stats so things like QBR, YPA, and passer rating are in the popular discourse, not just yards and TDs anymore.

      The point here is that talent shows itself in all systems. Calvin Johnson still gets noticed, even in a triple option offense at Georgia Tech. Andrew Luck gets noticed even in a Harball/Shaw offense in Stanford.

      The QBs of the Harbaugh era up to this point have been mediocre at best. Rudock, Speight, Patterson were fine, but they got elevated by Harbaugh. Others like McNamara, Peters, O'Korn are straight up below average college QBs. The only other starter I didn't name is Milton, a controversial figure. I think his time at Michigan showed him to be in the lesser group, but since that time he has elevated to the higher group. His stats back that up, even if our perceptions formulated in 2020 and 2021 do not.

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    2. "Talent shows itself in all systems."

      This is both true and not true at the same time. Milton showed talent at Michigan. But he wasn't good. We all saw the speed, the arm strength, the size, etc.

      It's not a coincidence that Rudock's numbers kinda sucked at Iowa and then got pretty good at Michigan. It's also not a coincidence that Milton's numbers kinda sucked at Michigan and are now solid at Tennessee. Every Iowa QB is better before they get to Iowa (McNamara) or after they leave Iowa (Rudock). Every Tennessee QB under Heupel is better with him than they were elsewhere (Hooker, Milton).

      It should not be a surprise to anyone that a QB's fit in the system makes a difference. If it didn't matter, every school would just send out offers each year to the top 150 quarterbacks in the country and let the chips fall where they may.

      And again, I will say...we all are where we are for a reason. We're the product of our experiences. Milton might still be a sucky QB if he didn't find conflict at Michigan. Joe Burrow might not have won a championship at LSU if he didn't find adversity at OSU. Tom Brady might not have won 7 Super Bowl rings if fighting through the Drew Henson stuff at Michigan didn't happen.

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    3. To be clear - I don't mean physical talent. The "talent" that you need at QB is more mental and skill-based. The ability to read, process, and throw accurately are more important than whatever can be measured at the combine. I think we agree on this.

      Joe showed that talent only briefly at Michigan - early in 2020. Then the wheels came off on the season for the team on both sides of the ball, Joe got hurt, and by the end of the 2020 season he was not good, as you say. Neither was Cade but we'll set that aside. Cade was clearly better against Rutgers and deserved to get the job in a season that needed any glimmer of hope it could find. As for conflict, Cade was a source of conflict in the QB room - per published reports.

      I agree that people are where they are for a reason. At age 20 Milton was recruited by Heupel. At age 22, Rudock got recruited by Harbaugh. At age 21 Brandon Peters was recruited by Lovie Smith. At age 22 McNamara got recruited by Ferentz.

      Trying to project high school outcomes is a lot harder than trying to recruit guys who have graduated from college and played big time football for 3 or 4 years already. The choices these players have and these coaches make are telling.

      Maybe not as telling as the NFL draft position but not too far off, and more importantly that's not relevant to most college QBs. So we have another piece of information of who is in demand and to what level. Nothing is black and white and individual circumstances vary, but Heupel and Harbaugh are on another level offensively than Ferentz and Smith.

      It's interesting that Cade chose Iowa and Iowa chose him. Not Oklahoma State - so desperate at QB they are starting Alan Bowman, not Purdue, not Louisville, not even Indiana. Cade was ranked the 17th best QB in college by On3 and yet he ended up at...Iowa. Milton was ranked the 10th best QB in college 2 years earlier and vastly less proven as a player and he ended up at Tennessee.

      Milton was 1 spot ahead of Tanner Mordecai, McNamara was 13 spots behind him. All 3 are the same age.

      They are where they are for a reason.

      Where the road ends is more important where it begins and at age 23 I don't have to tell you How It Started / How it's Going for Cade and Joe. It's a very different place than most of us thought at the end of 2021.

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    4. My guy posted across four separate threads, all day, arguing against himself ... desperate & attention starved

      - the data shows Edwards is better than ever, despite the data
      - Milton is good & improved, despite his YEAR SIX QBR matching his abismal 2020 performance, and his INTs every bit as ugly as 2020 AND the 2019 spring game when he put the ball in a young & unsuspecting Michael Barret's chest

      Also, going out & competing is not competitive. Coaching is not not competitive ... competitive is arguing behind a keyboard all day, and hoping your favorite players & team play harder

      Holy cookoo man

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    5. Back to insults. Have fun!

      Nobody once said the data shows Edwards is better in 2023 than 2022.
      Who are you arguing with?

      The data does say Milton is better than 2020 overall and far more consistent as well.
      Who are you lying to other than yourself?

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    6. You said Edwards was 'better than ever' ... so who's lying?

      No, it doesn't. You were just arguing about how much better QBR is to asses a QB, and his QBR is still crap. The yards, compl% or whatever can be explained by the coaching staff calling plays as if Nick Sheridan is behind Center

      You know the deal, once the lies start, I'm out

      Go Blue

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    7. Edwards better than ever is an opinion, not a fact JE. I can't back it up with any data or facts, and I've never claimed otherwise. If challenged I'll cop to this --> it's my opinion, man. Players tend to get better not worse in their teens and 20s is the only "evidence" I have. It's counter to basic logic. But not impossible!

      Now contrast with boom/bust opinions unsubstantiated by data... people seem to get worked up about my skepticism.

      I wasn't arguing that QBR was better. That's a lie.

      See ya!

      Delete