With Mullings at the center, Michigan wins battle in the trenches against Ohio State

COLUMBUS — Kalel Mullings felt the contact before he even made it back to the line of scrimmage.

On third-and-6 with 3:26 left in a tie game, the graduate running back carried the fate of the Michigan football team in his hands. So, he bounced off the first mass of tacklers he encountered, kept his footing as more bodies tried to trip him up and raced down the sideline for a 27-yard gain.

“Superhuman from Kalel, especially on that third down being able to shake a guy off and really just want it more,” senior quarterback Davis Warren said. “That’s what it came down to, and he wanted it.”

The Wolverines played their signature brand of smashmouth football and steadily sucked the life out of the second-ranked Buckeyes through 60 minutes. As both teams know all too well, the team that wins the rushing battle tends to win The Game. And Michigan kept that tradition alive and well on Saturday, outgaining Ohio State on the ground 172-77 in a 13-10 win.

The Buckeyes’ rushing defense ranked third in the country entering the game while the Wolverines’ offense —despite some highlight performances from Mullings — came in at 69th. The odds were stacked against Michigan. And as the Wolverines continuously ran straight up the middle for monotonous small gains, they appeared to lack efficiency. But eventually, those 3- and 4-yard gains wore Ohio State down.

“Coach Moore talks about it, that smash mentality,” Warren said. “And that’s discipline and tough and doing your job, not doing too much, not trying to do anything outside of what you know how to do, and just operating to the best of your ability. I’m just really proud of this whole group. I think they did that today. They showed toughness. Everyone that was out there showed toughness, and that’s what these games came down to. And it showed in the final score.”

Earning a career-high 32 carries, Mullings was the workhorse of Michigan’s offense, proving his toughness every time he touched the ball. He kept that late-game drive alive, leading to the Wolverines’ eventual game-winning field goal. And he consistently outmuscled the Buckeyes’ defense with 116 yards and a touchdown.

With Mullings leading the charge on offense, Michigan’s defensive line held down the fort on the other side of the trenches. The front four pounded Ohio State’s injury-riddled offensive line, continuously blowing up run plays.  

“I feel like, personally, up front, they couldn’t hang with us,” senior edge rusher Josaiah Stewart said. “We just took it to them, and we knew eventually, Joel Klatt said it the best — ‘boa constrictor,’ like, they start losing life as we keep being physical, hitting in the mouth, finishing strong.”

Beyond throttling the Buckeyes’ running game, the Wolverines’ defensive line overwhelmed Ohio State quarterback Will Howard. He succumbed to the pressure more and more as the game went on. In the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes managed just 10 yards of total offense on seven plays, five of which were incomplete passes as Howard had lost his rhythm after being worn down by Michigan’s pass rush all game. 

On the other side, the Wolverines found their best rhythm of the game in the fourth quarter. Even though senior running back Donovan Edwards left the game with an injury before halftime, Mullings readily picked up the extra workload with 15 carries in the fourth quarter alone. Slowly and steadily, he pounded the pile. And eventually, he broke through with his chunk play that set up Michigan to win the game — the epitome of the grittiness the Wolverines displayed all game. 

“That’s who we are, so we don’t really need to talk about it,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said of whether he emphasized “outtoughing” Ohio State. “That’s how we’re built. We don’t talk about toughness.”

Whether or not the Wolverines talk about being tough, their ability to play tougher than the Buckeyes on Saturday swung the game in their favor. With Mullings running through the trenches, and Michigan’s defensive line preventing Ohio State from doing the same, the Wolverines won the battle and The Game.

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