Grades for Michigan-Oregon State

Here are the top takeaways from Thursday’s Oregon State-Michigan game, including the highest-graded players for each team:

Michigan Wolverines

— It’s safe to say that Michigan won’t be counting on Jake Ruddock to win them games any time soon. It was a step up in play from his performance against Utah, but their new starter still finished with a -2.9 overall grade.

— Oregon State’s front seven was absolutely no match for Michigan’s offensive line. The 14-play drive in the fourth quarter to cap off the victory was the same power run play over and over again. Three Michigan offensive linemen graded at +2.0 or higher and the offensive line wasn’t responsible for a single pressure all game.

— Chris Wormley is off to a huge start to the season. After grading out as Michigan’s top defender a week ago, he put on an even better performance on Saturday. He collected a sack, hit, and four hurries en route to a +5.4 grade.

Top performers

DE Chris Wormley (+5.4)
RT Erik Magnuson (+5.4)
HB De’Veon Smith (+5.0)
LT Mason Cole (+4.9)
MLB Desmond Morgan (+2.9)

Oregon State Beavers

— The Marcus McMaryion experiment seems ill-advised at this point. The sophomore quarterback managed a -1.5 grade on 10 snaps after a -.8 grade on 11 snaps in Week 1. Freshman Seth Collins may have stalled in the second half, but he created a lot of offense on his own early on and his +1.7 grade reflected that.

— The read and react ability of the Oregon State linebackers was simply dreadful on Saturday. Michigan was running some of the most straight forward run concepts that OSU will see all year and their linebackers were flatfooted at the second level on almost every play. Unsurprisingly that resulted in a lot of negative grades and every single starting linebacker graded negatively.

— The lone bright spot for Oregon State’s run defense was defensive tackle Kyle Peko. He clogged up the interior gaps at every chance he could where the Wolverines averaged only 4.4 yards per carry. Unfortunately, only 13 of Michigan’s 45 runs came between the tackles. Peko finished with a +3.1 run defense grade for his second straight positive game to start the season.

Top performers

C Josh Mitchell (+2.8)
DT Kyle Peko (+2.3)
QB Seth Collins (+1.7)
CB Devin Chappell (+1.2)
DE Titus Failauga (+2.6)