Michigan football rides relentless defense to 33-17 win over Florida

Detroit Free Press

Michigan's Noah Furbush celebrates his fumble recovery for a TD with Mike McCray, as Khaleke Hudson helps up Florida's C'yontai Lewis in the fourth quarter Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Michigan had a little bit of everything Saturday afternoon in the Lone Star State.

Some really good stuff. Some really bad stuff.

But, ultimately, a season-opening victory.

No. 9 Michigan received a dominant showing from its defense, and overcame offensive hiccups on its way to a 33-17 win over No. 16 Florida on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Michigan (1-0) will have its home opener next Saturday against Cincinnati (noon).

Defensively, Michigan held Florida to 192 yards of total offense. Devin Bush Jr. led the way with seven tackles (three for a loss) and two sacks. As a team, Michigan racked up six sacks and had 11 tackles for a loss. Florida rushed the ball 25 times for just 20 yards and gained just seven first downs.

Michigan, meanwhile, took care of its business on the ground -- rushing for 215 yards on 49 carries. They had plenty of problems early through the air, as starting quarterback Wilton Speight finished 11-for-25 for 181 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions -- both of which were returned for a score.

The Wolverines appeared to have things under control early in the second quarter up 10-3, following a 46-yard touchdown catch by Tarik Black.

But a promising start to the next drive ended in disaster. Speight's pass over the middle bounced off the hands of a leaping Kekoa Crawford and into the arms of Duke Dawson -- who rumbled 48 yards for a touchdown.

The following drive ended with the same result. This time Speight badly over-shot Grant Perry near the sideline, hitting Florida defensive back C.J. Henderson in the chest. Henderson coasted into the end zone from 41 yards out, suddenly making it 17-10 Gators.

Harbaugh then inserted fifth-year senior quarterback John O'Korn for two series' -- one of which resulted in a 55-yard Quinn Nordin field goal. But he ultimately went back to Speight -- who responded by engineering a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive (which included a perfect 28-yard strike to Grant Perry) to open the second half, giving Michigan the lead for good.

Nordin added two more field goals (30 and 50) before Michigan's defense -- a relentless unit all day -- put a cap on things when defensive end Chase Winovich forced a Florida fumble in its own end zone. Noah Furbush recovered the loose ball for a touchdown with 1:37 left.

Michigan's young defensive unit -- featuring new 10 starters -- flew around the field for most of the afternoon.

Nordin, a second-year kicker, became the first player in program history to hit two field goals of 50 yards or more (55 and 50), but he also missed two field goals, finishing 4-for-6.

Contact Nick Baumgardner: nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickBaumgardner.

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