Tommy Carr ran for a 9-yard touchdown with 4:24 left on Saturday, October 31, 2026, to lift Michigan to a 28-21 win over Rutgers at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, the Wolverines' first road win of the season and their tenth straight victory in the series. The true freshman quarterback, making just his second career start and his first on the road, accounted for three touchdowns as Michigan survived a late Rutgers comeback in a game it had seemed to control.
Carr finished 22 of 27 passing for 266 yards and one touchdown, and added 54 yards rushing on 12 carries with two second-half rushing touchdowns. Michigan improved to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play, while Rutgers fell to 2-6 and 1-4 in the conference before a crowd of 39,540.
Michigan opened the scoring with 7:23 left in the first quarter on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Carr to JJ Buchanan, capping a 10-play, 92-yard drive that took 5:52. It was Buchanan's team-high fifth receiving touchdown of the season. Michigan scored touchdowns on both of its first two possessions and led 14-13 at halftime, after Rutgers answered with a 32-yard field goal by Dane Pizzaro and an 80-yard touchdown pass from AJ Surace to Jourdin Houston, Rutgers' longest passing score in a Big Ten game since an 80-yard touchdown against Michigan in 2014.
Michigan took control to open the second half, mounting an 11-play, 75-yard drive to take a 21-13 lead on a 15-yard touchdown run by Carr. But Rutgers refused to go away. The Scarlet Knights tied the game 21-21 with 11:43 remaining on a 1-yard touchdown run by Clay Thevenin, set up by a 54-yard run to the Michigan 3-yard line by Antwan Raymond, plus a two-point conversion pass from Surace to Ben Black III.
That set up the winning drive. Michigan went 11 plays and 75 yards over 7:19, with Carr making three massive third-down plays — rolling right to hit Hogan Hansen for 16 yards on a crossing route, rolling left to find Buchanan for 13 on a scramble, and then, on third-and-7 from the 9, keeping the ball himself and outrunning the defence up the middle for the winning score with 4:24 left. Michigan's defence then held on, having not allowed a completed pass in the second half.
Carr's numbers tell only part of the story. The freshman completed 17 of his first 20 passes, then completed his final four on the game-winning drive, when Michigan needed every yard. His 22-of-27 day for 266 yards, with 54 rushing yards on top, came in a second career start in which, according to Michigan's radio broadcast, he was fighting the flu.
The ground game around him was less convincing. Michigan faced a bottom-10 run defence and managed just 3.6 yards per carry, nearly a yard worse than every other Rutgers opponent. Yet the Wolverines still posted 427 total yards — their third-highest total of the season — and 28 points, their second-most in a game. The offence's ability to produce on the decisive drive, after Rutgers had tied the game, mattered more than its inefficiency elsewhere.
Defensively, Michigan held Rutgers to 38 plays and nine first downs, with four tackles for loss, three pass breakups and two sacks. The 80-yard Houston touchdown, on a play where Smith Snowden fell down as Houston ran past him, and a 32-yard Surace completion to Raymond on a wheel route that set up a field goal, were the exceptions in an otherwise controlled performance.
The win arrived at an important moment for Michigan. The Wolverines had lost three of their previous four games and, despite outplaying Rutgers for long stretches, once again made life difficult for themselves with missed field goals, big plays allowed and penalties. A loss to a 2-5 Rutgers team would have deepened the questions around a season that has not matched preseason expectations.
Instead, Michigan left New Jersey with its first road win of the season and a 10-1 all-time record against Rutgers, including five consecutive road wins in the series and ten consecutive wins overall. The Scarlet Knights' lone victory in the series came in New Jersey in 2014, the first-ever meeting between the programmes.
For Rutgers, the defeat continued a difficult season. The Scarlet Knights, now 2-6, showed fight in tying the game late, but could not stop Carr when it mattered most. Surace threw for 123 yards and a touchdown, Raymond ran for 85 yards on 11 carries, and Thevenin added 30 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Rutgers returns to the road to face Wisconsin on November 7.
Michigan's own postgame account centred on Carr's all-around performance, noting that he rushed for both of Michigan's second-half touchdowns — the 15-yard score in the third quarter and the game-winner from nine yards out with 4:24 left. The university's postgame notes also recorded the milestones: the first road win of the season, the tenth straight win in the series, and an offence that produced its third-highest yardage total of the year.
Analysts grading the performance were less generous about the rest of the team, with one Detroit Free Press assessment giving the offence a C-plus and the coaching a D-plus despite Carr's brilliance, and noting that the win likely does little to alter the big picture for these Wolverines. The split verdict captures the game well: a star quarterback performance inside a win that was far harder than it needed to be.
The win matters first because it stops the slide. At 5-3, Michigan remains alive for a respectable finish to a turbulent season; at 5-4 after a loss to Rutgers, the conversation would have been very different. Winning on the road, in a game the Wolverines trailed in spirit if never on the scoreboard after halftime, gives a young team something concrete to build on.
It matters second because of what it reveals about Carr. A true freshman making his first road start, reportedly ill, completing 22 of 27 passes and producing the winning drive himself is the kind of performance that settles a quarterback debate. Michigan's future at the position looks considerably brighter after Piscataway than it did before it.
It matters third as a reminder of how thin the margins are in the Big Ten. Michigan outgained Rutgers, controlled the ball and still needed a perfect final drive to win, because one 80-yard breakdown and one missed opportunity can keep any opponent in a game. The Wolverines will need cleaner football than this against better opponents.
Michigan will look to build on the road win when it returns to action, with Carr now established as the quarterback who can deliver late. The challenge for the coaching staff is to turn a performance that mixed brilliance with sloppiness into something more consistent, particularly in the running game, which managed just 3.6 yards per carry against one of the country's weakest run defences.
Rutgers, meanwhile, heads to Camp Randall Stadium to face Wisconsin on November 7, still searching for a third win in a season that has slipped away. The Scarlet Knights' late comeback showed character, but character without a stop on Michigan's final drive was not enough.
For both teams, Saturday was a measuring stick. Michigan passed it, barely. Rutgers failed it, narrowly. The gap between those two outcomes was one freshman quarterback, on third-and-7, running nine yards into the end zone.
What was the final score? Michigan beat Rutgers 28-21 on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Who won the game for Michigan? Freshman quarterback Tommy Carr, who threw for 266 yards and ran for two touchdowns, including the 9-yard winner with 4:24 left.
How did Rutgers tie the game? Rutgers tied it 21-21 with 11:43 left on a 1-yard touchdown run by Clay Thevenin plus a two-point conversion pass to Ben Black III.
What are the teams' records? Michigan improved to 5-3 (2-3 Big Ten); Rutgers fell to 2-6 (1-4 Big Ten).
What is next for Rutgers? Rutgers travels to face Wisconsin on November 7 at Camp Randall Stadium.
Related coverage: Notre Dame rallies to beat Navy 35-13; Iowa shuts out Wisconsin 30-0 for the Heartland Trophy; Texas Tech beats Arizona 34-26 in top-25 showdown.
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