Michigan Football: Winners and Losers From Wolverines' Win vs. San Diego State

Michigan looked extremely impressive in their win over San Diego State, as they cruised to a 28-7 victory.

You could argue that Michigan played their most complete game of the year, as they looked solid in almost all facets of the game.

A lot of positives can be taken out of this win, and here's a look at the top winners from Saturday, along with the top loser.

Winner: The Michigan Defense

You can't say enough about the way Michigan's defense played on Saturday.

The "analysts" from ESPN were saying all week how Ronnie Hillman was going to run all over them and how Ryan Lindley would have no problem throwing the ball.

Well, the defense kept Hillman in check somewhat, as he rushed for 109 yards (which is much less than what they were predicting).

Lindley, on the other hand, looked awful. He didn't even complete 50 percent of his passes, as he went 23-of-48.

The defensive line was constantly getting pressure on him, forcing bad throws.

Speaking of the defensive line, Mike Martin finally began breaking through, and Craig Roh stepped up in a big way. 

Roh had a huge tackle for loss on San Diego State's first 3rd down of the game, and then later forced a fumble as he sacked the quarterback.

Ryan Van Bergen also forced a huge fumble as San Diego State was about to score.

You can't forget about Jake Ryan, either, as he had both fumble recoveries.

Not only did the veterans play well, but some young players did also.  Troy Woolfolk left with an injury, and Blake Countess stepped in and did a marvelous job.  He had the coaches raving about him after the game.

Winner: Michigan's Running Game

Michigan's running game absolutely tore up the San Diego State defense, as they rushed for 320 yards.

Obviously, Denard had a great game, as he rushed for 200, but the backs did an acceptable job as well.

Fitzgerald Toussaint looked good, as he ran for 67 yards on only 13 carries.

Vincent Smith looked decent as well, as he had a few tough runs, including a 32-yard touchdown run.

What's even more impressive about the way Michigan ran the ball is that it was pretty obvious that San Diego State was not going to let Denard beat them with his legs, as they constantly brought extra players up near the line of scrimmage.

The only negative about Michigan's running attack were the fumbles. Vincent Smith fumbled once, and so did Stephen Hopkins.

Hopkins fumbled on his first carry since his infamous goal line fumble against Notre Dame.

This obviously isn't acceptable, and it is likely that we won't be seeing much of him over the next few weeks.

Regardless, though, you have to be pretty happy with the way Michigan ran the ball.

Biggest Winner: Brady Hoke

This game was obviously extremely emotional for Brady Hoke.

Even with all the distractions that the media was talking about surrounding this game, Hoke kept his team focused as they went on to win fairly easy.

Nobody was calling for an easy Michigan victory in this one. Everyone said that the emotions alone would keep San Diego State in this game.

However, they didn't, and even though Hoke knew everybody personally for San Diego State, it still had to feel good to beat them.

Biggest Loser: Kyle Turley

Kyle Turley should have just kept his mouth shut before this one.

Apparently, the former Aztec player had a problem with Brady Hoke leaving, and let everyone know about it.

He has even been put on record as saying that he hopes Brady Hoke loses every game he coaches at Michigan.

Turley obviously called for San Diego State to win this one and was spotted down near the field before the game started, but was nowhere to be found at the end.