The Michigan football team got a dominating performance from its rushing attack and a physical showing from its defense to improve to 7-1 on the season with a 36-14 win over Purdue.

Heroes from Saturday were defensive tackle Mike Martin, who collected Michigan's first safety since 2003, and running back Fitzgerald Toussaint, who produced the program's best rushing performance by a tailback in two years.

Nick Baumgardner covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2514, by email at nickbaumgardner@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @nickbaumgardner.