Dave Brandon spent much of his summer defending both Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez and the program he is determined to turn around following two disappointing seasons.

The Michigan athletic director continued his defense Saturday night, this time armed with a 30-10 Wolverines victory over Connecticut in the highly-anticipated rededication game at Michigan Stadium.

Brandon had a hunch things could be different after watching the Wolverines practice during the summer. Although Saturday's convincing victory is only one game out of what still has the potential to be an adventurous season, it was enough to show Brandon that things could be moving in the right direction.

"They've got a chip on their shoulder and they've got some things to prove and hopefully, today was the start of something good," Brandon said. "We've won one really big game -- our home opener -- but we've got a lot of games to play and we've got a big game next week (at Notre Dame) and we'll see how it goes.

"But I love the start."

Brandon, who played for Michigan under Bo Schembechler, said he knows all the positives as he saw in Saturday's won't silence all of Rodriguez's critics. But after a second straight season began with a win, Brandon won't allow negativity to get in the way of what he believes the Wolverines are capable of this season.

"There's always going to be people out there throwing stones at somebody," Brandon said. "All I know is that this team came out to start the new season and I think they had a great attitude. They've got great senior leadership, they're good kids, the coaches have worked really hard and we're going to let them enjoy it because they deserve it."

Short-lived debut Carvin Johnson’s debut at the hybrid linebacker-safety position was much shorter than he would have liked. But it wasn’t his fault.

With 17 seconds remaining in the first half, Connecticut scored its only touchdown of the game. On the play, Johnson crumpled to the Michigan Stadium turf. The diagnosis is a sprained left MCL, he said after the game, leaning on crutches with a brace on his left leg.

"I felt it," Johnson said. "I felt it. I’ll be all right, though."

Johnson said they didn’t take X-rays of the knee and that he didn’t anticipate needing surgery. As for a potential return, Johnson didn’t know that, either. The injury ended what had been a decent day for the Metarie, La., native. He had made two tackles and, perhaps more importantly, held his own in a secondary that entered Saturday with a lot of questions.

"It was exciting," Johnson said. "I can say that. Nerves the first play but after that it was football. I was relaxed after that, like I had been there before."

Perhaps more overwhelming for him was that he won the job altogether. When he signed with Michigan, he said his coaches told him he’d have a shot to play. That he actually did, that was unexpected.

"I put in the work to get that spot so I wasn’t surprised ... they told me when I came in I could get a chance to play," Johnson said. "But I was overwhelmed. It was big."

Big House draws biggest crowd Saturday's Michigan Stadium rededication game drew a record crowd of 113,090 -- the largest ever to witness a football game, college or pro, anywhere in the world.

The turnout broke the previous Michigan Stadium record of 112,118 set in 2003 for the 100th meeting of Michigan and Ohio State. The Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers drew 112,376 in Mexico City for an NFL preseason game in 1994.

Saturday's record crowd at Michigan Stadium also produced a new level of noise. Brandon said over the summer that due to the nature of the renovations, the stadium could be at least 30 percent louder than in the past.

Connecticut coach Randy Edsall was a believer.

"It was loud," he said. "I know this, when people told me that it's not loud (at Michigan), I don't know what they were saying. Maybe with the new additions they put on there, it kept it in there. But I thought it was pretty loud."

Familiar faces Among the Michigan football alumni to return for Saturday's game were former running back Mike Hart, wide receivers Braylon Edwards and Greg Mathews and defensive tackle LaMarr Woodley, who were honored in the first quarter as honorary game captains.

Fifth-year senior right tackle Perry Dorrestein and fifth-year senior defensive tackle Greg Banks served as game captains. Michigan players elected Mark Moundros and Stephen Schilling as season-long captains.

Extra points Michigan is now 108-20-3 all time in season openers. ... Seven Michigan players, including Cam Gordon, Brendan Gibbons, Will Hagerup, Carvin Johnson, Denard Robinson and John McColgan made their first career starts. ... Michigan had four scoring drives of more than 70 yards -- marching 96, 77, 74 and 89 yards to put points on the board.

AnnArbor.com sports reporter Michael Rothstein contributed to this report. Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.