Okay, first of all Michigan won the game. Take a deep breath...or a shot of whisky...and just let that sink in.
At times...like that horrible 5 minute stretch in the second quarter, yes it was ugly...very ugly. But in the second half, when it mattered most Michigan responded. Regardless of what the box score tells us, this Michigan team is still very inconsistent. Maybe it's a product of playing a bad team...maybe a little Notre Dame hangover...poor coaching...poor preparation...maybe its a combination of everything.
Or maybe football is just a weird sport sometimes and things don't always go the way you want. When you have a 2nd quarter like Michigan did, its easy to second guess everything and everyone.
After Miami scored to make the game a 10-10 tie, Michigan responded by scoring 24 unanswered points. Yeah, Michigan was a 30+ point favorite...and for most of the game, they played like it. I guess I chose to focus on the positive here, but Michigan did what they were supposed to do to a team like Miami (not that Miami).
Either way, what it all comes down to is Michigan won the game by 24 points and dominated the game statistically. In fact, they looked pretty good.
The offensive line looked good. Derrick Green looked really good. Gardner (aside from the second quarter hiccup) played a solid game. Defensively, they did what you'd expect playing a terrible MAC team. The only points given up were the 10 points off turnovers deep in their own side of the field. Other than that, Miami never was able to move the ball with any great success. They couldn't run the ball at all and QB Andrew Hendrix spent much of the game running for his life.
Injury-wise, Michigan has some banged up players. Devin Funchess didn't play. Jarrod Wilson, Desmond Morgan and Ray Taylor also didn't dress. Jabrill Peppers played more as they game went on. No clue what the status of Funchess is. Hopefully we'll see #1 back best week, because I think we'll need him.
So, Michigan notches another win and finally washes away the Notre Dame aftertaste. We'll have more to say about this win soon, but for now...Go Blue!
Related MBN Clicks:
• Miami (NTM) Pregame Photos
Good running by Derrick Green. We need to clean up the turnovers. If we can have balance with our run and pass game, things could look up for Michigan. We need to play tighter on pass defense.
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