Michigan blows past overmatched Hawaii.
 |
| Melanie Maxwell, The Ann Arbor News |
Hawaii is not a very good football team, and thus, not a great measure of just how good this Michigan squad truly is. In what amounted to a glorified scrimmage, Michigan put their foot on the gas pedal and never let up...both offensively and defensively.
After his first pass was intercepted, Wilton Speight turned things around, going 10 of 13 for 145 yards, 3 touchdowns. His day was done early in the 2nd half as John O'Korn, Shane Morris and Alex Malzone took snaps to finish off the game. Really, Michigan didn't have the ball for very long...most of their scoring drives taking less than 3 minutes and only taking a handful of plays. Michigan had a great day balancing the running and passing game.
Michigan also never punted. I don't remember that ever happening before.
Almost every player that dressed saw the field...a lot of freshman redshirts got burned today...which we knew would happen. The MVP of the game had to be true-freshman running back Chris Evans who had 2 touchdowns and 112 yards rushing on only 8 carries. We had heard talk of him having a great fall camp and today only added to that hype. An improved Ty Isaac looked solid, as did Karan Higdon and Eddie McDoom. De'Veon Smith saw limited action in the first half after leaving the game with an injury.
Defensively, Michigan had themselves a day.
New defensive coordinator Don Brown's blitz-heavy scheme was apparent from the start. Hawaii was never able to settle into an offensive gameplan.
Hawaii finished the first half with -16 rushing yards and only 72 yards of total offense. Their final drive of the half was the only time they really even threatened to score, getting all the way down to first and goal from inside the 5...only to lose yards on the two ensuing plays. A 10-second run-off following an intentional grounding call ended the half before they could attempt a field goal.
The defensive line lived up to expectations. Hawaii's running game, which they're sort of known for, was non-existent today, gaining only 81 yards...all of which came in 2nd half garbage time. Linebackers Mike McCray, Jabrill Peppers and Ben Gedeon led Michigan in tackles. Defensive backs Channing Stribling and Delano Hill both notched pick-6's today.
On the injury front, we'll have to see what happened to Taco Charlton. Word is it was his left ankle. Jourdan Lewis dressed but did not play today...which was as a precaution I'm told. And we'll probably have to wait to see what happened to De'Veon Smith.
Tougher tests await this Michigan squad, but much can be celebrated with a convincing throttling of a vastly inferior opponent.
No comments
Post a Comment