Michigan 17, Northwestern 3
The story of the first half was Michigan’s awesome punting display. Northwestern certainly aided the cause by not trying to actually field punts. As a result Zoltan Mesko put three punts inside the 20 yard line, with two of them actually being downed inside the 10. In the second half he also had another punt fair caught at the 10 yard line. This might have been one of Michigan’s finest displays of punting the football in a long, long time.
Michigan’s defense was the story for the second half. They picked up where they left off in the first half, causing turnovers, shutting down the run and sacking the quarterback. Northwestern’s first two drives of the game ended with turnovers. The first drive ended when LaMarr Woodley swooped in from CJ Bacher’s blind side, stripped the ball and recovered the fumble. Their next drive also ended with a turnover when Tyrell Sutton fumbled. Leon Hall recovered that fumble.
On Northwestern’s second series of the 3rd quarter Leon Hall intercepted a pass and returned it 10 yards to the Wildcat 36 yard line. Willis Barringer and David Harris would also intercept passes in the second half. In total the Wolverine defense forced 5 turnovers. The defense had 3 sacks, 2 of which were credited to Woodley, and held Northwestern to -13 yards rushing.
Mike Hart carried the offense, rushing for 95 yards and picking up 23 receiving yards. After he scored Michigan’s second touchdown he had accounted for just under 60% of Michigan’s total offensive yardage (118 of Michigan’s 201 yards). Adrian Arrington caught a 16 yard touchdown pass from Chad Henne to put Michigan up 7-0 on their first drive. Chad Henne was hamstrung in the first half by dropped passes. He had at least two passes that would have likely resulted in first downs dropped, which killed drives.
In the second half the passing game was slightly more effective. Greg Matthews, Carson Butler and Steve Breaston all caught passes which helped take some of the pressure off the running game. Henne finished the day 10-20 for 116 yards and 1 touchdown. Kevin Grady and Brandon Minor both carried the football but were marginally effective, however Jerome Jackson was solid and as a result received the lion’s share of carries in the 4th quarter.
Outside of the punt game special teams play was forgettable. Steve Breaston fumbled a punt return that was recovered by Northwestern and Garrett Rivas had a field goal attempt blocked. Fortunately neither miscue cost the team. Both players are amongst the best players in team history at their given positions (Breaston in kickoff and punt returns, Rivas in total points and field goal percentage), so in all likelihood it was probably due to the poor weather conditions.
So in short it was only a great game for those who like punting and defense. There was a funny scene on the sideline after Willis Barringer intercepted a pass in the Michigan end zone. Barringer was falling backwards and flailed at the pass before finally securing the interception. Shortly after the play there was a shot on the sideline of Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English cracking on Barringer for his form. After laughing English put his arm around Barringer to let him know it was all in fun. It was just that kind of game for the Michigan defense.
Adrian Arrington Carson Butler Chad Henne David Harris Garett Rivas Greg Matthews Jerome Jackson LaMarr Woodley Leon Hall Michigan Football Mike Hart Northwestern Steve Breaston Willis Barringer Zoltan MeskoNo Comments
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment