Michigan Football was not the same team as last week

Michigan football beat Cincinnati 36-14, but the game was closer than the score and the Wolverines were not as impressive as they were a week ago.

Where was the Michigan football team that showed up last week and dominated the Florida Gators 33-17?

Related Story: Is a Wolverine better than a Bearcat?

In their first home game of the season, many of the players in front of more than 100,000 fans for the first time in their careers, the Wolverines managed only a 36-14 win, not even close to the four-touchdown margin of victory most had expected.

Take away the two touchdowns scored by the Michigan defense, one late in the fourth quarter, and this game would have been much closer. The outcome was never really in doubt, but it seemed uncomfortably close just the same.

This was not the dominating performance most fans were hoping for against a lessor opponent like Cincinnati, which barely managed a victory last week against Austin Peay, a team that struggles to stay competitive in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Bearcats must have left the field Saturday afternoon feeling as though they had achieved at least a moral victory.

Cincinnati running back Mike Boone made headlines early in the week by predicting that the Bearcats would “shock the world” in Ann Arbor. The truth is, they came uncomfortably close to making that prediction come true.

The defense had a few bright moments, including two pick six’s, one by Tyree Kinnel and the other by LaVert Hill, but even the defense did not look like the same group that stifled the Florida defense the week before. The 17-7 halftime score was closer than anyone expected.

The Michigan offense never could get anything going. Ty Isaac had a majority of the running plays early in the game, but never seemed to break free as he had the previous week. Wilton Speight didn’t throw an interception, which was a relief, but he never seemed sharp either.

Michigan Wolverines Football

His 17 of 29 for 221 total passing yards seemed even less impressive than those numbers might indicate. The offense was never able to move the ball consistently.

In spite of predictions, John O’Korn did not play a single down for Michigan.

Compared to last week Michigan football seemed less well prepared, less well coached, and frankly less motivated than they were a week ago. Rashan Gary seemed to find a spark defensively late in the game after he was called for targeting, a ruling on the field that was overturned on review. But there was never the same defensive spark that we saw the previous week.

Kekoa Crawford and Grant Perry each caught a touchdown pass, and Zack Gentry added 36 yards on two receptions, but that was the extent of the passing attack.

Next: Top 10 Michigan Running Backs of All Time

The good news is that Michigan football faces Air Force next week and another chance to get things going.