Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from the routing of Rutgers

Rutgers held the upper hand at halftime, but Michigan football came out of the break by thoroughly spiking the Scarlet Knights by a resounding score of 52-17.

Michigan football handled the opening kickoff and scored on their initial drive. Blake Corum punched it in from one yard out on fourth and goal. A few plays earlier he would have gone the distance on a long run to the house, but it got called back thanks to a penalty. On their next series, Michigan was forced to punt and Max Melton went unaccounted for into the backfield and blocked a punt for a scoop and score to nod it up at seven.

The Wolverines got a short field response following a failed onside kick. This time it was J.J. McCarthy who rolled into the endzone over his blockers to retake the lead at 14-7. Rutgers would not run away and hide though. They went up 17-14 at the half because of a critical missed tackle by Will Johnson and it resulted in six just a couple of plays later in the drive for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers had possession to open the third and had a first down called because of a hold, which abruptly halted the series. Michigan football answered as McCarthy found Donovan Edwards in a one-on-one situation to put the maize and blue on top once again. On the ensuing possession, Gavin Wimsatt was picked off by Michael Barrett. Corum made them pay for it two downs afterward.

Barrett did it again, but this time he stabbed it out of the air off of a tipped pass to take it to the house for six. It went from 17-14 Rutgers to 35-17 Michigan in a heartbeat. Later in the quarter Wimsatt lofted one up that Will Johnson gladly intercepted. McCarthy then hit Cornelius Johnson to extend the lead to 42-17 with 15 minutes left.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. It was a tale of two distinctly different halves

Michigan could not have performed any worse in the first 30 minutes of action. Rutgers had all the momentum in their favor. Jake Moody missed two 50-yard field goals that would have given the Wolverines a potential advantage at the intermission. Then Michigan flipped the switch in the second stanza and things played out like they were supposed to.

All three facets outscored the Scarlet Knights by a combined 38-0 in the final 30 minutes of play. Michigan was displaying to the audience what kind of championship program they have come accustomed to in their previous eight wins. Rutgers was baffled and went dead silent in response to Michigan’s all-out assault.

As a spectator, it’s fairly reasonable to say that the first half was their worst half of football all year and vice versa for the second. Although if Michigan football didn’t have that mishap happen on the blocked punt, then Rutgers trails throughout, and Michigan only gives up 10 points, that really doesn’t matter anymore.