Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from a bland win over Nebraska

Michigan football quietly took care of Nebraska in blowout fashion and is now 10-0 for the first time since 2006.

Much like we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks Michigan’s offense was like a snail moving the ball. The Wolverines’ initial drive took upwards of seven minutes and finished with a touchdown by who else, but Blake Corum. They punted on the following two possessions and were only ahead 7-0 after one period of play.

J.J. McCarthy and his teammates finally got something going in the second on a quick drive that lasted just over three minutes to put Michigan football up by 14.

McCarthy found Ronnie Bell wide open on a play-action fake that worked to perfection. Jake Moody tallied a field goal before the half to extend to a 14-point edge on the Cornhuskers again.

Michigan’s second touching of the rock in the third ended with six as McCarthy got outside on a designed quarterback run. The blocking was accounted for with a man-on-man effort from his fellow offensive members. Corum took on a defender that stood in his way and executed it very well to seal the hole for McCarthy to put more points on the board.

In the fourth C.J. Stokes came in for Donovan Edwards, who was taken out for precaution, and impressed with some meaningful runs. It eventually put them in the endzone as McCarthy hit Ronnie Bell, who caught it and somehow tipped-toed his way on the sidelines, then broke loose only to fumble at the goal line, where Andrel Anthony saved the day by recovering the ball in the back of the endzone for a touchdown.

Here are three takeaways from the Michigan football win

1. The defense slowly choked the life out of Nebraska’s offense

It was another normal outing for the defense in the easy win. They kept Nebraska out of the red zone most of the day and their starting quarterback slid awkwardly on a scramble that knocked him out of the contest. Chubba Purdy started for Casey Thompson and was replaced by Logan Smothers who did nothing of note.

Purdy was Nebraska’s offense before leaving with an injury. The Cornhuskers’ offense was completely discombobulated once he got injured. They were thoroughly decimated by Michigan’s defense which held them to 147 yards of offense.

To add insult to injury, their offensive coordinator, Mark Whipple, got hurt on a kickoff return and never came out of the locker room in the second half.

Trey Palmer was held to just 12 yards on five catches and didn’t look like he wanted to be there. The only thing that went wrong for Michigan’s defense on the afternoon was Mike Morris getting dinged up near the closing of the victory.

No word on his status yet, but with the way that Harbaugh chooses to keep his players safe, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him sit out next week against Illinois.