The Wolverines defeated Bowling Green 31-6 on Saturday and here are the grades, as well as the game balls for Michigan football.
Despite winning their first three games by a margin of at least 25 points, some Michigan football fans are a little concerned about the Wolverines heading into Big Ten play this week.
Bowling Green did hang around longer than expected last Saturday. The Falcons were within a score in the third quarter thanks to three J.J. McCarthy interceptions.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that Michigan football has allowed just 16 points so far this season and allowed just one touchdown. You can’t do much better than that.
The offense hasn’t met expectations but as Jim Harbaugh pointed out, expectations have been insanely high this season for the Wolverines. Michigan won its three non-conference games and now the journey to win another Big Ten title starts on Saturday.
Before that, here are our game balls and grades for Michigan vs. Bowling Green.
Game Balls: Blake Corum, Cornelius Johnson, and Kris Jenkins
Blake Corum set the tone on Saturday night with a 57-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. The senior went over 100 yards total and took just 12 carries to reach 101 yards. Corum also scored twice and capped the non-conference schedule in style.
Cornelius Johnson is another guy who deserves a game ball. He’s had at least 71 yards receiving in each of three games and caught three balls for 71 yards. He also caught his first touchdown this season on a flea-flicker that helped put the game out of reach in the second half.
Defensively, Kris Jenkins had two tackles, a tackle for loss, and a massive interception that turned into six points for the Wolverines at a key point in the game.
Now, here’s our Michigan football report card for Bowling Green.
Offense: C
Michigan is fortunate that the defense is elite and that Bowling Green wasn’t able to take advantage of the Wolverines’ four turnovers.
Things could have gotten really worrisome and if Michigan makes the same mistakes against Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights are more than capable of pulling the upset.
The running game was held under 200 yards again and maybe the biggest issue was the fact that Michigan only ran 43 plays. I don’t see McCarthy having another game like that anytime soon, but I’m worried that his confidence is shaken a little.
McCarthy was so smooth during the first two games it was startling to see some of his misses. The throw that worries me the most was the miss to Tyler Morris. Morris was wide open for a touchdown and McCarthy missed him as he missed some deep balls last season.
The offensive line also wasn’t spectacular. Myles Hinton struggled at times, which led to LaDarius Henderson getting an extended look at left tackle, with Karsen Barnhart on the right.
That always seemed like the best top five to me. We’ll see if the competition continues but I don’t know that the offensive line is settled as the coaches said last week.
Still, Corum and Edwards got 21 carries for 151 yards which equates to 7.1 yards per attempt. So it wasn’t all bad for Michigan football. The Wolverines averaged 7.2 yards per play — they just need to make sure they protect the ball well enough to get more plays against Rutgers.
Defense: A
Whenever I’m a little worried about this Michigan football team and its hopes of being a national title contender, I think back to the dominance of the defense.
Yes, Michigan’s defense hasn’t been challenged. Bowling Green, UNLV, and East Carolina don’t have high-flying offenses, but Michigan has only allowed them to score a combined 16 points and 10 of those were on the final possessions of the first two games against backups.
Yet, on Saturday, Bowling Green was given the ball in a good spot a couple of times and had to settle for field goals.
Kris Jenkins also made the interception, which was one of three takeaways. The Wolverines also had three sacks and Bowling Green only had 205 total yards, as well as 81 yards rushing on the ground.
The defense has been lights out and an elite defense can carry you a long way.
Coaching: A
I thought that Sherrone Moore did a great job with his turn as the interim head coach. Yet, Michigan football has missed Jim Harbaugh. There’s no question about it.
Harbaugh is the leader of this program and it marches to the beat of his drum. I have no doubt that the Wolverines will play better with him on the sidelines. The added bonus is that everyone else can focus on their position such as Moore, allowing him to call plays and the coach the O-line.
Special teams: B
The grade is probably a little harsh but turnovers on special teams are hard to overcome. However, everything else was pretty much flawless.
James Turner made all of his field goals and extra points. Tommy Doman punted three times with an average of 46.3 yards. Plus, two were pinned inside the 20. In terms of kicks and punt returns, Bowling Green got zero yards.
Tyler Morris also had a 22-yard punt return. My hope is that he gets the job against Rutgers. Outside of the fumble on the pooch kickoff, the special teams were stellar on Saturday.