Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from a scrappy win over Iowa

The maize and blue are the kings of the Big Ten once again as they shut out the worst offense in America.

There wasn’t much offense in the first half as Michigan football held a 10-0 lead into the intermission. The Wolverines scored on their initial drive thanks to a James Turner field goal. Iowa punted it right back to Semaj Morgan and immediately regretted it. He nearly took it to the house with an 84-yard return before he ran out of gas. Two plays later Blake Corum scored his 23rd touchdown of the season.

It was a punt fest after that as both offenses spiraled to take control. Iowa gained two first downs in the first 30 minutes, while Corum managed just 15 yards of rushing besides the lone touchdown in the first quarter.

Iowa’s longest play of the game didn’t come till the third quarter. By then they were trailing 17-0. A controversial turnover came before the touchdown when Deacon Hill was hit by Mikey Sainristil during his throwing motion, the ball then proceeded to move forward and was recovered by Josh Wallace. It was ruled a turnover following the review and the ref’s whistle-blowing it dead on the spot.

Turner extended the lead to 20 after three. Michigan’s defense created another turnover in the fourth when Braiden McGregor stripped Hill and Kenneth Grant fell on the ball. The offense wasn’t able to capitalize with six so Turner kicked another successful three points on the board. He finalized the scoring with a 50-yarder to go 4-4 on Saturday night.

Afterward, Jim Harbaugh was determined not to get soaked and avoided a Gatorade bath once the clock hit zero. In the long, awaited postgame ceremony Tony Petitti handed the trophy to Zak Zinter and bolted out of sight. He crowned Michigan football as the outright Big Ten champions again.

Here are three takeaways from the third championship in as many tries.