Held scoreless at halftime, Michigan football made the switch to Tommy Carr and secured its first Big Ten win of the Kyle Whittingham era. He and three of Michigan's main backs sliced up Penn State's defense to the tune of six yards per carry. The defense created three turnovers,rnovers and two of them came from Chris Bracy, whose second takeaway extended the lead to 10 and basically put things out of reach.
Thoughts on Michigan's win over Penn State
Michigan's run game found its identity
Three rushing touchdowns by three different backs on Saturday. Two rushes for over 40 yards and over 200 total yards on the ground. Penn State's rush defense is bad, but Carr and Savion Hiter really provided the spark that Michigan football needed to get its ground game going. In all, Michigan outrushed Penn State 211-65.
Bryce Underwood forced his own benching
Twice, Underwood threw into coverage and both times resulted in interceptions. The coaching staff had no choice but to bench him and put Carr in as the starter in the second half. Carr played with more caution and protected the football. Part of that was because Jason Beck didn't design any fancy plays for Carr to develop. Besides a flea flicker that was overthrown to JJ Buchanan, Carr's longest pass was for 22 yards to a tight end.
Michigan collected 21 points off of three turnovers
In the last two losses, Michigan lost the turnover battle. Coach Whittingham was preaching to cut down on them, and this time they took his advice to heart. Rod Moore paid the ultimate price for his interception, and hopefully that is not the last we see of him in a Michigan uniform. He's already been through enough adversity. Those points off turnovers were the difference that propelled Michigan to a very desperate win.
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