ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Some rust not having played for a couple weeks? Maybe. Looking ahead to the in-state rivalry game against Michigan State a week away? Could have been.
Whatever it was, it took Michigan a half to find its groove against Northwestern at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, the first game for the Wolverines since a win at Nebraska two weeks ago.
No. 6 Michigan defeated Northwestern, 33-7, outscoring the Wildcats, 23-0 in the second half. The Wolverines (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) will play at No. 9 Michigan State (7-0) on Saturday.
The Wolverines entered the game ranked sixth nationally, averaging 246.5 yards a game and relied on the run yet again as Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum each scored two touchdowns. Corum had 119 yards on 19 carries and Haskins 110 on 23 rushes. The Wolverines had 294 rushing yards.
The Wolverines opened the second half with an energetic 74-yard drive highlighted by a 24-yard run by Corum on third down and then a defensive pass interference on the next play, an incompletion to Cornelius Johnson, and Corum scored from five yards, making it 17-7.
Northwestern responded, converting two third-downs and got a questionable pass interference on Michigan cornerback D.J. Turner. The Wildcats, however, could not add any points and missed on a 39-yard field goal.
Michigan expanded its lead to 33-7 on three straight scoring drives, two of which were set up by big plays and culminated with scores by Haskins. The first came on a drive set up by Johnson’s blocked punt recovered by Caden Kolesar and Haskins scored from 13 yards.
Michigan got a 44-yard field goal from Jake Moody on the next drive. And Haskins scored from four yards making it 33-7 after cornerback D.J. Turner’s interception. The Wolverines failed on the two-point conversion.
Moody was 2 of 3 on field-goal attempts. He missed on his final of the game, a 47-yarder with 4:17 left. He is 14 of 16 this season, both misses coming from 47 yards.
The bulk of Northwestern’s 232 yards came on three plays — a 75-yard touchdown run and 26-yard reception by Evan Hull and a 29-yard reception by Malik Washington. Michigan had the Turner interception, a combo sack from Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, who tipped two of Ryan Hilinski’s passes, and Hutchinson another. Hutchinson also had a fumble recovery late in the game.
Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara was 20 of 27 for 129 yards but did not have a touchdown. He missed on several deep throws, an element of the offense that was lacking against the Wildcats.
The longest pass play was 16 yards to tight end Erick All. A.J. Henning had a 14-yard reception and Johnson had a 12-yard reception. Freshman backup quarterback J.J. McCarthy provided the longest pass play of the game, an 18-yarder to Mike Sainristil to convert on third down with less than seven minutes left.
The Wolverines have been relatively turnover-free this season and entered the game with only two interceptions but had two fumbles against Northwestern, the first from Henning after a pass from McNamara and freshman running back Donovan Edwards fumbled after gaining 11 yards on a pass from McCarthy.
Michigan dominated the first half statistically, outgaining Northwestern 267-113, and the bulk of the Wildcats’ yardage came on two plays — a 29-yard pass play to open the game and a 75-yard touchdown by Evan Hull. The Wolverines had possession for 22:54 and ran 53 plays but held a 10-7 lead at halftime.
They squandered two red-zone opportunities in the half, settling for a 20-yard field goal from Moody on the Wolverines’ second drive of the second quarter, and after allowing the big-play touchdown to Hull with 2:22 left, Michigan put together a sound drive, moving 75 yards in 12 plays but Sainristil fumbled after a one-yard pass from McNamara at the Wildcats 2-yard-line. It was Michigan’s first fumble of the season.
Michigan struggling in red-zone opportunities has been evident now the last three games. The Wolverines blew two opportunities at Nebraska two weeks ago and one at Wisconsin after getting the ball at the 5-yard line.
They took field goals on all three of those opportunities, but leaving points on the field is a potential issue with three top-10 opponents ahead the final five games.
