JOSH TAUBMAN
Daily Sports Editor
PISCATAWAY — When the No.
5 Michigan football team found
itself in an unlikely 17-14 halftime
deficit, it looked to the defense to
generate some life.
And in the subsequent 30
minutes the defense ignited that
spark, snagging three second half
turnovers to turn a dicey game
into a rout.
Michigan (9-0 overall, 6-0
Big Ten) overcame a slow start,
ultimately pulling away from
Rutgers (4-5, 1-5) for a 52-17 win
Saturday night. The Wolverines
followed the blueprint they have
used all season, leaning on the
ground game and second half
adjustments to remain undefeated.
“It’s one of those things that
pulls your team tighter and tighter
together,” Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh said. “There was no
pointing fingers at the offense,
no pointing fingers at the special
teams, no pointing fingers at the
defense. (The message) was ‘Hey,
we’re gonna get this done, we’re
gonna get this done together.’ ”
The first half, though, was one
to forget for the Wolverines. The
trouble began on the second drive
of the game, when graduate punter
Brad Robbins’ punt was blocked
and recovered for a touchdown to
tie the game at seven.
In the second quarter, things
went from bad to worse. Michigan
retook the lead 14-10 but couldn’t
extend its advantage when the
usually reliable graduate kicker
Jake Moody missed a 50-yard
field goal wide right. Rutgers,
emboldened by the Wolverines’
miscues,
responded
with
an
emphatic touchdown drive.
Another miss from Moody with
seconds remaining in the half,
again from 50 yards, meant it was
officially gut check time for the
Wolverines.
They walked to the locker room
stunned, facing their first half
time deficit of the season.
But unexpectedly tight first
half contests have been a theme
for the Wolverines all year. And
yet again, there was no sense of
panic in the locker room — and
no halftime hype up speech was
warranted.
“I feel like there was no
message,” senior defensive end
Mike Morris said. “We prepared
for this moment since spring
ball. Coach Harbaugh always
organizes situations where we
are put at a disadvantage … so
moments like these are easy.”
As the second half kicked
off, electricity swelled around
SHI stadium. Up by three and
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
receiving the ball to start, the
Scarlet Knights believed. But
Michigan, harkening back to those
spring ball workouts, responded.
It began with the defense
forcing a three-and-out, quickly
returning the ball to its offense.
Then
sophomore
quarterback
J.J. McCarthy, after struggling
in the first half, finally displayed
his patented passing ability —
connecting on a 26-yard pass
down the sidelines to sophomore
running back Donovan Edwards
to jumpstart the drive. McCarthy
then capped it with a 14-yard
touchdown
pass
threaded
to
Edwards in the back corner of the
end zone.
MICHIGAN 52
Michigan starts slow, wakes up in second half to put Scarlet Knights to bed
In the locker room, after
Rutgers had connected on some
big plays, graduate linebacker
Mike Barrett preached that the
Wolverines needed to respond
with some of their own. And he
took the onus upon himself to
make it happen.
Two
plays
after
Edwards’
touchdown, Barrett jumped a
pass and gave the Wolverines the
ball back on the ten-yard line.
Junior running back Blake Corum
scampered in for a touchdown
moments later.
On
the
next
play
from
scrimmage, a Rutgers pass skipped
off the hands of a Scarlet Knights
receiver and the ball floated right
to Barrett again, and this time he
ran it all the way to the house.
In the blink of an eye, Michigan
was up 35-17. And Rutgers’ hopes
of an upset had fizzled.
“Everybody
is
motivating
everybody,” Barrett said. “I feel
like once we come out in the
second half, once we get that
breath, we just come out ready to
hunt.”
The Wolverines continued to
flex their muscles the remainder
of the game. The secondary,
which was picked apart in the
first half, locked down the aerial
attack, helped pitch a shutout and
constantly created short fields for
the offense.
The offense made good on those
efforts, putting up 31 second half
points and running up the second
half scoring margin to a dominant
100-3 mark over the last four
games.
“We all know what kind of team
we are,” Barrett said. “We were all
just going around motivating each
other, telling everybody that the
second half was ours.”
It was a tale of two halves
for Michigan, a trend that has
followed it much of the season.
But
once
again,
when
uncertainty
swirled,
the
Wolverines removed all doubt
and proved an uncomfortable
situation was something that they
could handle with ease.
NighT
KNIGHT
It was a tale of two halves for
Michigan, a trend that has followed it
much of the season.
RUTGERS 17
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