Michigan Football news, stats and stars from the UMass game

Joe Kerridge (36) celebrates with Josh Furman

Michigan Football flattens UMass

Michigan Football cruised to an easy 63-13 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Big House. Michigan outgained the Minutemen 585-259 and did not surrender an offensive touchdown.

 3 Stars of the game

1. Denard Robinson: Michigan’s dynamic QB continued his assault on the record books with another epic performance. On this day, Robinson passed for 291 yards and 3 TDs. He also rushed for 106 yards and 1 TD. Robinson passed Tom Brady and Jim Harbaugh on Michigan’s all-time career passing yardage list.

2. Frank Clark made an array of of big plays. He tallied 3 tackles, 1 TFL and 2 pass break ups. Clark has a team high 4 PBUs on the season.

3. Taylor Lewan anchored the offensive line that powered Michigan to 585 yards. He even scored his first career touchdown when he recovered a Denard Robinson fumble in the end zone.

 3 key plays

Less than 3 minutes into the game, Denard Robinson hooked up with Devin Funchess for a 26 yard TD to give Michigan a 7-0 lead.

In the opening moments of the 2nd quarter, UMass had the ball third and goal from the Michigan 8 yard line. Frank Clark broke up a pass attempt, forcing a UMass field goal. 3 plays later Michigan scored a TD to take a 21-3 lead.

In the third quarter Denard Robinson found Roy Roundtree in the end zone for an 18 yard TD. Tree entered the game with just 3 catches for 17 yards, so it was good to see him corral the touchdown pass.

Stat of the game

Michigan ran 68 plays for 585 yards which equals out to 8.6 yards per play. Regardless, in the postgame presser, Brady Hoke said Michigan’s offensive line has to play better.

Honorable mention: Michigan had 9 different receivers record a reception in this game, 8 of them did it in the first half.

Random observations

• True freshman James “Biggs” Ross III started at WILL instead of Desmond Morgan, who had started the first two games.
• Devin Gardner showed good burst on a 42 yard TD pass from Robinson. Gardner now has a receiving touchdown in all 3 games this season.
• Joe Bolden (Fr) looked a lot like Jake Ryan when he chased down Mike Wegzn for a 2nd quarter sack that resulted in a 24 yard loss.
• Defensive end Frank Clark (So) is explosive.
• It was refreshing to see Roy Roundtree haul in an 18 yard touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter.
• On a 4th down and 1, Thomas Rawls turned the corner and picked up 18 yards. Rawls then bowled over would be tackler, Jovan Santos-Knox, as he was going out of bounds.
• Defensively, Michigan had 3-5 true freshmen on the field for every play.

Random stats

• Fitz Toussaint carried the ball 15 times for 87 yards. He also caught one pass for 17 yards.
• Jibreel Black notched 2 TFLs in the game.
• True freshman defensive end Mario Ojemudia recorded 4 tackles.
• Justice Hayes (RS Fr) rushed the ball 3 times for 19 yards and scored his first career touchdown.

Unsung hero

Redshirt freshman fullback Joe Kerridge delivered two key blocks during Michigan’s 5th scoring drive. The first block was on a play that Denard Robinson was scrambling and ended up throwing an incomplete pass. Kerridge dished out a punishing block to a UMass defender who was bearing down on Michigan’s prized QB. The block leveled the Minutemen defender and saved Robinson from a big hit. On the next play, Robinson scampered 36 yards for a TD. Kerridge made a key block as Robinson cut back across the field. His block cleared the path to the endzone for Robinson. I asked Robinson about that play after the game. “He [Kerridge] just told me about it, he said ‘man, I came in and chipped him’, he said his mouth piece actually came out.”

What it means

Michigan did what they were supposed to do by thrashing UMass. Many fans were concerned after the lopsided loss to Alabama and the closer than expected win over Air Force. This game against the Minutemen is one in which the Wolverines were supposed to roll, which they did. Now things will get interesting with a night game at Notre Dame, a bye week, and a trip to Purdue.

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