Powered by a dominating ground game, Michigan spoiled Purdue’s big day with a 44-13 victory. The Wolverines churned out 307 rushing yards and limited the Boilermakers to 49 yards on the ground.
3 Stars of the game
- Denard Robinson: He led the Wolverines with yet another explosive performance. He ran for 236 yards and passed for 104 yards with a touchdown.
- Raymon Taylor notched 3 tackles and secured an interception for the second consecutive game. Taylor returned the interception 63 yards for a touchdown.
- Jake Ryan: Ryan finished the game with 6 tackles, 2 TFLs and 1 sack. He also blew up a third down play in the 4th quarter that forced Purdue to kick a field goal.
3 key plays
- On their first drive of the game, Michigan capped a 17 play 78 yard drive that chewed 8:48 off the clock with a 1 yard TD run by Fitz Toussaint.
- On the first play of Purdue’s ensuing drive, Jake Ryan dropped Caleb Terbush for an 11 yard loss. Three plays later, the Boilers were punting for their second consecutive three-and-out.
- Trailing 14-0 and facing a 4th down and 2, a desperate Purdue team went for it. They should have punted because Caleb Terbush’s pass was intercepted by Raymon Taylor who returned it for a touchdown and a 21-0 Michigan lead.
Stat of the game
Third down defense: Michigan held Purdue to 1 conversion on 12 third down plays. The Boilers didn’t fare much better on 4th down conversion going 1-3. On the flip side, Michigan was 10-17 on third downs and 1-1 on 4th down.
Random observations
- Michigan’s defense is starting to look pretty stout.
- Fitz Toussaint has yet to find a rhythm. He carried the ball 18 times for 20 yards and spent a lot of time running side-to-side instead of upfield.
- In Michigan’s previous game, the Notre Dame loss, Raymon Taylor and Thomas Gordon both had interceptions. In the win over Purdue Taylor and Gordon secured both of U-M’s picks.
Random stats
- Michigan forced 4 turnovers and coughed the ball up just once.
- Will Hagerup punted once and it was a cannon shot that went 57 yards.
- Brendan Gibbons was 3-4 on field goal attempts. His miss, from 44 yards out, hit the crossbar.
- Craig Roh had 5 tackles and 2 TFLs.
Unsung hero
Roy Roundtree: 2 catches for 22 yard doesn’t jump of the stat sheet. However, both receptions came on third down plays and both resulted in first downs for Michigan. He also had a key block on a 59 yard run by Denard Robinson.
What it means
I’ve been trying to tell anybody who will listen, Michigan is better than they were getting credit for after that tough non-conference schedule. Denard Robinson is a playmaker and he’s not going to have another 5 turnover game. The defense is playing well and this team is poised to make a serious run at the Big Ten Championship.
About Rob White