UW-Michigan halftime thoughts

Boy, I sure am good at these keys to the game, eh? Get Beckum involved early, then Graham? Good call. We can't count on them turning the ball over a lot? Uh-huh.

At least I got the run off-tackle thing kind of right.

This is a strange feeling, being up 19-0 at halftime in Ann Arbor and feeling like it should be about 28-0.

-Good first half for the kickers. Philip Welch rebounded nicely from missing his opening bunny with four good-looking field goals. And we know he can make a 50-plus yarder. And Brad Nortman has punted well, too.

-Run the ball every play in the second half. I'm serious. Without Beckum and Graham in there, Kyle Jefferson is the only primary receiver with dependable hands. Lance Kendricks, Nick Toon, and David Gilreath have all dropped decent passes thus far, with varying degrees of costliness. Allan Evridge has been serviceable, but few of the passing plays have looked smooth. Credit Michigan's defense for making things uncomfortable.

-The UW coaching staff did a nice job hiding the injuries to Beckum and Graham, didn't they? I didn't even know Garrett got hurt at Fresno.

-Of Michigan's five turnovers, none could definitively be placed in the "forced" category. There's good hits and good pressure/coverage, but it's not like we're hitting the ball with our helmets and blanketing receivers.

-One of my favorite non-turnover plays from Michigan in the first half was early on when Wolverine tackle Steve Schilling tackled Sam McGuffie, his teammate, for a loss. Classic.

-Coming into the game, 44% of Michigan's offensive plays have gone for zero or negative yards. That's insane.

-Love the fake punt, can't believe Michigan bit on it. I mean, were we really going to punt on fourth-and-1 from the 34?

-Hey WAC -- that's how instant replay is used properly! I thought Mickey Turner's fumble recovery may have occurred with his foot out of bounds, but it seems the camera angle thankfully didn't capture that part of his body.

-On one third-and-1 call we ran a terrible-looking play action pass. Run the ball behind our enormous line! Like the play call that Johnny Clay took down the the 5 -- that's a great call, well executed. Clay really seemed to slow down at the end of that long run, and his touchdown run; I'd have to imagine in a year or two he won't get caught on runs like that.

-Best quote of the half, from the usually clueless Paul McGuire, about the Big House crowd: "There never is much noise in here anyway, but there is no noise now."

Hold onto the ball, stay with the run, do roughly the same thing defensively, and this one should turn out all right for us.