Observations on the first half with Ohio State, 10-7

Michigan converted two red zones for 10 points; Ohio State came up empty in their lone red zone attempt. The Buckeyes did score 7 points off one Wolverine turnover.

Offense came up with 11 first downs, 172 net yards with 31 on the ground including Khalid Hill's power goal line drive for a TD. Wilton Speight was 15 of 20 for 141 yards, but was sacked once and threw an interception for an Ohio State TD. DeVeon Smith ran 9 times for 19 yards. Amara Darboh had 5 catches for 47 yards. Jake Butt had 3 catches for 38 yards. Grant Perry had 3 catches for 36 yards. Jehu Chesson caught 2 for 11 yards, and ran a jet sweep for 9 yards. We dominated time of possession by 8 minutes, and it resulted in 12 more offensive plays. We were 5 of 10 in 3rd down conversions. Raekwon McMillan had 12 tackles for Ohio State, and Jerome Baker had 8 tackles including a sack.

Defense had a bad opening drive, but shut down the Buckeye offense the rest of the half. Ohio State managed only 81 net yards, 8 first downs, and were only 1 of 7 in 3rd down conversions. J.T. Barrett was 5 of 11 for 40 yards, and ran for 17 yards on 7 carries. Curtis Samuel caught one pass for 1 yard, and ran 4 times for 12 yards. Mike McCray had 5 tackles to lead the defense, and Ben Gedeon had 4 tackles.

Kenny Allen came up big with 4 punts, 3 inside the 10 yard line to help field position advantage, and he hit a field goal. Jabrill Peppers ran a kickoff 44 yards to set up great field position on the last drive of the half. Tyler Durbin missed a field goal attempt. Cameron Johnson punted 4 times for 50.2 yards including one inside the 10 that resulted in the only score for Ohio State. Grant Perry ran into the punter, Johnson, but we stopped the Buckeye drive so it didn't hurt us.

Second Half will continue to be a low scoring nailbiter! Let's get to the Big Ten Championship and leave Columbus with a WIN!!! GO BLUE!!!