Observations on the first half with Iowa, 10-8

Michigan gained two red zones for 10 points; Iowa gained one red zone for 6 points. No turnovers for either team.

Offense with a poor first half effort! Michigan had only 124 net yards with 45 on the ground, and 9 first downs, and only 2 of 6 on 3rd down conversions. Wilton Speight hit 8 of 17 for 79 yards. Chris Evans ran 3 times for 23 yards. DeVeon Smith ran 6 times for 7 yards, and was tackled in the end zone for a safety. Ty Isaac scored the lone Wolverine TD with a 7 yard run. Jake Butt has 3 receptions for 22 yards. Jehu Chesson has 2 receptions for 30 yards.

Defense also with a poor first half effort! Iowa gained 130 net yards, 79 on the ground, 7 first downs, and was 2 of 10 in 3rd and 4th down conversions. Iowa dominated time of possession by nearly 4 minutes and it resulted in 4 more offensive plays. Beathard is 6 of 13 for 51 yards, but hit Akrum Wadley for a TD. Wadley has 10 rushes for 47 yards, and LeShun Daniels has 9 rushes for 38 yards. I don't understand why we are not putting Peppers on Wadley in coverage.

Special Teams from Iowa was tremendous as Punter Ron Coluzzi punted 3 times for a 47 yard average including 2 punts downed inside the 10, and one resulted in a safety. Kenny Allen hit his only field goal attempt, but punted 3 times for only a 41 yard average. We lost the field position advantage with poor special teams play. The Hawkeyes would be leading 11-10 if their field goal kicker had made his kick. We only got 3 points off the fake punt, that was a "win" for Iowa as it was like a turnover. One could argue that our Special Teams are ahead, 3-2, except for the field position differences.

Referees have really cost us in this battle! The ejection of Bush was a bad judgement, and on a pass rush with about 5:19 to go, the ball never made it past the line of scrimmage so intentional grounding should have been called on Iowa. The punter call that resulted in a first down was also horrid as he was running outside the tackle box.

Second Half looks like a tight, low scoring game. Hopefully we will prevail! Go Blue!