Observations on the first half with Northwestern, 14-24

Michigan comes up with only 7 points on 2 red zones while Northwestern scores 24 points in 4 red zones trips. Denard Robinson throws 3 interceptions, and the Wildcats convert those into 10 points.

Denard Robinson was 10 of 18 for 188 yards and ran 10 times for 48 yards. Offense comes up with 268 yards, but only 80 on the ground, 11 first downs and was 6 of 8 on 3rd and 4th down conversions despite a possession advantage of 4 minutes. The 3 turnovers killed us. J.R. Hemingway had 4 catches for 106 yards and Jeremy Gallon had 4 catches for 58 yards.

Defense really looks bad! They were not prepared and did not adjust. Dan Persa was 16 of 23 for 195 yards. Blake Dunsmore has 6 catches for 67 yards and Jeremy Ebert has 5 catches for 49 yards. The Wildcats have 297 yards of total offense with 102 on the ground. Adonis Smith, Kain Colter and Treyvon Green have all run in the end zone. Jordan Kovacs and Brandin Hawthorne have 5 tackles each for a beleagured defense.

Matt Wile has 2 touchbacks in 3 kickoffs and Will Hagerup punted once for 38 yards, but it was returned 20 yards by Venric Mark with several missed tackles. We have 3 kickoff returns for our normal 18 yard average.

Apparently neither Ricky Barnum nor Marvin Robinson made the travel team due to injuries. Neither Mike Cox, Brandon Herron, Richard Ash, Gregg Brown, nor Justice Hayes were on the travel team either. Perhaps, Brown and Hayes will redshirt. Surpisingly, both Jack Miller and Russell Bellomy did make the travel team.

Second Half will be an uphill struggle. We'll probably need to score 40 to overcome their lead and offense if we are to come out of Evanston with a win.