Observations on the first half with Massachusetts, 21-17!

Well, it is pretty obvious that Michigan is being outplayed by a quicker, faster and more physical team from Massachusetts, but Daryl Stonum catches two TD passes from Denard Robinson in the last 1:01 in the half to give Michigan a 21-17 advantage! They have converted three red zones for 17 points while we have three red zones for 14 points. The Minute Men have completely dominated time of possession with a 9 minute advantage. Michigan has 7 points off one Massachusetts turnover.

Denard Robinson is 9 of 13 for 195 yards and 2 TDs and an interception plus 64 yards on 10 carries. Our offense has 275 yards of total offense with most of it being in the last 1:01 of the first half. We were 3 of 5 in 3rd down conversions with 11 first downs. Kelvin Grady caught a 43 yarder, J.R. Hemingway caught a 36 yarder, but Daryl Stonum two catches resulted in 2 TDs on a 66 yard and 9 yard grabs. Our two tailbacks, Shaw and Smith, have 7 carries for 16 yards and a TD plus one catch for 7 yards.

Our "soft" defense has allowed the Minute Men 251 yards in total offense including 147 on the ground. They have 14 first downs, and are 2 of 5 in 3rd down conversion. Their quarterback, Havens, is 9 of 11 for 104 yards. We had one big sack by Mike Martin. Jordan Kovacs has 7 tackles to lead the defense including a forced fumble.

Special teams are horrid!!! Jeremy Gallon misplays another punt, and Hawthorne again bails him out on the recovery at the 16 after they oversnap a punt that we should have blocked. Seth Broekhuisen misses his first field goal attempt. Will Hagerup's only punt was a 33 yarder. Brendon Gibbons can't kick the ball near the end zone setting up good field position for every UMASS drive. They choose to give us good field position rather than kick it to Stonum with short kickoffs. We have a high school special teams unit.

Second half will be a struggle! We need to regain the time of possession advantage; if we don't, this will be a nailbiter.