Michigan Boils Purdue 48-21 for Fifth Straight Win

At the halfway point of the season, it was time for the Michigan football team to make a choice. Win and set the tone for a run at the Big Ten title or lose and fight to make a bowl game. With those two options in mind, Michigan chose the first and absolutely dominated Purdue on Saturday. It was the best game the Wolverines played all year and nearly everything went perfect (except for injuries). The offense actually had some successful imaginative playcalling (a play-action on the first play of the game?!) and the defense was a force all day, leading to the 48-21 win over Purdue

As Michigan and Purdue traded punts, it would be a mistake by the Boilermakers that put them a step behind early on in this game. Zoltan Mesko punted the ball high up in the air and the wind appeared to get a hold of it. With that, the ball drifted back from the spot it probably should've landed at, and instead hit off of a Purdue player. Being aware of the situation, Stevie Brown recovered the ball to give it back to the Michigan offense. Knowing that a quick strike would add even more momentum, Michigan went for it all on only the second play of the drive. Chad Henne dropped back to pass and hit Mario Manningham in the back corner of the endzone for a 24-yard touchdown pass, putting U-M ahead 7-0.

Although it appeared that Michigan was about to pull away from Purdue after another defensive stand, it would be a mistake by Chad Henne that put the game in question for a brief moment. After a punt that was downed at the 10 by Purdue, Henne was hit as he dropped back to pass and fumbled. The Boilermakers recovered, and on the very next play scored a touchdown on a 5-yard run by QB Curtis Painter.

With the game being tied, Michigan got focused and took over. A promising drive for the Wolverines stalled and U-M had to settle for a 34-yard field goal, but another costly mistake by Purdue put the game back into Michigan's favor completely. Two plays into its next possession, the Boilermakers fumbled and Donovan Warren recovered, putting Michigan's "O" back on the field at the Purdue 37. Chad Henne then found Mario Manningham for 26 yards to set up another great Mike Hart run. Hart ran into the endzone for an 11-yard TD on the next play, but the way he got there was a little different. Hart appeared to be down but actually managed to keep his balance and rolled over one of his offensive lineman to keep the play going.

The Michigan defense continued to keep Purdue from doing any damage offensively, and the consistent great play was rewarded by Mike Hart midway through the second quarter. Combining an end around with Mario Manningham, a couple of rushes by Hart, a couple of passes, and then finishing the drive out with Hart again, the Michigan offense moved the ball quickly. As I said, Hart finished out the drive, this time with a 9-yard touchdown run that didn't involve any rolling over linemen.

Looking to add to the already large lead, Michigan got the ball back and again was moving the ball. On this drive, though, Mike Hart wouldn't be able to finish things out as he was injured on a 2nd and 2 play. Hart ran into a pile for no gain and hurt his ankle in doing so. The injury looked bad right when it happened as Hart limped off the field appearing to be in pain. He would return after halftime to the sidelines in street clothes and not a uniform, which wasn't too surprising, but I'll get into that in just a bit.

With Hart out of the game, the Purdue defense stuffed Brandon Minor on third down, giving the Boilermakers the ball back one more time before the half. In hopes of cutting down the deficit, Purdue went to the air. Although Curtis Painter did complete a pass on a big third down play, it would be to a player in the wrong colors. Painter had his pass batted up into the air by Jamar Adams and Brandon Harrison then intercepted it. Getting great field position again, Michigan decided waste no time in striking again. The Henne to Manningham connection would be the description for Michigan's next touchdown as the two hooked up from 21 yards this time. The catch itself was very Braylon Edwards-like as Manningham jumped up and took the ball away from the Purdue defender. I guess the suspension last week worked as a form of wake-up call, because Manningham went off in this game. This touchdown just summed up how he was playing.

In possession of a 31-7 lead at the half and clearly having complete control of this game, Mike Hart, as I already mentioned, didn't come back out of the locker room in pads. With the game in favor of Michigan so much, there was no point to put Hart in pads as you know he would've wanted to play. Despite the injury, Hart would go out there and that would just be dumb by the coaching staff as he was hurt. Thankfully, he just watched from the sidelines.

One thing he and the rest of the stadium watched on the second half's first drive was another running back going down with an injury. Brandon Minor, who was in the game as Mike Hart's replacement, was almost in the open field on a nice run before being tackled by what only appeared to be his shoelaces. You wouldn't think an injury could happen at first glance from that tackle, but Minor actually hurt his foot as it was twisted. There really isn't anything known about his status as rumors have said various things, but I'll get to that in another post.

As the third quarter progressed, the Michigan offense had some trouble without Hart and Minor. Carlos Brown took some time to get warmed up, but the wait was worth it. Riding the momentum of a big fourth down stop that stalled a 6 minute+ drive by Purdue (and another K.C. Lopata field goal prior to that drive), Brown finally showed off his speed. He broke into the open and outran the Purdue defense for a 29-yard touchdown run, putting Michigan on top 38-7. After the proceeding kickoff, Curtis Painter was intercepted by Jamar Adams, letting Carlos Brown get another chance to show off what he's got. That's exactly what Brown did as he ran the ball down the field and eventually got the handoff on 4th and 1 from the Purdue 13-yard line. Brown ran through a wide open hole for a gain of 12 yards, and then put the ball into the endzone on the next play for his second TD.

Leading 48-7, Lloyd Carr emptied his bench and got the backups into the game. Purdue, on the other hand, kept many of their starters in. Some may say that Joe Tiller just didn't want his team to give up, but to me it looked as though he just wanted to make the score look better than the game did to those that didn't see it. With starters in the game against third-stringers for Michigan, the Boilermakers drove down the field and scored a touchdown, kicked and recovered an onside kick, and then scored another quick touchdown. Purdue actually then kicked and recovered another onside kick, but ran out of time to do anything else. Interpret it however you want, but I thought that move by Tiller was very classless as he could've risked injuries to his starters in a meaningless situation. And on a side note, Michigan really needs to practice recovering onsides. That's four in two games that have gone against them. Granted, one was completely unexpected, but still, I have a feeling that this and the other special teams issues will haunt us again before the season is over.

No matter what the final score was, Michigan controlled Purdue 100% in this game. I want to tip my hat to Mike DeBord, who called a great game offensively. I know I've been hard on him a lot, and though it is deserved, I will pat him on the back for a job well done on Saturday. Where has this playcalling been all season long? The simple fact that so many plays were unexpected was great to see. Shifting to the other side of the ball, the 1st string defense really didn't give up any points. Yes, they did give up that touchdown in the first quarter, but Purdue started at the 5-yard line, so it's not all on them in that respect. The conclusion I've come to is that Ron English is great against traditional and spread offenses as long as there isn't a running QB involved. That is where the Wolverines struggle. Other than that, they've been great this season.

That point about Michigan struggling against a spread offense with a fast QB will be important for this coming Saturday's game. U-M plays at Illinois, which runs a spread with Juice Williams, who can and will run against the Wolverines. Kickoff is slated for 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC. It's another big test, will the Wolverines again pass with flying colors? I hope so.