Penalties, Sacks and Turnovers

Coach Carr said on Michigan Replay after the CMU game (as he has many times over the years) that a team's biggest improvement in performance takes place from game 1 to game 2. Thus, Coach Carr was looking to correct in game two some of the sloppy play he saw exhibited in the season opener vs. Vanderbilt. However, on the penalty front things got worse in game two. Against CMU, the Wolverines were flagged 9 times for 73 penalty yards. Redshirt sophmore TE Carson Butler almost incurred as many penalty flags (2) as he caught receptions (3). The Wolverines will have to be more disciplined in their execution in week three against Notre Dame.

As for sacks, despite having the MAC player of the year in Dan Bauzin, the Chippewas only managed to sack Michigan QB Chad Henne once for a 4-yard loss. This despite the fact that the Chippewas were sometimes deploying Bauzin in a "grand twist" where he would start out at one end of the line and then run around the line and rush the QB from the other end of the line.

As for turnovers, there were none. Henne threw no interceptions for the second straight game and although the Wolverines fumbled twice they mangaged to recover the ball both times. The first fumble was by Mike Hart. That's right. Mike Hart. I must have jinxed him with my post about his 450 consecutive touches without a fumble coming into this game. Incidentally, his streak is now at 471 consecutive touches without a lost fumble. The second fumble of the CMU game (which Michigan also recovered) was by Jerome Jackson on his first carry of the season. Despite the faux paus, he was called on to make two additional carries later in the game.

Overall, Michigan performed well in two of the three categories as it only allowed one sack and committed zero turnovers but committed way too many (9) penalties again. Go Blue!