After a bye week filled with turmoil and nonstop scandal discourse in the national media, Michigan Football finally let their players do the talking on the first Saturday night in November. Without the clairvoyance of the omnipotent Connor Stalions, Michigan had no trouble beating down a vastly inferior Purdue team, using a dominant opening quarter and second half to overcome some sleepy offense in the middle section of the contest. It wasn't JJ McCarthy or the receivers' sharpest games; it also didn't matter whatsoever. Michigan won 41-13 and are 9-0 for the second straight season. 

Purdue took the football first, with Michigan winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half. Purdue picked up a quick first down but then punted, Michigan getting off the field on 3rd & 7 the way they would all night long, getting pressure against a depleted Purdue OL and forcing Hudson Card off his spot and into an incompletion. Michigan got the ball and it didn't take them long to find the end zone. JJ McCarthy converted an early 3rd down with a 20 yard strike to Roman Wilson and then a deep shot to Donovan Edwards matched up in man coverage down the sideline with a linebacker got Michigan to the two. Blake Corum punched it in, 7-0 Michigan. 

Purdue's second drive appeared to see RB Devin Mockobee fumble on the first play but upon further review, he was down. It didn't make much difference ultimately, as Card's third down throw for Jayden Dixon-Veal fell incomplete and the Boilers punted. Michigan's second drive went just as well as the first, a 20 yard gain on play-action to Roman Wilson, a nifty reverse to Cornelius Johnson gaining 14, and again Blake Corum finished it off from a few yards out. 14-0 Michigan. 

[Patrick Barron]

The first play from scrimmage on the ensuing Purdue drive was a Will Johnson interception after a stunt by Kris Jenkins and Jaylen Harrell got pressure on Card and forced the errant throw. At this moment it seemed that Michigan was on pace for a 78-0 redux, but that's when the Wolverine offense started to slow down and Purdue's defense finally came on-line. Backed up deep in their own end, the Boilermakers got off the field, stuffing Donovan Edwards once on a rush and once after a reception before a nice PBU by Sanoussi Kane on Colston Loveland forced a field goal attempt. James Turner drilled a 30 yarder and Michigan was up 17-0. 

The Wolverine defense remained dominant, even as the offense was beginning to slow down. They forced another three-and-out after Braiden McGregor blew up a 3rd & 1 run with a thunder-TFL. Michigan took the ball and drove into Purdue territory but a pair of passing events went awry and were forced to punt. First Donovan Edwards dropped a pass from McCarthy (may have been broken up by the defender, was tough to tell) and then on third down McCarthy put a throw to AJ Barner on the wrong shoulder, but Barner also had an opportunity to catch it and did not do so. For the first time all game, Purdue's defense was off the field without points allowed. 

Pinned deep in their own territory, it seemed as if it was going to be another routine failure for the Purdue offense. In fact, it seemed that way all the way until halfway through the 3rd & 6 play. Card released the football on a fade looking for Mershawn Rice. As the camera panned, Michigan freshman CB DJ Waller was in perfect position to break it up.... and then he stopped running. Seemingly losing sight of the ball, Waller froze and allowed his perfect coverage to unravel into a 43 yard completion, Purdue's biggest play of the game. The first big play of the night didn't end up meaning anything, though, as Michigan promptly slammed the door and forced a punt with a blitz against a slant attempt. 

[Bryan Fuller]

Michigan drove into Purdue territory rather methodically and then got hit with one of the strangest penalties of the season, a "holding" on Blake Corum for being leaped on and dragged down by the blitzing linebacker. The terrible penalty didn't sink the drive, as Michigan's passing attack did get the yardage back, but ran into a wall thereafter. McCarthy's suddenly wavering accuracy led him to possibly overthrow an open Cornelius Johnson in the end zone (though Johnson may have jumped too early) and then McCarthy missed an open Colston Loveland on third down. James Turner booted a 31 yard FG to make it 20-0. 

Purdue's 6th drive of the first half was a 5th punt, another three-and-out. The Boilers got unexpected life immediately after when the punt by Jack Ansell bonked off the back of Michigan's Quinten Johnson (who was blocking), and Purdue recovered at the Michigan 34. Putting the offense right back out there, they got their second-best play of the day on a 21 yard QB draw by Card, down to the Michigan 13. That was the only first down they'd gain on this drive, however, and Card nearly threw a second INT to Will Johnson in the end zone. Head coach Ryan Walters took the points and Purdue got on the board thanks to the advantageous field position. 20-3. 

Michigan's next drive was a fiasco, this being the period of the game where things got firmly out of whack for the offense. The team continued to have no running room on the ground as they were facing a Cover 1 defense with no QB run threat (JJ run reads appeared to be turned off) and McCarthy missed an open Cornelius Johnson, plus an iffy throw to an open Tyler Morris. Michigan was then faced with a 4th & 1 from their own 34 and Jim Harbaugh opted to go for it, but Kalel Mullings' rush out of the shotgun was stuffed. Purdue's two star EDGE defenders Nic Scourton and Kydran Jenkins were slanting inside their blockers (Karsen Barnhart and (weirdly) Darrius Clemons) and penetrated into the backfield for the stop. 

[Bryan Fuller]

Purdue's offense was handed excellent field position for the second consecutive drive and yet again they gained one first down before eventually kicking a field goal. This kick was from 31 yards out and Purdue's previously abominable kicking game was 2/2 on the day. 20-6. Michigan got the ball with under 30 seconds to go in the half and did drive into Purdue territory but were unable to attempt a field goal, instead trying a Hail Mary that was never attempted. JJ McCarthy could never get the pass off and ran backwards 18 yards before being sacked by Nic Scourton to end the half. Michigan was clearly the better team, but there was a bit of rust. 

The sleepiness on offense continued in the second half. Michigan got the ball to open the back-half of the game and ended up punting. By this point, a key to success on defense for Purdue was apparent. The usually all-Cover 1 defense was dropping into a zone (often eight man) far more than seen previously this season and in the process, they were throwing McCarthy off his game. His decisions were being made slower than expected and the rush in the process was perhaps contributing to his wavering accuracy. 

The Purdue defense forced a punt on the first and second drive of the second half for the Wolverines but in between, their offense still couldn't get anything going. They went three-and-out on their opening series but thought they had a couple of first downs on their second drive, but one was called back on a chop block. On the ensuing 3rd & 14, Michigan was able to stop Purdue short of the line to gain, forcing a punt.

[Patrick Barron]

Michigan's third drive saw them finally break out of the offensive funk and it came on a brilliant playcall, a jet sweep for Semaj Morgan who used the great blocking and his own speed to gallop down the sideline and into the end zone. 44 yards and it was 27-6. Purdue went three-and-out yet again and Michigan's offense took the field again and kept on cooking. McCarthy was finding his mojo again with his best throw of the game, a beautiful tear-drop throw to Colston Loveland on a wheel route that got Michigan to the six. A pair of runs for Blake Corum and Michigan led 34-6. 

Jim Harbaugh would end up leaving his starters in the game deep into the fourth quarter for one of the only times all season, especially on offense. Reps were apparently needed and they made good use of those. Michigan ended up scoring on three of their final four full offensive possessions to close the game, with McCarthy's last drive seeing JJ rekindle his connection with Roman Wilson. They hooked up for 35 yards early and then picked up a red zone 3rd down with another 11 yards. Donovan Edwards got the opportunity to pay this one off and plunged in from one yard away to make it 41-6. 

Purdue did put one last drive together in the dying minutes against a Michigan defense increasingly composed of reserves. They dinked and dunked their way down the field and got set up with a 4th & 3 from the Michigan 24 with 26 seconds left. Deion Burks beat Mike Sainristil and Hudson Card made a pretty throw to find the end zone. In the process, Purdue became the first team all season to surpass 10 points on the Michigan defense. However, they were the 9th opponent who failed to run a play from inside Michigan's 10 yard line this season. Michigan's Jack Tuttle knelt the ball down as time expired and Michigan had a 41-13 victory. 

[Bryan Fuller]

This game was not competitive in any way. Michigan got out to a 17-0 lead before you could blink and the margin was never again within two touchdowns. Even when the two teams sat only 14 points apart, Purdue's offense was completely incapable of doing anything. Purdue's drive chart was the following: punt, punt, INT, punt, punt, punt, FG, FG, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, TD. When you remember that both FGs were drives starting in plus territory, that drive chart looks even more pathetic. If Michigan's special teams and offense don't turn it over twice in their own half of the field, a shutout would have been very realistic. Purdue's offense in total gained 269 yards, 43 of them on the one pass against DJ Waller (who is roughly Michigan's #6 corner). 75 of those yards came on the garbage time drive against the reserves. Yeah, Michigan's first team defense was dominant tonight. 

On offense, Michigan gained 445 yards, 335 of which were through the air. McCarthy's line, 24/37 for 335 yards, looks excellent but amazingly, it was probably his second-worst performance of the season. If nothing else, that speaks to the exceptional level of play he maintained this season. McCarthy wasn't bad by any stretch, but just a little bit looser than normal, accuracy and decision-making not quite as precise. Credit Ryan Walters for a good defensive game plan and the great EDGE rushers for Purdue created some havoc up front. The Boilers bottled up the Michigan rushing game pretty well, but they did not have the horses in the secondary to stop the Michigan aerial attack. 

Michigan is now 9-0 for the second consecutive season and for the third time in Jim Harbaugh's tenure (joining 2022 and 2016). They were ranked 3rd by the College Football Playoff Committee last week and now will have the chance to finally back that rating up with a signature win next weekend if they can knock off the Penn State Nittany Lions in State College. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]