Sunday, September 18, 2005

David Guralnick / The Detroit News Kevin Grady eludes the grasp of Eastern Michigan's Michael Richardson in the first half. Michigan led 38-0 at halftime.

Michigan 55, Eastern Michigan 0

U-M's offense strikes quickly

A 28-point first quarter ties a school record in the Wolverines' primer for the Big Ten season.

By Angelique S. Chengelis / The Detroit News

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ANN ARBOR -- With the start of the Big Ten season looming large, Michigan's offense got a much-needed jolt of confidence at the expense of overmatched Eastern Michigan.

The 14th-ranked Wolverines, smarting from a lackluster performance in a loss to Notre Dame that dropped them 11 spots in the national polls, wasted no time, scoring on four of their five first-quarter possessions on the way to a 55-0 victory at Michigan Stadium on Saturday. The Wolverines' last shutout victory was against Notre Dame in 2003 (38-0), and it was their largest margin of victory since a 58-0 victory over Houston two years ago.

Now it's on to Wisconsin for the first of two Big Ten road games as Michigan goes for its third straight conference title.

"What I like is we didn't slop around and play with a lot of mistakes," coach Lloyd Carr said. "We didn't turn the football over, so (there is) a lot of good things there. Now we're ready to go into the Big Ten schedule and try to find a way to win a championship."

Michigan was effective in every phase on offense. It totaled 465 yards, including 264 rushing, and converted on 10 of 14 third-down opportunities.

Sophomore quarterback Chad Henne, coming off a difficult performance against Notre Dame, played the first two quarters, completing 13 of 19 passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns, two to Jason Avant (eight catches, 93 yards) and the other to fullback Brian Thompson.

Sophomore tailback Max Martin, starting in place of injured Mike Hart, had 26 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Jerome Jackson and Alijah Bradley ran for a touchdown each.

Partly because of injuries, but mostly because the game was in hand early, Carr was able to use several younger players. Freshman Mario Manningham started at receiver, and freshman receiver Antonio Bass made his college debut.

"You learn a lot," Carr said. "When you're coming off two very physical games where we really did not have an opportunity to play some of our younger players ... when you're playing some of these nonconference games where they all come down to the wire, then you have less opportunity to develop and prepare your team to be much better at the end of the season."

The Wolverines are still nursing injuries on offense. Starting tight end Tim Massaquoi did not play for a second straight game, and they went with their third starting lineup on the offensive line.

Michigan could do no wrong in the first half. It took a 38-0 lead into halftime after gaining 261 yards of offense and converting on 6 of 8 third-down opportunities. It also scored 28 points in the first quarter, tying a school record set against Rice in 2000.

Steve Breaston gave Michigan a boost early, returning a punt after EMU's first possession 72 yards to the EMU 10-yard line. That led to Martin's first touchdown.

EMU was forced to punt on its next possession, but the snap went over punter Andrew Wellock's head and Michigan took over at the EMU 20, leading to another quick score. Four minutes in the game, U-M led, 14-0.

"When Steve Breaston runs 72 yards on you, and then you follow up with a long snap over the punter's head, it was just so representative of playing at Michigan," EMU coach Jeff Genyk said. "We did some things that we just don't do. It's part of Michigan's athleticism but also playing in this environment."

Defensively, Michigan looked sound, but EMU did not offer much of a challenge. Matt Bohnet, who entered the game ranked fourth in the Mid-American Conference in pass efficiency, struggled early and finished 13-of-25 for 118 yards with an interception. EMU's running game was virtually nonexistent. It had minus-20 yards in the first half and finished with 15.