Michigan’s Corum paces blowout of Northern Illinois
ANN ARBOR » Blake Corum rushed for 123 yards and three touchdowns as No. 25 Michigan routed Northern Illinois, 63-10 on Saturday.
The Wolverines (3-0) scored touchdowns on their first nine drives, eight of them on the ground. The 10th drive also included a touchdown run, but it was called back for a holding penalty and Michigan turned the ball over on downs. The Wolverines never
punted.
“We were really, really good today, but we know there’s always room to improve,” Corum said. “When we say we want to play a perfect game, that means going through today’s film and fix all of those small mistakes.”
Northern Illinois got its touchdown with 8:28 to play.
“I’m not going to take anything away from Michigan,” Huskies coach Tom Hammock said. “They beat us soundly in all three phases of the game. That’s a better football team than us, and that’s the bottom line.”
The Huskies (1-2) kicked a field goal on their second possession of the game, but it was already clear they were in major trouble.
“We’ve given up 113 points in our last two games, and that’s a seri
ous problem,” Hammock said. “It’s easy to say that’s because of the competition we are playing - that’s a team built to beat Ohio State - but we need to get better.”
Michigan scored short rushing touchdowns on its first four possessions, two by Hassan Haskins, to take a 28-3 lead in the second quarter.
The Wolverines changed up a bit on the fifth possession, scoring on an 87-yard pass from Cade McNamara to Cornelius Johnson - the third-longest passing play in school history - to lead 35-3 at the half.
The Wolverines switched quarterbacks at halftime, putting in J.J. McCarthy, but he hadn’t thrown a pass when Corum scored on a 49-yard run to increase the margin to 42-3. Michigan used six quarterbacks in the game. “This was a very inspiring day, because this team is playing so hard and putting forth really, really tremendous play,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “We’re getting used to be being this good.”
While Michigan hadn’t played Northern Illinois since a 33-17 victory in 2005, there was still an element of revenge for the Wolverines. Huskies quarterback Rocky Lombardi led Michigan State to a 2723 win last season.
“There’s quite a bit of positive we can take away from this game,” said Lombardi, who finished with 46 yards on 9 for 17 passing and an interception. “But we were overmatched - that’s a very, very good defense, and a very, very good team.”
Corum said the team wasn’t counting any accomplishments before the Big Ten season starts next Saturday.