Sloppy Michigan football tops Bowling Green, 31-6, despite slow start

Michigan football had a talent advantage over Bowling Green in every facet of the game, so what it primarily wanted to see Saturday was a clean performance with Big Ten play up next.

It got quite the opposite.

The Wolverines turned the ball over three times in the first half, and four times total, including three interceptions by quarterback J.J. McCarthy. U-M's offense started the second-half with a three-and-out, raising the threat of an actual upset, but an interception on the first play of the ensuing drive by defensive tackle Kris Jenkins propelled No. 2 Michigan to a dominant second half and 31-6 win over Bowling Green.

McCarthy finished 8-for-13 passing for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Cornelius Johnson had three catches for a team-high 71 yards and a touchdown, while Roman Wilson tied Desmond Howard with a program-record sixth receiving touchdown in the first 10 quarters of a season, finishing with two receptions for 42 yards and a TD.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Michigan football's Cornelius Johnson makes circus catch, tipping ball to himself for TD

Perhaps the best news for U-M, was returning All-American tailback Blake Corum looked like Blake Corum. The senior opened the night with a 54-yard run — his longest of the season — and he finished with his first 100-yard performance: 12 carries for 101 yards and one touchdown.

Still, U-M's running game struggles don't appear completely solved. The Wolverines ran 27 times for just 92 yards after the game's opening series — when Michigan picked up 77 yards on four rushes — and Donovan Edwards was held to just 50 yards on nine carries.

Bowling Green, coached by Scot Loeffeler, a former U-M quarterback (1993-97) and QB coach (2002-07), gave the Wolverines all they could handle early on, despite being shorthanded at quarterback.

The Falcons did so despite being without Connor Bazelak, who was ruled out before the game; BGSU turned to Camden Orth. The senior completed eight of 11 passes for 91 yards but was knocked out of the game in the second quarter and the Falcons bring in third-stringer Hayden Timosciek.

That's when things unraveled.

Uncharacteristically sloppy

Michigan's first-team offense hadn't turned the ball over through two games this season. That changed in a major way Saturday night.

On U-M's second possession, the Wolverines faced second-and-goal from the 5; McCarthy dropped back to pass and locked onto a crossing Roman Wilson. But he missed Bowling Green defensive back Jalen Huskey lurking in the zone; Huskey snagged the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

Bowling Green responded with a 12-play, 62-yard drive to put up the first points this season against U-M's first-team defense. The drive included third-and-10 and third-and-15 conversions. There also was a chance at a touchdown — Adieu Hiliare badly beat defensive back Josh Wallace on a double move, but he dropped the wide-open pass in the end zone.

Max Bredeson fumbled the resulting kickoff, setting up the Falcons' offense deep inside U-M territory. Although the defense prevented a first down, the Falcons knocked in a 42-yard kick to make it 7-6 with 11:39 left in the half.

Michigan's offense went back to work and appeared as if it would right its wrongs before another sloppy play by McCarthy. On first-and-10 from the Falcons' 31, the QB forced a deep ball to Cornelius Johnson, but it was undercut by Jordan Oladokun, who snagged the ball for U-M's third turnover.

Late in the third quarter, after U-M had taken control, McCarthy turned it over again. On second-and-5, he extended the play by rolling left, but instead of throwing it away, McCarthy forced the pass to Loveland and it was snagged by the Falcons defense.

It's just McCarthy's second career game with multiple interceptions, with the previous one coming in last December's Fiesta Bowl loss to TCU on New Year's Eve.

Ground game still searching

While U-M's performance underwhelmed, the night certainly didn't start that way.

On Michigan's first play from scrimmage, Corum ripped off a 54-yard counter run — the Wolverines' longest play from scrimmage of the season to that point — to set the tone. Edwards followed with an 11-yard run on a reverse, McCarthy kept the next run for 8 yards and Corum pounded in the fourth play of the night for a 4-yard touchdown.

Michigan was up 7-0, after a four-play, 77-yard drive, all on the ground.

The Wolverines stalled soon after, running 12 more times in the first half and managing just 35 yards. U-M's first 11 carries in the second half netted just 53 yards, with only one going for more than 10 yards (an 11-yard Edwards run) with the first unit on the field.

Corum, who has six rushing touchdowns, is the only Wolverine with a rushing TD through three games.

Defense suffocates again

Michigan doesn't have a top-level quarterback on its schedule until November — Penn State's Drew Allar — giving U-M plenty of cushion even in games in which its offense struggles.

On Saturday, Bowling Green was down to its third-string quarterback, and the Wolverines defense was able to attack because of it. Michigan opened the game with two sacks on its first two drives, both by defensive backs.

Keon Sabb had the first of his career when Orth temporarily lost control of the ball on a dropback to end the first possession, followed by Mike Sainristil leaping over a running back to drop Orth and put Bowling Green behind the sticks on the next.

Jaylen Harrell had an impressive night, especially in the second half. On U-M's first defensive play after halftime, he had a QB pressure to cause an interception by Jenkins, which he returned to the Bowling Green 2. On U-M's next defensive series, he had a strip sack, recovered by Michael Barrett.

His two forced turnovers led 10 of U-M's points. Michigan had 10 tackles for loss as a team, led by Mike Sainristil with two, and Cam Goode also added a sack.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football finishes strong in 31-6 win over Bowling Green