Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald: Michigan Wolverines ‘were as advertised,’ confirming earlier suspicions

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was a tale of two halves in many regards for Michigan football vs. Northwestern. Though the Wolverines drove the field in the first half, they didn’t start finishing until the second. The Wildcats made the game close thanks to a 75-yard scamper by running back Evan Hull to make the game 10-7 Michigan at halftime.

But the maize and blue scored 23-unanswered points in the second half to put the game away, 33-7.

As the teams battled for the brand new George Jewett Trophy, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald lamented that his team couldn’t do enough to win the game, but in his eyes, that’s because of the Wolverines and what kind of team the Wildcats had to play.

“Didn’t get the inaugural win, but credit Michigan,” Fitzgerald said. “I thought they had a great second half and what they were able to take advantage of, quite frankly, some of our misfortunes — not protecting a punt, not tackling how we had in the first half, and then not being able to finish or sustain drives, putting our defense in a tough situation.

“Proud of the way our guys came up here to fight. Michigan is an outstanding football team. Credit Coach Harbs and his staff. But we have a lot to play here for moving forward and we’re gonna need our students and our fans next week when we come back home.”

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The Wolverines got back to really dominating on the ground, with the rushing attack reaching 294 yards on Saturday. Blake Corum has 19 carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns while Hassan Haskins had 23 carries for 111 yards and two touchdowns of his own. If it wasn’t for the sack on Cade McNamara — only the second of the season for the first-year Wolverines starter — Michigan would have had over 300 yards on the ground for the fourth time in seven games. Still, it has managed 200 or more yards in five of seven.

“They’re the best rushing offense in the country for a reason,” Fitzgerald said. “They’ve got a great offensive line, really good tight ends, and they’ve got a two-headed monster at running back that’s as good or better than anybody in the country. They have great talent, great scheme, and they executed pretty darn well today. And we also helped them a lot in the second half with our tackling technique and not fitting gaps properly.”

On Monday, in Fitzgerald’s preview of this contest, he noted that Michigan looked like the best team that Northwestern would play this year — a bold statement considering the opening week loss to Michigan State, which is still unbeaten.

Now that the Wildcats have played both teams, Fitzgerald feels that the Wolverines confirmed his suspicions, noting that he thinks there are elements of the maize and blue that are underappreciated.

“They were exactly what we thought they’d be,” Fitzgerald said. “Real physical on both sides of the ball, two backs that are as good as anybody in the country. I don’t think that (Cade McNamara) gets enough credit. I think he’s poised, I think he does a really good job taking what the defense gives him. I think the receivers can take the top off. The tight ends are long, can run. Their back end can fly around — I love the way their back end plays, they’re in unison. They got really talented guys in the kick game.

“They were as advertised.”

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What Jim Harbaugh said after Michigan football beat Northwestern