3 takeaways from Michigan's 31-6 win over Bowling Green

Michigan football overcame a sloppy first half and pulled away from Bowling Green in the final 30 minutes on Saturday night to come away with a 31-6 win in its final non-conference game of the season.

Here are three takeaways (and a bonus one) from the game.

The Wolverines were without cornerback Will Johnson and safety Rod Moore for the game against the Falcons as both are trying to overcome injuries before Big Ten play begins next week.

In the first two games, Keon Sabb and Keshaun Harris were able to fill in nicely, with Josh Wallace locking down the other cornerback spot. Combined, the secondary was able to really limit East Carolina and UNLV in weeks one and two.

However, even while missing starting quarterback Connor Bazelak, the Indiana transfer, the Falcons were able to find success in the air in the first half, beginning on its opening play when backup quarterback Camden Orth found receiver Odieu Hiliare down the right sideline, beating Harris on what was a fantastic catch.

The second instance of a Wolverine defensive back getting beat on a deep ball came with just over four minutes left in the first quarter, when nickleback Mike Sainristil got caught not staying on top of his man on the route and was beat for 33 yards by Abdul-Fatai Ibrahim.

Then, it was Wallace getting burned with 14 seconds left in the first quarter on a play that should have been a touchdown, but was dropped in the endzone by Hiliare.

Orth was taken out in the second quarter (the reason is unclear) and was replaced by Hayden Timosciek, who wasn't able to put as much pressure on Michigan's seconday down the field.

To the Wolverines' credit, the defensive line started to create much more pressure as the game wore on, especially on the Kris Jenkins interception to begin the second half, which took some pressure off of the back end.

And safety Quentin Johnson made a nice play on an interception in the second quarter, which was a positive on the night for the secondary.

However, the Falcons were able to push the ball down the field and make some plays enough times in the first half to give Michigan some cause for concern in the back end, making the need to get Johnson and Moore back as quickly as possible even greater.

In the first two games, the play of J.J. McCarthy was nearly flawless, putting passes in tight windows in coverage and helping Michigan move the chains with some clutch third-and-long throws.

The performance on Saturday night, however, was far from perfect for the Michigan quarterback—especially in the first half, when he threw two interceptions and missed Tyler Morris late in the first half on what would have been a sure touchdown that could have given the Wolverines some more comfort in the game early.

On his first pick when he was attempting to find Roman Wilson in the endzone, it looked as if tight end AJ Barner may have been trying to improvise and find space after his initial route wasn't open and just happened to lead the player who was covering him into the route of the throw.

But McCarthy's other two interceptions are ones he will surely like to have back, with one coming on an underthrown pass to Wilson in the second quarter, and his third coming late in the third on a ball he should have just thrown away as he tried to make something out of nothing.

Certainly, it wasn't all negative for McCarthy, as he hooked up with Wilson on a nice throw on a 33-yard score in the second quarter, and found Cornelius Johnson on a deep ball down the sideline in the third for a 50-yard score on what was a great catch by Johnson on a tipped pass.

But at the end of the day, three turnovers from your quarterback is never anything a coach wants to see, and that certainly isn't going to cut it against better competition.

Beyond McCarthy's decision making, there were come protection issues with the offensive line that caused him to bail the pocket and be rushed in certain situations that also has to get cleaned up.

As Michigan fans have seen in the past, McCarthy is a level headed player and does well with moving on from mistakes, and I don't think there's any reason to believe he won't bounce back from this performance.

I think it's more likely to just be chalked up as an off night and "get it out of your system" type of game for the Michigan quarterback.

The one area of the Michigan offense that had yet to fully get going yet in the non-coreference season had been the running game coming into Saturday.

Last week, the Wolverines showed some flashes as Blake Corum found some space against UNLV.

Certainly, it wasn't a panic situation, as part of not getting some of those explosive runs Michigan fans have been used to seeing from Corum and Donovan Edwards has been teams playing heavy boxes and selling out to stop the run.

However, the positive for the offense against the Falcons was the fact the Wolverines were able to establish a ground game from the jump, when Corum went for 52 yards on the offenses first play from scrimmage on a drive that ended with a touchdown on four runs.

Corum finished the night with 12 attempts for 101 yards and two touchdowns, while Edwards had 50 yards on nine attempts.

Overall, Michigan ran the ball for 169 yards for a 5.5 yard average and had some encouraging signs in that aspect of its offense.

It was especially important to get the running game established before the Rutgers game next weekend, as the Greg Schiano's team is stout against the run and physical at the point of attack.

The first half was certainly a forgettable one for Michigan on this night, as all three phases contributed to the all-around sloppiness in the first 30 minutes.

I thought the turnover on special teams was a microcosm of Michigan's lack of focus in the first half, as Max Bredeson's fumble on a kickoff was a ball that should have been fair caught in the first place.

Then, on the Falcons' next kickoff, Michigan let the ball bounce and nearly gave it away again on special teams.

Overall, the lack of focus and discipline really cost Michigan chance to completely run away with this one, as the team will have a lot to clean up before it hosts Rutgers next week.