Offense Notes: Michigan Hits Goal Of Being A More Balanced Attack

Michigan Wolverines football ended the non-conference portion of its schedule in style, slamming Northern Illinois, 63-10, at The Big House Saturday afternoon.

The offense once again was led by its rushing attack, which is becoming a trend. The Wolverines rushed for 373 yards, topping 300 yards for the third straight week. This marks the first time since 2011 that the Maize and Blue have churned out 300-plus yards on the ground in three consecutive games.

Michigan has rushed for more yards in three clashes this season (1,051) than it did in six games all of last year (789).

Second-year freshman running back Blake Corum, who entered the afternoon as the nation's leader in all-purpose yards per game (221.5), has gone from breakout player in the opener to the offense's most productive star just two weeks later. He carried the ball 13 times for 125 yards (9.6 yards per carry) and three touchdowns, including a 51-yarder, becoming the first U-M player to rack up three rushing scores in back-to-back games this century.

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Corum also tallied his third straight 100-yard rushing game to begin the year, becoming the first Wolverine to accomplish the feat since former signal-caller Denard Robinson in 2010. Robinson was also the last U-M player to rack up 100-plus rushing yards in a trio of consecutive contests, regardless of where they were on the schedule (2011).

Corum now has seven rushing touchdowns and one receiving score on the season, leading the club in total scores.

Following the game, head coach Jim Harbaugh credited much of Corum's early-season success to his offseason habits.

"Blake Corum — special player," a grinning Harbaugh said. "The way he trains in the offseason ... it’s all out, all the time. His endurance; his strength.

"He is like a stalker in finding ways to get in the weight room. The door’s always open, and he’s getting stronger. From the day he got here, from the day he arrived on campus, just sets a tremendous example of somebody that has an amazing, tremendous work ethic."

Due to the lopsided nature of the victory, the Wolverines were able to hand the ball off to eight different players (not including rushes by the quarterbacks). Redshirt sophomore running back Hassan Haskins had nine carries for 56 yards (6.2 average) and two touchdowns, while freshman Donovan Edwards notched eight attempts for 86 yards (10.8) and the first two scores of his career.

Still, Corum insists, the Wolverines are not satisfied and have room for improvement.

“It think this is a good start," Corum explained. "We haven’t done much yet. It was definitely a great win against a good team in the MAC, but right now, it’s about this Big Ten play that’s coming up. Keep your head down, keep pushing, keep getting better.”

The Wolverines' offense was humming from the get-go, and scored touchdowns on its first nine drives. The team's 63 points were the most since U-M hung 78 at Rutgers Oct. 8, 2016. The Wolverines didn't punt in a game for the first time since Nov. 5, 2016, and they went a perfect 6 for 6 in the red zone.

The efficiency was not just due to the run game, either. The passing attack was unleashed, after throwing for just 44 yards during last week's 31-10 victory over Washington, a goal entering the game.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara completed 8 of his 11 passes for 191 yards and one touchdown, an 87-yard connection with sophomore wideout Cornelius Johnson, who finished with a trio of catches for 117 yards on five targets. The deep ball score marked the team's longest touchdown toss in nearly 15 years (Ryan Mallett to Mario Manningham connected for 97 yards against Wisconsin in 2007) and stands as the third-longest touchdown pass in program history.

The Wolverines have been adamant that they'll take what the defense gives, and they knew coming in they'd be able to air it out a bit more.

"We knew that this defense was going to play a little low, based on what we saw on film," McNamara said. "[Offensive coordinator] Coach [Josh] Gattis called some shots, and we were able to execute them. I think we took three shots, mainly, and connected on one of them, so we’ve got some work to do."

The Maize and Blue were able to total 233 yards through the air, with freshman signal-caller J.J McCarthy taking the bulk of the second-half snaps, finishing 4-of-6 passing for 42 yards.

"That was a goal of ours going into the game — we wanted to rush for 200 yards [and] we wanted to pass for 200 yards," Harbaugh added. "Felt like the timing’s there [in the pass game]"

• Michigan's eight rushing touchdowns on the day tied for the second-most in school history, with the record being nine running scores.

• Redshirt junior wide receiver Daylen Baldwin, a Jackson State transfer, made the first start of his U-M career. He totaled three receptions for 23 yards.

• McNamara has attempted 108 career passes without throwing an interception, and he's engineered scoring drives on 24 of his 37 possessions (20 touchdowns and four field goals) dating back to last season.

• The Michigan offense has not turned the ball over yet this season.

• Michigan scored on its first offensive drive of the game for the second time in three games.

• Haskins has rushed for a touchdown in each of his last five outings, dating back to last season.

• Corum, Haskins and Edwards all recorded multiple rushing touchdowns. The last time Michigan had multiple rushers score more than once in a game was when Chris Evans and Karan Higdon did it against Minnesota Nov. 4, 2017.

• In total, 106 Michigan players saw action in the game, including five quarterbacks (McNamara, McCarthy, freshman Dan Villari, redshirt sophomore Alan Bowman and freshman walk-on Jesse Madden).

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