Michigan football, Blake Corum throttle Nebraska, 34-3, to remain unbeaten

Another week, another Michigan football beatdown of a lesser opponent.

The only difference Saturday was the Wolverines didn't wait until the second half to get going.

Michigan (10-0) wasn't perfect in the first half, punting twice and handling the clock in a strange fashion at the end of the second quarter, but went into the break up by two touchdowns — their largest halftime lead in Big Ten play — and never looked back, steamrolling Nebraska, 34-3.

It's the first time the Wolverines started a season 10-0 since 2006.

For the seventh consecutive game, Blake Corum had more than 100 yards on the ground (he had 103 by halftime) and a score, this time he racked up 162 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries.

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J.J. McCarthy was far from his best, he connected on just two of his first seven attempts and finished the day 8-for-17 but did have a touchdown to Ronnie Bell midway through the second quarter, a rushing score late in the third and one final touchdown in the fourth — a 29-yard pass

Michigan's defense dominated once again, which was the expectation coming in. Nebraska came into play with its backup quarterback, Chubba Purdy, after transfer Casey Thompson was ruled out Thursday with a hand injury. But Purdy was knocked out midway through the second quarter after taking a hit when he slid awkwardly for a first down.

The drive, which was finished by Logan Smothers at quarterback, resulted in the Huskers' only points of the game.

Offense goes ground and pound

Michigan's attack wasn't exciting, but it was effective, running 23 times in the first half for 109 yards, 103 of which came from Corum. The Wolverines set the tone on their 12-play, 80-yard opening drive; they ran nine times (none of which gained more than 9 yards) and passed three times.

Corum had a 4-yard catch, then had gains of seven, five, three, six, one and two as he pounded in his 17th touchdown of the season, which put him into a tie with Anthony Thomas for fifth-most in a single season in program history.

After the next two drives lasted just seven combined plays − McCarthy was 0-for-4 passing with a sack mixed in − Michigan went back to the ground. The Wolverines' next drive featured three runs by Corum for five, seven and five yards, then a play-action pass (off a fake to Corum) to Colston Loveland for a gain of 28 yards.

After Nebraska failed to set the edge on the next run and Corum bounced it outside right for a gain of 12 to make it first-and-goal, Michigan called another play-action, which led to Bell running wide open in the end zone for his first touchdown reception since Week 2 against Hawaii.

Curiously, the Wolverines took their time on the final drive of half and settled for a field goal, going into the break with two of their three timeouts remaining.

The Wolverines on the second drive of the second half marched on a 10-play, 65-yard drive, rushing the ball nine times. After Corum had consecutive rushes for seven and 10 yards to get down to the Nebraska 3, McCarthy kept the designed run around the left side for the walk-in touchdown.

Four running backs touched the ball on the drive; Corum, C.J. Stokes, Isaiah Gash and Tavierre Dunlap, but Donovan Edwards never entered. He touched the ball twice in the first quarter, rushing for 13 yards, and stood next to coaches on the sideline with a helmet on, but didn't go into the game over the final three quarters.

Corum didn't enter the game in the fourth quarter, but Stokes showed flashes with consecutive runs of 17, 15 and 14 to get into Nebraska territory. On second-and-6, McCarthy found Bell on a crossing route who broke a tackle, stayed in bounds and scampered up the right sideline but fumbled the ball just before he crossed the goal line.

Andrel Anthony recovered the ball in the end zone as it was headed out of bounds and was credited with the touchdown.

Stokes finished with eight carries for 68 yards, a career best, as Michigan ran 49 times for 264 yards.

Defense dominates from start to finish

Nebraska gained 34 yards on its first drive, 30 of which came on a third-and-6 deep ball to one of the Big Ten's best receivers, Trey Palmer. The Huskers also put together a 12-play, 47-yard drive shortly before the half when Purdy got knocked out of the game.

Outside of those two efforts that netted 81 yards, the Huskers managed just 60 more yards on the day. Michigan's rushing defense, which entered the game No. 1 in the nation allowing less than 73 rushing yards per game, maintained its status quo, allowing 75 yards on 29 carrries (2.6 per attempt).

Anthony Grant, the Huskers leading rusher coming into play, was held to just 22 yards on 11 carries.

Purdy completed his first three passes of the day, but he went 6-for-12 for 56 yards on the day while Smothers went 4-for-8 and just 15 yards as the Huskers had just eight first downs on the day.

Michigan completed its fourth second-half shutout in its last five games and has now outscored opponents in those quarters, 117-3.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football throttles Nebraska to remain unbeaten