ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With UTEP having come to town, it was supposed to be as close to a gimme game as Michigan football could have. And yet, the Wolverines looked closer to how it did against Western Michigan in Week 1 than Oklahoma in Week 2, taking just a three-point lead into the locker room at halftime, on the heels of some ill-timed penalties and two turnovers.
However, in the second half, the Wolverines came alive, looking much better and expanding the 17-14 halftime lead to 52-17 over the Miners.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham was cognizant that the first half was not what the maize and blue needed, nor was it what it should have looked like. He diagnosed at halftime that the team just wasn't fired up enough -- which, given the opponent and the rainy
weather, stood to reason for 18-to-22-year-olds. Yet, the team took the challenge and played with much more excitement, which paid off with a blowout victory.
"First half, not good enough," Whittingham said. We only had six possessions, and if you'd give it away on two of the six possessions and have a three-and-out, it doesn't leave a lot of room for production. And so that was disappointing.
"I didn't think we had the passion and energy that we needed as well. So that was our talk at halftime, is to, hey, enjoy what you're doing, have fun, raise the level of passion, raise the level of energy, and take care of the football. And that's exactly what we did in that second half, and you saw the result. So it was a tale of two halves, but I don't believe in judging the game in segments. You judge a game in its entirety, and in its entirety, I thought we played pretty darn good football, and it was a nice win for us. "
This is still a very young team, and one that's learning how to win under a new head coach and with new systems on both sides of the ball. Whittingham said he wasn't about to go into the locker room and yell at halftime as much as he just looked to encourage them to play the type of game they're capable of more than anything else.
"Every week's a little bit different, but I told them, 'Hey, we're going to be just fine if we'll get excited about what we're doing," Whittingham said. "Because we had a great week of practice, and two weeks in a row of outstanding preparation. I said, 'If you guys get excited and play, and have the same energy you had last week against a top 10 team, or a No. 11 team, then that's who we can be. And so you got to have fun, you got to enjoy what you're doing.' And that combined with taking care of the football, like I said, at the onset of this, that was really the formula for success in the second half."
With this game in the rearview, Michigan will focus on Big Ten play, with 3-0 Iowa coming to The Big House next week.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham reveals halftime message that sparked Michigan rout
