Michigan Football: Breaking Down the Stats for the Northwestern Game

The Michigan Wolverines looked like two completely different teams in both halves of their game against Northwestern last week.

The Wolverines trailed 24-14 at halftime, but took over the game and outscored Northwestern 28-0 in the second half.

Here are some numbers to snack on from Michigan's Saturday night showdown with Northwestern.

0—The number of second half points for the Northwestern Wildcats against Michigan. Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa put up 24 points on Michigan's defense in the first half, but came up empty in the second half.

1—The number of times Michigan had to punt all game. Michigan was stellar on their third down conversions, which meant that the Wolverines were never out of it despite a dismal first half.

2—The number of turnovers by Northwestern. Both were in the second half, and thwarted any offense that the Wildcats had going for themselves.

3—The number of first half interceptions for Denard Robinson. These interceptions weren't just bad, some weren't even close to receivers.

4—Number of sacks for Michigan's defense. Michigan's offense gave up zero sacks. Michigan's defense had been very unsuccessful getting to the quarterback before the Northwestern game, attaining only five sacks before they played Northwestern.

5—Penalties for each team. The game seemed to be dominated by the officials. This became more obvious when they missed a 12 men on the field call against Northwestern, and then a face-mask that should have been called against Michigan.

7—Number of plays that Northwestern ran in the entire third quarter. That quarter marked a distinct turn around in the game as Michigan's defense held Northwestern to 17 total yards forcing an interception as well as a punt.

8—Rushing first downs by Michigan. Michigan ran the ball an astounding 50 times against Northwestern, but only gained 179 total yards on the ground. Northwestern only ran the ball 25 times.

12.9—yards per pass for Michigan on offense. Michigan's Denard Robinson came back from a brutal first half to go 17-26 with 337 yards passing.

14-17—Michigan's third down conversion rate. Over 82 percent on third down isn't too bad if I do say so myself. Michigan also went 1-1 on fourth down conversions.

26—Number of first downs that Northwestern's offense came up with against Michigan. A great many for Michigan to surrender. It wasn't enough in the end though.

28—Number of second half points for Michigan. Northwestern's offense had no answers for Michigan when they were on the field. Michigan dominated time of possession in that third quarter as well, giving Northwestern just over two minutes of offensive possession.

454—Total offensive yardage by Michigan's Denard Robinson. Robinson stole the show once again, outgaining Northwestern's entire offense by himself.

541—Total offensive yards for Michigan, outgaining Northwestern by 103 total yards; once again, the Denard Robinson show prevailed.

That's it for now.

But follow Isaac on Twitter for more article updates.