The Seeker

Tommy Carr's first career TD pass was great, but Salesi Moa's catch was even better (Rachel Leggett)

I'm looking for me

You're looking for you

We're looking at each other

And we don't know what to do

They call me the seeker

I been searchin low and high

I won't get to get what I'm after

Till the day I die

"The Seeker" by The Who from their 1970 single of the same name.

There's not a whole lot to say about a game where, if the quarter scores were reversed, there would be even less to say.  Michigan looked middling to start, had a couple of costly turnovers, got burned by a clever play design on 3rd and 1 to lead to UTEP's first touchdown and just got beat on a sudden change play for UTEP's second score.  Beyond that, Michigan's defense, when it stopped stalling out, started to look as promised, though clearly harmed by the loss of yet another offensive line starter for the game.  But, whatever adjustments were made at halftime clearly worked, as Michigan set forth a 28-point outburst in the third quarter, capped off by an end of quarter Jonah Lea'ea thicc six. The other highlight was Salesi Moa's touchdown reception in the fourth, providing Tommy Carr with his first career touchdown pass (he looked good, but the backup QB is always extremely popular, moreso when he's the grandson of a pair of program legends.  Tom Curtis was a consensus All-America and a College Football Hall of Famer, and owns Michigan's career record for interceptions, he's a Michigan legend.)

This game should have been perfunctory and it wasn't until it was. Michigan will not be able to sleepwalk through B1G games in the first half if they want to win, and I am hoping that they can learn the correct lessons from this game, because Iowa is on the horizon next week and every goal is still on the table, even if it was a moderately ugly way to arrive here after three weeks.

Tales from the Spreadsheet

• 52-17 is NOT a Scorigami!  It has happened two previous times: 1995 Minnesota and 2022 Rutgers.
• Win 1,024 (2^10 wins!)
• 110,698 were "in attendance" for the game (the forecast for rain dampened turn out), the 97th-largest crowd in Michigan Stadium history.
• Michigan moves to 1-0-0 all-time against the University of Texas El Paso.
• Michigan moves to 8-0-0 all-time on September 19, all eight games in Ann Arbor.
• Michigan moves to 14-0-0 when scoring exactly 52 points (the most recent 52 point effort was 2023 Indiana).
• Michigan moves to 39-16-2 all-time when allowing 17 points to the opposition (This is the first time Michigan has allowed 17 points in a game since...2025 New Mexico).
• Michigan has won 23 games all-time by precisely 35 points, the most recent examples being the 2018 Rutgers game and the 2022 Rutgers game.