By John Raffel

Ann Arbor, MI

Michigan is 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten Conference, but coach Brady Hoke and his players are aware that there are several skeptics wondering if the November blues won't haunt the Wolverines for another season.

Fitzgerald Toussaint ran for two touchdowns in leading No. 17 Michigan over the Purdue Boilermakers 36-14 Saturday in Big Ten football action at Michigan Stadium.

The Wolverines now hit the road for games at Iowa and Illinois before playing Nebraska and Ohio State at home.

"We'll find out more next week," said Michigan coach Brady Hoke. "It's still a work in progress."

"We focus on going out there and preparing every week for a Saturday," Toussaint said.

Still, there are some that point to failures of Michigan teams in the past few years during the critical weeks of November.

"We don't care about what others might say," said quarterback Denard Robinson said. "It's all about the team."

Toussaint ran 59 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to give Michigan a 29-7 lead. Michael Shaw added a 37-yard-run in the fourth quarter for another touchdown.

Purdue's only score in the second half came with 15 seconds to play on a 19-yard pass from Robert Marve to O.J. Ross.

Robinson scored on a 2-yard run on Michigan's first drive of the game to tie the score at 7-7. Purdue scored on the game's first drive with Caleb TerBush passing 8 yards to Gary Bush.

"Anytime you march down the field and score on your first possession, it's not frustrating," said Purdue coach Danny Hope. "After that, we didn't execute very well."

In the second quarter, Mike Martin sacked TerBush in the end zone for a safety and a 9-7 lead. The Wolverines scored 13 more points on two field goals of 37 and 22 yards by Brendan Gibbons and a 2-yard scoring scamper by Toussaint.

Michigan had a 535-311 advantage in total yards. Toussaint gained 170 yards on 20 carries while Robinson added 63 yards rushing and 170 passing on nine completions.

"Michigan football, as I know it, is playing defense, first and foremost," said Hoke. "Naturally, people think of Michigan's defense and the way it plays football."

Purdue only had 89 yards rushing and 222 yards passing. TerBush was 9-of-13 for 156 yards and Marve 8-of-14 for 66 yards.

"Some of the things we wanted to do on the perimeter, we didn't use it," Hope said. 'Michigan played better on the perimeter."

Purdue is 4-4 and 2-2.

 

 

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