Breaston, Henne lead Wolverines' field day in Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan Wolverines said all week

they were concentrating on Indiana, not Ohio State.

They proved it.

Chad Henne had three touchdown passes in the first half as No.

21 Michigan built a huge lead and coasted to a 41-14 victory over

the Hoosiers on Saturday without scoring after halftime.

"We were going to know as soon as this game was over, and

everybody would know, whether we improved or not," Michigan coach

Lloyd Carr said. "It's not easy to stay focused.

"When you're favored and you have the game like the next one in

front of you, it's easy to get distracted."

The Wolverines (7-3, 5-2 Big Ten) won their fourth straight,

avoiding a letdown coming off a bye and heading into the

regular-season finale at home against the Buckeyes.

"We tried to take care of business," said Steve Breaston, who

had 201 all-purpose yards and a TD. "Now we can look forward to

next week."

Indiana (4-6, 1-6) fell out of bowl contention with its fifth

consecutive setback, and 14th in a row to Michigan.

"I feel bad for our seniors," Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner

said. "They're not going to get what they want."

Indiana scored on the opening possession of the game, then

Michigan took control.

While the Wolverines didn't let Indiana do much on the ground or

through the air, they did whatever they wanted on offense.

Henne's passing, Kevin Grady's two TD runs and Breaston's

do-it-all performance gave the Wolverines a 41-7 lead at halftime.

It was Michigan's highest-scoring first half since scoring 45

against Indiana in 2000.

Henne was 17-of-24 for 174 yards and three TDs, then was

relieved in the second half by Matt Gutierrez. Grady had a

career-high 94 yards rushing and two TDs filling in for Mike Hart,

who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. Jason

Avant had five receptions for 66 yards and a TD.

In the first half alone, Breaston had three receptions for 46

yards and a score; a 30-yard run; a 47-yard kickoff return; and

three punt returns for 78 yards.

Teammate Dave Harris said teams would be wise to kick the ball

away from Breaston.

"They press their luck and get burned," Harris said.

Indiana's Blake Powers was 10-of-19 for 112 yards with a TD and

an interception, without his top two targets: James Hardy

(injuries) and James Bailey (academics).

The Hoosiers opened the game with a 77-yard drive, capped by

Powers' 42-yard TD pass to Jahkeen Gilmore.

"We were very upset," Michigan defensive tackle Gabe Watson

said. "We gathered up on the sideline and said, 'We can't have

this anymore. We have to go out, stop them and get three and

outs."

After the impressive start, Indiana had three straight

three-and-out drives while Michigan pulled away.

The Hoosiers' day began to unravel on special teams, a facet of

the game that has hurt them this season.

"We're going to try and get people out there who can actually

kick," Hoeppner said. "We can't get exposed in the kicking game

like we did."

After their first kickoff went out of bounds, Michigan declined

the penalty and that led to Breaston's return to the Hoosiers' 34.

Henne's 5-yard pass to Tyler Ecker -- inches over safety Will Meyers

-- started the scoring.

Indiana was called for penalties on its first two punts -- one a

15-yard penalty for hitting Breaston before the ball got to him --

and on its third, Breaston had a 53-yard return.

Grady's tackle-breaking, 32-yard run, Michigan's longest run for

a score this season, gave the Wolverines a 27-7 lead midway through

the second quarter.

Henne's 11-yard pass to Breaston with 23 seconds left in the

half put the Wolverines ahead 41-7.

Most of Michigan's starters on both sides of the ball joined

Henne and Breaston on the sideline midway through the third

quarter.

Gutierrez's fumble early in the fourth quarter led to Graeme

McFarland's 7-yard pass to Brandon Walker-Roby to make it 41-14.

"It hurts," Indiana defensive tackle Greg Brown said. "We

didn't come out to play in the first half. We wanted to play 12

games this season and that's not going to happen."