Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson scrambles to recover his own fumble in the fourth quarter.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Possessions were limited. That much, the Michigan football team expected.

Given the nature of Wisconsin's time-consuming, ball-control offense, the Wolverines figured they had to make the most of their chances in Saturday's home finale.

Then Michigan failed to produce any first-half points in a 48-28 loss to the No. 6-ranked Badgers on Saturday.

First came an over-thrown Denard Robinson pass that eluded Darryl Stonum. Then came an unsuccessful 30-yard field goal attempt from the center of the field that clanked off the right upright.

The missed opportunities were made more obvious when added to a handful of dropped passes, two three-and-out offensive series and other failings that didn't stop until Michigan trailed by 24 points.

"The guys didn't quit, but we certainly didn't play well, didn't tackle well, didn't catch the ball well, didn't execute on either side of the ball at times. And when you do that against a good team, you're going to get beat," Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said.

"We have to have things go right for us, and things didn't go right for us."

Michigan ran just 26 plays in the first half. By the end of the second quarter, when the Wolverines retreated to the tunnel at halftime to a large echo of boos, they had gained 124 offensive yards. Michigan punted twice, missed the field goal and then elected to run out the clock at the end of the half without aggressively attacking the Badgers.

Rodriguez said afterward he made the decision to go conservative at the end, knowing his team would get the ball to start the second half.

"We just came out real flat," said Robinson, who threw for 22 yards on 4-of-10 passing during the first two quarters while running for 74 of the Wolverines' 102 yards on the ground. "That's basically what happened, and you can't come out flat against a team like that."

The next question was logical: Why did it happen?

"I don't know," Robinson replied.

The same question was directed to running back Vincent Smith, who gained 28 yards on six carries in the first half before finishing the game with 50 yards on 11 attempts.

"I don't know," he said. "I guess it was us just coming out, playing lazy, but (after that), we knew he had to come out and play hard."

Michigan had not been held scoreless for a half since 2008 when the Wolverines were shut out for the final two quarters in a 13-10 loss to Toledo. Two weeks earlier, the Wolverines didn't dent Wisconsin's defense until the second half when they erased a 19-0 halftime deficit to stun the Badgers, 27-25.

On Saturday, Michigan got rolling in the third quarter, opening the half with a 10-play, 71-yard drive capped by Robinson's 24-yard touchdown pass to Stonum. It was the first of four second-half Michigan touchdowns. Twice, Michigan got to within 10 points in the second half.

But when the Wolverines couldn't recover two on-side kick attempts and Michigan's defense couldn't shut down Wisconsin's running game, the first-half struggles proved pivotal.

"We were always fighting uphill," Rodriguez said. "That's tough to do when a team can run the football like they can."

"It's frustrating," offensive coordinator Calvin Magee said. "We had some things open early. ... and you want to have time (at halftime) to get things straight and come out in the second half and play better, but you really want to start faster than that."

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.