Detroit Sports Yap with Knapp: 5 Takeaways from the #4 Michigan Wolverines 31-10 Win Against the Indiana Hoosiers
Could the Michigan Wolverines hold off the feisty Hoosiers?
After another wild weekend for myself, I am back for a day to give you my takeaways from the Michigan football game against the Indiana Hoosiers. Michigan comes off an impressive win on the road against Iowa last week, while Indiana comes off a loss to Nebraska. In what was perceived as a trap game for the Wolverines, it was just that, and nobody expected it to be this big of a challenge for the Wolverines.
Indiana entered the game with the 107th ranked defense, while Michigan had the 32nd ranked offense, but it seemed like they had switched roles. The Wolverines' offense was very vanilla and basic throughout the game, while the Hoosiers' defense was slowing down what the Wolverines wanted to do with the football. Luckily for the Wolverines, they have a top-10 defense that was able to keep them in the game with a turnover and a blocked field goal.
Michigan had a rough first half but was able to figure things out in the end by continuing to stop the Indiana offense and continuing to get pressure on the Indiana offense. Check out my five takeaways from the 31-10 win.
1. Thoughts are with Running Back Coach Mike Hart
The first thing that needs to be addressed is the health status of Michigan running back coach and former Michigan running back, Mike Hart. In the first quarter, after the Hoosiers scored to tie the game at seven, Hart was seen having a seizure and was attended to by medical staff. The Wolverine players were taken aback by the event, as cameras showed running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards visibly upset with what happened, and understandably so.
Hart was taken to a local hospital and was seen moving his fingers and hands just fine. He talked to the team at halftime over the phone and seemed to be doing better. I hope everything is ok with Coach Hart and he can have a speedy recovery.
2. Officiating was Horrendous
Out of the six games played by Michigan football this season, no game had worse officiating than the game played today against Indiana. Michigan had the fewest penalty yards per game entering the game, with 26.8 yards per game. Today, Michigan had 10 penalties for 85 yards. Not every call was incorrect, but the officials didn’t just screw with Michigan; they screwed with Indiana, too.
The officials gave two horrible personal fouls on each side; one for Michigan, where a celebration after a sack was considered offensive when it wasn't; and an Indiana player finished his tackle out of bounds and was flagged for that as well. The officials almost missed an offensive pass interference penalty on Indiana on a touchdown pass that ended up turning into three points for the Hoosiers. Overall, the crew made multiple mistakes, and most of them were in favor of the Indiana Hoosiers, which kept them in the game. If the officials had done a better job, it would have been a bigger victory for the Wolverines.
Lucky enough for Michigan, they were able to overcome the Indiana Hoosiers and the official crew, and they didn’t let them bother them or get them out of the game. Sometimes you have to beat two teams on gameday. Michigan got its first test of it this season and overcame it.
3. If He Wasn’t in the Heisman Conversation Already, Blake Corum Entered it This Week
Michigan has a star in running back Blake Corum. He leads the country with touchdowns on the ground with 11, and the play before he scored number 11 today was fantastic and something you’d see out of a video game.
Corum was asked to be the number one running back this season with Hassan Haskins graduating, and Corum stepped up this season. He was already a threat last season behind Haskins, but as the bellcow and the main attraction in the backfield, he has elevated his game.
So far this season, Corum has 118 carries for 735 yards and 11 touchdowns, along with four catches for 20 yards. Last year, Corum finished with a total of 1,093 yards between rushing and receiving along with 12 touchdowns, and this year in a bigger role, he is over halfway there in yards and is just one touchdown behind his previous touchdown total from last season, and it’s only halfway through the year.
Corum entered the game in the top five for rushing yards and as the leading touchdown scorer. He only got the one score today but got another 100-yard-plus game. He has already tied a program record with five rushing touchdowns in a game earlier this season, and he keeps continuing to impress with his shifty moves to gain more yards and his toughness to not go down once he gets hit. If he can have a monster game against Penn State next week, expect him to shoot up the Heisman odds as it would be his biggest test this season.
4. Michigan’s Defensive Line Continues to Improve
After starting the season with seven sacks against Colorado State, with help from the linebackers, the Michigan defensive line struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. In the past two weeks, though, the unit has seemed to be revived and is back to being a problem for their opponents. Against Indiana today, the Wolverines were able to get seven sacks once again, with most coming from the defensive line.
Defensive end Jaylen Harrell’s only two tackles were tackles for loss, one being a sack. Defensive ends Mike Morris, Derrick Moore, and Braiden McGregor each had a sack as well. Sacks aren’t the only stat to help show production, as tackles for loss were huge by the group as well. Defensive end Eyabi Okie had three tackles, one and a half tackles for loss, and a sack, and defensive lineman Kris Jenkins had five tackles, one and a half tackles for loss.
The defensive ends aren’t the only ones doing their jobs as defensive tackle Mazi Smith had a solid game with five tackles, stopping multiple runs by the Hoosiers offense and generating pressure on Indiana quarterback Connor Bazelak. Michigan will continue to need their defensive line to create pressure on quarterbacks if they want to help the secondary, as they can’t rely on the secondary to do all the heavy lifting every week.
5. If Michigan Plays Like This Next Week, Expect an Upset
The Michigan Wolverines did not play a good game of football today. The offense was very bland with only one big play by Corum as quarterback J.J. McCarthy played well, going 28/36 for 304 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. McCarthy also got some movement on the ground, getting four carries for 26 yards. The wide receivers for Michigan struggled to get separation against a poor Indiana defense, as the star receivers of the game were Ronnie Bell, who had 11 catches for 121 yards, and Cornelius Johnson, who had four catches for 58 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense was able to create pressure on the Indiana offense and slow down the running game, but Penn State isn’t Indiana. Michigan had a better second half than the first half, and going up against Indiana, they were able to struggle and still only be tied instead of trailing in the game. The stats and box score seemed like Michigan had its way with Indiana, but the first two and a half quarters were not good for Michigan.
The Wolverines will need four quarters of good football next week to take down Penn State. With it being at home and in a maize-out game, the atmosphere should help boost the Wolverines' spirits and hold off the Nittany Lions.
Conclusion
It was understandable that the players were shaken up after what happened to Coach Hart, but hopefully that was the reason for the struggles they had today. Michigan can’t play flat in big games, and the beef of their schedule is coming up. Next week they play Penn State, then have a bye week to get ready for Michigan State, which will be an intense game no matter the record of the Spartans.
After that, Michigan has to travel to Rutgers and take on Nebraska and a tough Illinois team at home before they travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State. Michigan has to clean some things up, but there are positives on this team. They just need to clean up the extra things and they can repeat as Big Ten Champions.
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