Michigan 42, Indiana 35

Tag: Indiana

3Oct 2010
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Michigan 42, Indiana 35




You can close your eyes and pray all you want, #46, but you’re not gonna catch him.

  Yesterday’s victory was at once entertaining, frustrating, and boring.  The entertainment factor was apparent: Michigan put up 574 yards and 42 points on a Big Ten team, with quarterback and Heisman frontrunner Denard Robinson accounting for 494 of those yards.  The frustration part was apparent, too: Michigan allowed 568 yards and 35 points to a perennial Big Ten cellar dweller, and Indiana held the ball for over 41 minutes.

The boring part was less obvious, but throughout the entire game, I knew Michigan was going to win this game.  I’ve rarely been this confident during a contest, but I feel I’ve reached a near level of zen when it comes to watching this Michigan team.  Michigan’s offense will score loads of points as long as Denard Robinson is at the helm, and Michigan’s defense sucks.  I no longer hope for competence from Michigan’s defense.  They are overmatched and there’s virtually no hope for them to improve this season.  Sure, they’ll make a timely sack once in awhile (Mike Martin) or flash some anticipation in the secondary that results in an interception (Cam Gordon).  But ultimately, both defenses yesterday were atrocious and Michigan’s offense is better.  A 7-point margin is . . . just about right.

Some praise and a few gripes . . .

Denard Robinson is awesome.  I feel like I say this in almost every post, but there’s no getting around it.  He is having one of the best statistical seasons in college football history and is currently on pace to run (2,353) and throw (2,621) for 2,000 yards and account for 39 touchdowns over a 13-game season.  The easiest part of the schedule has passed, so I don’t expect that Robinson will maintain his torrid pace.  Regardless, the first five starts of his career must be on par with or better than every other quarterback in NCAA history.

Michigan’s defense is bad.  This was noted above, but there’s no reason to expect significant improvement in the second half of the season.  I heard Michigan’s official motto is “Let’s hope the other team drops the ball or something.”  After Saturday’s game Michigan is ranked #120 (out of 120 teams) in pass defense, giving up 307.8 yards a game in the air.  Michigan is also #88 in sacks, #88 in net punting, #99 in punt returns, #102 in total defense, and #104 in kickoff returns.  Basically, Michigan is bad at everything that doesn’t involve offense.  And the Wolverines haven’t even played the tough part of their schedule.

Michigan’s goalline offense needs rethinking.  Roy Roundtree caught a 74-yard pass that took the ball down to Indiana’s 2-yard line.  On first down, Michigan lined up in the I-formation and shot a BB at Indiana’s defense in the form of 5’6″, 180 lb. Vincent Smith.  That didn’t work.  Then Michigan lined up in the I-formation again, and the center-quarterback exchange was promptly fumbled, providing Indiana the chance to drive 99 yards for a touchdown (on which Indiana capitalized).  Rich Rodriguez has a 6’0″, 211 lb. tailback (Michael Cox) and a 6’1″, 227 lb. tailback (Stephen Hopkins) at his disposal.  That personnel decision makes no sense whatsoever.

Vincent Smith had a good game.  I don’t think anyone has been more critical of Vincent Smith than I have.  It’s not that I dislike him or think he’s a horrible player, but I just think there are better options.  Against Indiana he had a 56-yard touchdown run on which he was nearly untouched.  Altogether he had 9 carries for 80 yards and the touchdown.  After five games, here’s how Smith stacks up against the rest of the Big Ten’s (and Notre Dame’s) leading rushers, listed according to yards per carry:

1. Edwin Baker (Michigan State): 75 carries, 536 yards, 7.1 ypc, 5 TDs
2. John Clay (Wisconsin): 94 carries, 581 yards, 6.2 ypc, 6 TDs
3. Mikel Leshoure (Illinois): 77 carries, 478 yards, 6.2 ypc, 3 TDs
4. Dan Dierking (Purdue): 38 carries, 205 yards, 5.4 ypc, 2 TDs
5. Evan Royster (Penn State): 67 carries, 353 yards, 5.3 ypc, 1 TD
6. Adam Robinson (Iowa): 98 carries, 480 yards, 4.9 ypc, 6 TDs
7. Armando Allen (Notre Dame): 80 carries, 392 yards, 4.9 ypc, 2 TDs
8. Vincent Smith (Michigan): 53 carries, 252 yards, 4.8 ypc, 4 TDs
9. Dan Herron (Ohio State): 65 carries, 287 yards, 4.4 ypc, 5 TDs
10. Duane Bennett (Minnesota): 91 carries, 400 yards, 4.4 ypc, 2 TDs

11. Darius Willis (Indiana): 64 carries, 278 yards, 4.3 ypc, 3 TDs
12. Arby Fields (Northwestern): 56 carries, 160 yards, 2.9 ypc, 1 TD

For what it’s worth, prior to this week Smith was averaging 3.9 yards per carry, which would have put him at #11.  Against varying levels of competition, Michael Shaw (5.6 ypc) would be #4, Stephen Hopkins (4.7 ypc) would be #9, and Michael Cox (9.3 ypc) would be #1.  So there is some statistical backing for my argument that Michigan’s starting running back position needs to show some more productivity.

Indiana fans are tools.  Unless something odd happened in the stadium that wasn’t caught on camera, it sure seemed like the fans in Bloomington cheered when Denard Robinson fell to the ground injured.  On the one hand, it’s certainly a backhanded compliment, like “Hooray, we might have a chance to win this game if he sits out the rest of it!”  On the other – and far more important – hand, it was a classless response from the Hoosier crowd.  You don’t cheer when someone gets hurt, period.

Junior Hemingway is slow but good, I guess.  Hemingway caught a slant from Denard Robinson that he turned into a 70-yard touchdown.  After he broke the cornerback’s tackle and got up to full speed in the open field, I started wondering, “Did he pull a muscle?”  Nope, that’s just how Hemingway runs.  It was reminiscent of Roy Roundtree’s 76-yard catch against Illinois in 2009, on which Roundtree was run down by Terry Hawthorne.  Luckily, Indiana’s defense isn’t very fast, either.  Hemingway also made a clutch 42-yard reception near the end of regulation that set up Robinson’s game-winning touchdown, and finished with 3 catches for 126 yards and 1 touchdown.

Jordan Kovacs must hate Darius Willis.  Last year Darius Willis outran Kovacs (among others) for an 85-yard touchdown.  This year Willis caught a pass in the flat, shook Kovacs on the sideline, and trotted in for a touchdown.  Kovacs is normally a sure tackler, but I have to admit, the thing that ran through my mind was “If he can’t tackle and he can’t run fast, why is he out there?”  That was just a fleeting thought, though, because Kovacs is probably one of the better tacklers on the team.

Roy Roundtree should get the #1 jersey next year.  Prior to the season, I predicted that Roundtree would get 60 catches and 900 yards this year.  Through five games, he’s on pace for 65 catches and 876 yards, which is pretty darn close.  If he continues in this vein, then I think he deserves to wear the #1 jersey in 2011.  He’s a likeable, hardworking kid, he’s successful on both long and short passes, he’s a willing blocker, and he has a knack for getting open.  He might not be the physical freak that Michigan is used to seeing out of its #1 wide receivers (6’3″, 215 lb. guys who can jump high and run really fast), but Michigan fans couldn’t ask for much more out of him.

Taylor Lewan better learn quickly.  We’ve been hearing for months that Lewan is a bit of a hothead.  His emotions could have cost Michigan the game on Saturday, though.  After Denard Robinson scored a touchdown to put Michigan up 41-35 with 17 seconds left in the game, Lewan was trying to get over to Robinson to celebrate.  Supposedly an Indiana player on the ground tried to trip Lewan, which resulted in an altercation and a 15-yard penalty on Lewan.  I don’t care what an opponent tries to do – there’s no good excuse for getting a 15-yard penalty when your team scores the potential game-winning touchdown.  If he trips you, fall to the ground, get up, and go celebrate.  What, you’ve never been tripped before?  Were you afraid that he ruined your pretty maize pants?  Suck it up, and think about the team first.  And while you’re at it, you might want to learn how to block without holding.  On the game-winning drive, he should have been called for holding at least twice that I saw on television.

Michigan found a way to win.  Regardless of what went down from the starting whistle to the final whistle, Michigan won the game.  The offense was mostly awesome, and the defense did just enough to win.  There are definitely some things to fix or tweak, but when it comes down to it, the Wolverines’ record is 5-0.  Go Blue!

1Oct 2010
Uncategorized 7 comments

Preview: Michigan at Indiana

Expect to see a lot of this: Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell picking
on Michigan’s secondary.

Rush Offense vs. Indiana Rush Defense
Michigan is currently the #2 rushing offense in the country with 331.25 yards a game.  Meanwhile, Indiana has been giving up 177 yards a game to the likes of Western Kentucky, Akron, and Towson to rank #92 in the nation.  This is a bad matchup for the Hoosiers.  Despite the return of starting middle linebacker Tyler Replogle, who missed last week’s game with a concussion, the Wolverines should be able to have their way.  Quarterback Denard Robinson is the leading rusher in the NCAA, and the only way Indiana should be able to stop him is by bruising his knee after a 30-yard run.  One caveat, though – there’s a strong possibility that running backs Fitzgerald Toussaint (shoulder; 2 carries for 66 yards and 1 TD last week) and Michael Shaw (knee; 44 carries, 256 yards, 5 TDs this year) will miss Saturday’s game.  That leaves sophomore Vincent Smith, redshirt sophomore Michael Cox, and freshman Stephen Hopkins to pick up the slack in the running back rotation.  That shouldn’t matter too much, although those two missing players are big-play threats for Michigan’s offense.
Advantage: Michigan

Pass Offense vs. Indiana Pass Defense
Michigan’s quarterbacks have only been sacked once this year, and the likelihood of Indiana’s front seven catching up to Denard Robinson is low.  The Hoosiers have only mustered four sacks this season in those three games against feeble opponents.  The biggest matchup problem here is 2010 Denard Robinson vs. 2009 Denard Robinson.  If 2010 Denard Robinson keeps up his torrid pace and throws like the 16th most efficient QB in the country, then this should be a clear victory for the Wolverines once again.  I haven’t seen any evidence that Robinson will regress to 2009 form, but his performance so far this season seems too good to be true.  He’s bound to have a bad game at some point, but will it happen against Indiana?  Well . . . probably not.
Advantage: Michigan

Rush Defense vs. Indiana Rush Offense
The Wolverines have done a better job of limiting big runs in 2010.  With eight men consistently in the box, Michigan’s run defense hasn’t been great (#53 in the country, 135.25 yards a game), but big plays have been rare.  Hopefully that can remain true this week, too, because leading rusher Darius Willis (46 carries, 219 yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 2 TDs) had an 85-yard TD against Michigan in 2009, and wideout Tandon Doss had a 25-yard TD in last year’s game, too.  One of the most memorable images from the 2009 season was of Willis outrunning safety Jordan Kovacs and cornerback J.T. Floyd to the endzone.  That was not a happy moment.  The only guy who had a prayer of catching Willis from behind was safety Troy Woolfolk, who’s currently healing from a broken ankle.  Michigan’s secondary is even a bit slower this year, as Floyd and Kovacs are back but Woolfolk’s replacement is Cam Gordon, who gets outrun by 265 lb. tight ends and MAC wide receivers.  Improved play from Michigan’s linebackers – as well as the eight-man front – should be able to stall Willis a little better this year, but there will be some frustrating moments.
Advantage: Indiana

Pass Defense vs. Indiana Pass Offense
This is what scares me.  Bad opponents or not, Indiana averages 304 yards a game through the air (#11 in the country).  Michigan played a couple patsies and Notre Dame, but ranks #105 in the country in pass defense (264 yards a game) and #55 in pass efficiency defense.  Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell threw for 270 yards last year, and he’s supported by some good-sized receivers with decent but not great speed.  Free safety Cameron Gordon has been a liability in pass coverage, and I expect Indiana to test him repeatedly; the Hoosiers would be silly not to try.  Michigan hasn’t shown the ability to shut down a decent passing game, and I don’t think this is the week that they’ll step up.  Michigan fans will just have to pony up and expect some big plays through the air.
Advantage: Indiana

Final Predictions

  • Denard Robinson rushes for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns
  • Ben Chappell increases the team’s passing average by throwing for 305 yards or more
  • Michigan finally gets a big play out of the return game
  • My preseason upset pick will be proven wrong because . . .
  • . . . Michigan will win 45-31
27Sep 2009
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Donovan Warren is better than Demarlo Belcher

Bill Lynch will throw his gum in 3…2…1…
The interception that essentially ended Michigan’s 36-33 victory over Indiana was strongly disputed. I have to admit that as I watched the play unfold in real time, I assumed Indiana would retain possession. But despite my initial reaction, the on-field call was “interception” and the replays proved to be inconclusive.
On the play, Michigan cornerback Donovan Warren jumped a slant pass from Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell to wide receiver Demarlo Belcher. Warren reached in front of Belcher with both hands while Belcher waited for the ball to come into his body. Without the ball ever touching the ground, both players fell to the turf and had a momentary tug of war. Possession was awarded to Warren.
The rule on simultaneous possession is as follows:
ARTICLE 8. A simultaneous catch or recovery is a catch or recovery in which there is joint possession of a live ball by opposing players inbounds (A.R. 7-3-6-II and III).
This rule is tricky because it doesn’t define “possession.” As you can see in the screencaps from Maize n Brew, it appears that Belcher never really had control of the ball. Even though both players fell together with the ball between them, that doesn’t mean Belcher ever had possession. My interpretation of the word “possession” is controlling the ball with one’s hand(s), and it doesn’t seem that Belcher ever had that. The only visual evidence of possession, by that definition, shows that Warren had better control of the ball than Belcher.
As Indiana fans will argue, it doesn’t matter who wins the tug of war at the bottom of the pile; when the possessor of the ball is down by rule, the play should be over. But if neither player possesses the ball at the time when the players hit the ground, it’s impossible to say who should be awarded the ball. When you see a receiver on the ground who’s bobbling the ball, he’s not given possession until that ball is controlled without hitting the ground (see Mario Manningham’s catch vs. the Cowboys last Sunday). Belcher never controlled the ball and when someone finally did control it, that someone was Warren.
Indiana fans will surely never let this die. As you can see from the Maize n Brew comments, they are bitter. Just like Penn State fans still complain about the :01 left on the clock in 2005 and Michigan fans still complain about MSU’s last-“second” TD pass to T.J. Duckett in 2001, Indiana will probably hold on to Interceptiongate for a while.
But I don’t care. The referees weren’t impressive either way. They missed several holding calls against Indiana, and they called J.T. Floyd for pass interference on a ball that was clearly uncatchable. I don’t think Warren’s interception was necessarily a bad call, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had gone the other way, either.
The bottom line is this: If you leave the game up to the referees, that’s your fault. It was a tight game the entire way. Indiana settled for several field goals in the red zone when the Hoosiers offense bogged down. If they had scored a TD on any of those possessions, things might have ended differently.
26Sep 2009
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Michigan 36, Indiana 33

I’ve been busy this week. Between losing power on Thursday evening, not getting home until after midnight last night, and Saturday morning practice, I didn’t have a chance to write a preview for the Indiana game. But these are the games that always scare me the most. Not the Toledo or Eastern Michigan or Appalachian State games, because we win most of those and if we don’t, well, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.

No, what scare me are the games against second-rate Big Ten teams like Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan State, etc. Those games are ones that shouldn’t be huge impediments on the way to playing for a Big Ten title but too often rise up to bite you in the ass or at least make you nervous.

Today’s game was no exception. Indiana made it tough on Michigan before the Wolverines eked one out in the last couple minutes.

Offensively, Michigan frustrated me more today than at any other time this year. They seemed completely out of sync for the majority of the game. Luckily, Carlos Brown scored two early touchdowns and Tate Forcier led two late TD drives in the fourth quarter. Between those points, though, Michigan looked discombobulated.

Replacement center David Moosman had troubles snapping the ball, and both Denard Robinson and Forcier had troubles handling it. Michigan has resurrected the freeze play, where the center snaps the ball when he sees someone jump offsides. It’s supposed to earn Michigan five yards, which it did . . . once. But the freshman quarterbacks clearly aren’t prepared to run it, and neither is Moosman, since he snapped the ball one time when Indiana defensive end Greg Middleton had already got back onside. In total, it lost yards for Michigan and could end up being a turnover if, for example, the snap on the Middleton play had bounced off Forcier’s knee or facemask and ended up in the hands of a Hoosier.

The game always looks like it’s going too fast for Denard Robinson. It’s like I looked when I was little and watching my brother play Frogger; then my mom would call him to take the garbage out, I’d grab the joystick, adrenaline myself across the road, and then drown in the river. Robinson runs the ball well and has a limit of one good throw per game. He led one good drive today and made a nice throw on a seam route to Kevin Koger. After that play the coaches should have patted him on the dreadlocked head, said “Nice job,” and handed him a baseball cap (until, of course, he was needed again once Forcier got hurt).

Offensive coordinator Calvin Magee went away from the running game for a while. I have no explanation for this. Carlos Brown started the game with a 61-yard TD on a screen pass, scored a 41-yard rushing TD on the next drive, and then became a bystander for a couple quarters. We can run the ball. Our co-starters at running back, Brown and Brandon Minor, had 23 carries for 123 yards. That’s 5.3 yards per carry. But 23 carries is what ONE of those guys should have, not the combination of the two, especially when Forcier and Robinson combined for 21 rushes. The guys who earned scholarships for running the ball should run it, not the guys who earned scholarships for their throwing arms.

This is partly on Forcier as well. In my opinion, Forcier is horrible at running the read option. Even when the backside defensive end stays home to contain the quarterback, Forcier tries to make things happen on his own. He’s simply not athletic enough to make it work. Hopefully his reads will improve as he gets more and more experience. I guess the coaches have to keep calling the play to keep the defense honest, but Forcier needs to realize that the best thing about that play is the element of surprise when he keeps the ball. If I were an opposing defensive coordinator, I would tell my defensive ends, “If you stay home, this chump is going to keep the ball a couple times when he shouldn’t, and you better make him regret it.”

Defensively, it really hurts to have so little depth and experience in the defensive backfield. I thought the linebackers played better than they did last week and the defensive line did an okay job, but our defensive backfield is in shambles. Donovan Warren made one poor tackle attempt, but the Indiana didn’t want to test him much. Boubacar Cissoko was replaced early by J.T. Floyd, and neither played well. Meanwhile, strong safety Troy Woolfolk is a position-changer from cornerback who missed some tackles, and former walk-on Jordan Kovacs started at free safety and missed several assignments. Indiana took advantage of the inexperience on the back end, and you can bet that other Big Ten teams will, too. I think Michigan State will have an excellent day throwing the ball next week.

Offensive game ball goes to . . . Carlos Brown (2). He had 144 yards from scrimmage (83 rushing, 61 receiving) and two touchdowns. He ran the ball well most of the day, and what he lacks in toughness, he makes up for in home run ability.

Defensive game ball goes to . . . Jonas Mouton (1). Mouton led the team in tackles with 11 and had half a tackle for loss. He reacted slowly a couple times but he stepped up to fill a hole a couple times and made some nice hits. He didn’t have a great game, but nobody really did.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . David Moosman (1). He can play guard. That’s fine. He’s a pretty good guard. In fact, with his main competition at center coming from redshirt freshman Rocko Khoury, he might well be our best center with starter David Molk out (broken foot). But I hope Molk is a quick healer. Moosman had a few bad snaps, and his quarterbacks didn’t do a great job of bailing him out.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . J.T. Floyd (2). I think Cissoko re-injured his shoulder injury, but I have a hard time believing that freshmen Justin Turner and Teric Jones are significantly worse than Floyd. At this point, I have to believe the coaches are trying their best to preserve Turner’s redshirt. Jones’s has already been burned. But Floyd was responsible for at least three big plays today: 1) the missed pass break-up that ended in a big gain, 2) the 85-yard rush TD by Darius Willis in which Floyd made a poor attempt to tackle, and 3) the pass interference on the right sideline – the ball was uncatchable, but Floyd still had a hand full of jersey.