Last season Michigan had a number of football games where the first half was unsettling or unsatisfying, with a tenuous halftime lead understating the gap between the two squads. Michigan would eventually pull away in the second half, but it didn't always make for the best viewing experience. Their trip to Bloomington last season against that woeful Indiana squad was one such game, with the contest tied 10-10 at halftime before Michigan outscored the Hoosiers 21-0 in the second half. Today's game in some ways felt like a familiar script, a sluggish opening against an overmatched opponent.  Except in this season of Michigan Football, the sluggish periods are shorter, the halftime leads are larger, and the eventual margins of victory are even larger. The Wolverines took a 21-7 lead into halftime against Indiana after a poor 1st quarter and pummeled the Hoosiers in the second half to win 52-7. 

Michigan's defense started first and did well on that opening series, forcing a quick three-and-out, generating pressure and forcing a bad pass on 3rd down. After a bad punt, the Wolverine offense took the field with excellent field position but seemed uncomfortable against Tom Allen's array of blitzes, a 6v5 RPS loss in pass protection on 3rd down sacking McCarthy to end the drive after three short plays.

Indiana took the ball and stitched together what would be their most cohesive drive of the half down-to-down, traveling 60 yards over 12 plays deep into Michigan territory. QB Tayven Jackson showed poise and accuracy on his short throws, while the Indiana offensive line was able to get decent push on the ground. They converted two 3rd downs and eventually found themselves at 1st & 10 from the 14, but that's when the drive began to unravel. Indiana was stuffed on 2nd & 6, committed a false start, and then Jackson made a disastrous mistake, a terrible throw that was either sailed on the underneath receiver or woefully underthrown for the deeper receiver. Either way, Mike Sainristil tipped it up in the air and Rod Moore picked it off, returning it out to the Michigan 41. 

[Bryan Fuller]

The Wolverine defense had held Indiana out of the end zone, but the tide hadn't yet turned because the Michigan offense was still out of sorts. Their second drive was another three-and-out, a promising first down run washed away by a 2nd down play that saw McCarthy sack himself and a 3rd down play where McCarthy hurried a throw for a well covered Roman Wilson that fell incomplete. Michigan punted it back to the Hoosiers and this time Indiana's offense would pay the drive off, with new QB Brendan Sorsby in the game. IU converted two third downs, one coming after a whiffed sack attempt by Mike Sainristil and one coming on a QB sneak, before the trickery came out of the garage: back-pass to WR Donaven McCulley and then the Wildcat QB turned WR uncorked a bomb down Jaylin Lucas for a TD, left wide open after Michigan S Keon Sabb got fooled by the trickery. 

Michigan's third drive of the game saw them finally awaken and begin a streak of eight consecutive drives that would end in points, only to be snapped by the meaningless final drive of the game (which expired because the 4th quarter clock hit 0:00). McCarthy converted an early 3rd & 10 to Colston Loveland, a dicey throw that turned out to be the one that finally got Michigan's offense out of the mud. Blake Corum gained 12 on the next play and Loveland got 13 on a catch on the play after that. Michigan was in to IU territory and Blake Corum would finish it off, running 15 yards after the catch to get Michigan to the 5 and paying it off with two runs into end zone. 7-7. 

The Michigan offense was awake, but the defense wasn't totally yet. A weak personal foul on the TD assessed to ex-Hoosier AJ Barner and enforced on the kickoff would give Indiana good field position and the Hoosiers crossed midfield for their third straight drive. However, on 3rd & 2, Sorsby made a dreadful throw right to Michigan NT Kenneth Grant, who had dropped into zone coverage. Grant did not catch the ball and then Tom Allen curiously chose to punt the football, a cowardly decision in a game that his team was such an underdog in. Michigan's defense was off the hook from having to get a 4th & short stop. 

[Bryan Fuller]

The punt decision backed the home team up to their own 13 but that was no issue for the Michigan offense that was now in a groove. Donovan Edwards touched the ball on each of the first four plays from scrimmage before McCarthy connected with Tyler Morris on a deep ball, one enabled by Indiana jumping offside and giving Michigan a free play. JJ was finding his stride after three early sacks, persevering through a flea flicker that Indiana wasn't fooled by, still hooking up with Morris for a solid gain, followed by a beautiful back-shoulder throw to Barner to gain 18. Michigan now had 1st & goal and after three plays fell short, they found themselves in 4th & Goal from the 2. Jim Harbaugh kept his offense on the field and the players rewarded him, as McCarthy found an uncovered Roman Wilson in the end zone for the TD. 14-7. 

There was 3:24 left on the clock at the time of that TD, enough time for Michigan's defense to get a quick stop and still return the ball to the offense with time to score again. That's exactly what they'd do, with an assist from the Indiana offense. It seemed as if the Hoosiers had a big play down the field when McCulley toasted Michigan corner Keshaun Harris for a 37 yard catch, but the play came back because of a hands to the face penalty on Old Friend Zach Carpenter, getting his paws on the noggin of DT Cam Goode. Not just did that nullify a big gain, but it set a normally bad Indiana offense well behind schedule. The next play was 2nd & 22 and unsurprisingly, Indiana was unable to recover from that hole. 

Indiana punted to Michigan with 1:40 remaining, a strange punt that hopped in front of Tyler Morris, who fielded it awkwardly but then proceeded to return it 27 yards into Indiana territory. Michigan's offense was given a short field, which would become even shorter after an unnecessary roughness penalty on Indiana's Marcus Burris Jr. on the first play from scrimmage. Michigan was inside the IU 30 just like that and they'd make it inside the 10 when McCarthy uncorked a Patrick Mahomes-like underhand flip to Edwards at the 10, who scampered down to the 2. Two plays later Corum rumbled in for a TD and Michigan would take a 21-7 lead to halftime. 

[Click the JUMP for more recap]

[Bryan Fuller]

This is when the romp really began. Michigan's offense in the second half would be just as deadly as the first half, but the defense would tighten up and annihilate the Indiana offense alongside it. Michigan again got a good return to start the half, Semaj Morgan running the kickoff back to the Michigan 35. The Wolverines seemed to be in trouble early in the drive, faced with a 3rd & 10 and Tom Allen brought another crafty pressure. Edwards and LT LaDarius Henderson miscommunicated on the protection and McCarthy was quickly in trouble. None too bothered, McCarthy spun away from pressure and rolled, throwing on the run to a wide open Colston Loveland. Loveland caught it and galloped down the sideline for a TD. 28-7. 

Indiana's first drive of the second half announced that Michigan's A-Game on defense had arrived. They stuffed a Sorsby run on 1st down, forced an incompletion on 2nd down, and then a blitz produced a sack for Jaylen Harrell on 3rd down. Three-and-out for the Hoosiers. Michigan took the football at their own 48 and needed just five plays to find the end zone again, a pair of chunk runs by Blake Corum capped off by a beautiful bubble screen by Semaj Morgan, who danced around defenders and bounced off tacklers on his way to the end zone. 35-7. 

It didn't get any better for Indiana from here. They ran just three plays on offense again and this time it ended not with a punt, but a fumble. Sorsby was sacked on 3rd & 9 as Jesse Minter ramped up another blitz, Michael Barrett crushing the QB and recovering the fumble he forced. Michigan's ensuing drive, which started at the 15, was a clunker and gave a small bit of reprieve to Indiana. McCarthy fumbled on 2nd down, which was recovered for a loss of yardage. His QB keeper on 3rd down came up short of the sticks as McCarthy was hit hard on what would be his final drive of the game. Michigan K James Turner booted a 28 yard field goal to make the score 38-7. 

[Patrick Barron]

Indiana finally moved the ball on their next drive, which was kickstarted by a ridiculous catch by Omar Cooper Jr. to convert a long 3rd down, one in which the only piece of his body that landed in bounds was somehow his head(!!). Indiana entered Michigan territory but would run out of gas, the Wolverines slamming the door on 4th & 3 and to add insult to injury, Sorsby fumbled on the play again, recovered by Mason Graham for a small return.

Another ex-Hoosier got to make his mark on the game at this juncture, with Jack Tuttle subbing in for McCarthy at QB. Tuttle would make a couple completions to Roman Wilson but otherwise this was a Benjamin Hall drive, with the freshman RB marching Michigan right down the field and into a goal line situation. Once inside the 10, Michigan finally ended their quest to get Donovan Edwards a TD, Edwards plunging in to the end zone from two yards out. 45-7. 

Into the 4th quarter at this point, Michigan would get the football right back. On the first play from scrimmage of Indiana's next drive, Tayven Jackson (back in at QB) was intercepted by Keon Sabb, who returned the deep ball 28 yards to the Indiana 36. Michigan's second team offense was back in business, Hall again doing the heavy lifting until the red zone. Tuttle completed a pass to WR Fred Moore on 3rd & Goal, which got Michigan down to the 4, and just as Harbaugh had believed in his first team offense earlier, he believed in his second team offense now. He left Jack Tuttle's group on the field and Tuttle threw a TD against his former team, a strike to Karmello English for his first collegiate receiving touchdown (the third and final freshman WR to make an impact on the game). Michigan led 52-7 with 6:03 remaining and it was over. 

Indiana would have one final drive, chewing up nearly the entirety of the remaining clock against Michigan's defensive reserves, the drive closing after a turnover on downs with six seconds remaining. It appeared for a moment that Indiana would be the first team this season to surpass 10 points against Michigan, but the TD pass to Omar Cooper Jr. was nullified upon review which clearly showed his foot was out of bounds before the catch. Once IU turned it over on downs, walk-on RB Danny Hughes had the honor of carrying the ball on the final rush of the game. The clock expired and Michigan had another victory. 

[Patrick Barron]

Despite being outgained 141-17 in the first quarter, Michigan outgained IU 407-232 for the game and 51 of those Hoosier yards came on the meaningless final drive. Indiana's offense made an early imprint and then were completely swallowed up, going punt, punt, punt, fumble, fumble, INT, downs to finish the game. Through seven games, Michigan's first team defense has ceded 30 total points. On offense, Michigan was ruthlessly efficient after the first two drives, still gaining 6.4 YPP for the entirety of the game in spite of the opening. McCarthy and Tuttle combined to to go 19/22 for 244 yards (11.1 Y/A), 4 TD and 0 INT through the air. The four sacks allowed aren't ideal, but not all were the fault of pass protection and they are a result of the way Indiana plays defense, with the typical Allen blitziness making an appearance today. 

The Michigan rushing game ran for 4.9 YPC excluding sacks, with Corum notching two rushing TDs and Edwards having one. As a sign of how the game went, Benjamin Hall was Michigan's leading rusher by yardage and YPC, though Corum led in carries with 13. The pass game was highly diversified, 11 different receivers catching the 19 passes thrown by McCarthy and Tuttle. Morris led the way with four, followed by Loveland and Wilson with 3. Wilson's TD in the first half was his 9th receiving TD of the season, tying Jehu Chesson for the most receiving TDs in a single season in the Jim Harbaugh era... with Michigan still having at least six more games to play. Should Michigan make the CFP and play 14 or 15 games, Wilson has a legitimate chance to challenge Desmond Howard's program record of 19 in a single season. 

Michigan is now 7-0 on the season, their third consecutive season starting 7-0. I don't have research on how many times that has happened previously in the program's history, but it is something I will research in the subsequent hours. They've won 20 in a row at Michigan Stadium, with the next home game being in a few weeks against Purdue. In the meantime, Michigan heads to East Lansing next weekend to take on Michigan State in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The Spartans melted down in the fourth quarter today, being outscored 21-0 by Rutgers to close the game and with it, MSU has dropped to 2-4. Regardless of MSU's record, it is a marquee game and is being broadcast as such, under the lights at 7:30 PM EST next Saturday on NBC.