Michigan 31, Indiana 20
Every. Single. Year.
Indiana came to the Big House having given up 482 yards to Minnesota and 542 yards to Maryland in their two games this month while putting up 385 and 374 yards, respectively. Tonight: 507 yards ceded, 385 yards gained. The yardage pattern continued for Indiana, though this time Indiana’s offense put up 5.1 yards per play on a defense that previously was allowing just 3.82 yards per play, the best in college football.
But even in a game that was a one-score contest for all but about six game minutes, the story tonight was less about what happened defensively and more about Michigan’s offense in the red zone and the players that had to be helped off the field.
Jake Moody, who found out that he was going to be the field goal kicker in the locker room before the game, converted all six of his field goal attempts. Moody hit from 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, and 23 to set a single-game Michigan record, and his reliability proved critical in a game that was as close as a typical Michigan-Indiana contest.
Michigan’s offense took just six plays to move from their 25-yard line to Indiana’s 13-yard line before two Karan Higdon runs went for –1 yards and a Shea Patterson pass to Higdon fell incomplete, leading to Moody converting his first kick of the night. A similar scenario played out on Michigan’s third drive, with a defensive pass interference call against Andre Brown on an attempted pass from Donovan Peoples-Jones to Zach Gentry moving the offense to Indiana’s 18-yard line before two short runs and an incomplete pass led to another Moody field goal.
[Injury updates woven into the narrative after THE JUMP]
[Bryan Fuller]
A 31-yard post to Ronnie Bell off play-action moved Michigan to Indiana’s 15; Tru Wilson ran for two yards, a ball went off Sean McKeon’s hands in the end zone, a bullet to Grant Perry on the sideline was knocked away, and Moody again trotted out and connected. Michigan’s offense had one more big play in the first half, a 41-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Nick Eubanks (thanks to a little help from Zach Gentry’s route-running) for the first of his career. Patterson went back to Eubanks on the two-point conversion attempt but the ball glanced off his hands, an unsurprising incompletion as Eubanks wasn’t more than 20 yards downfield—the big-plays-only tight end has four games this year with such a reception.
Another 40+-yard completion to a tight end, this time Gentry, moved Michigan down the field in a hurry on their next drive, the final drive of the first half. The run game went to work from there, with two Chris Evans carries and a Ben Mason carry moving Michigan to Indiana’s three-yard line. Patterson looked for McKeon on a quick out with mere seconds remaining, a play that Jim Harbaugh said in his postgame press conference they expected would either hit him in the end zone or with a chance to get out of bounds. McKeon was brought down in bounds, and the ensuing ball placement went awry when an Indiana player kicked the ball after the ref set it on the turf. Harbaugh was told by the umpire that there was no penalty on the play because the player did not kick the ball intentionally, and the clock ran out with Michigan down, 17-15.
The game provided some likely anomalous deep shots on which Patrick Ramsey dropped glorious deep shots from the heavens into a basket, but it also gave the defense a lot of film to work on cleaning up short crossing crossing routes over the middle. Indiana seemed to come in with the idea that they could test Michigan’s safeties (didn’t work) and move the secondary off the line with deep routes and hit a drag over the middle, which Khaleke Hudson was picking up repeatedly by game’s end. The defense's yardage numbers aren’t as gaudy as usual, but tonight gives Michigan recent in-game experience with some of the ways man coverage is tested underneath before coming up against Ohio State’s dink-and-dunk, screen-heavy, pass-heavy offense.
[Upchurch]
Michigan’s defense was once again boosted by Don Brown’s preternatural ability to make in-game adjustments, with the defense allowing just one score in the second half, a 36-yard field goal with six minutes to go in the game. Devin Bush Jr. led the team with 11 tackles and added 0.5 sacks, 1.5 TFLs, 1 PBU, and a QB hurry. He was deadly on a twist that brought him off the edge, a game in which most linebackers wouldn’t have nearly enough speed to partake. Indiana also tried to test Bush on the edge and gained as much as other teams that have done the same this season: nothing. Indiana attempted to convert a 4th-and-10 at the onset of the fourth quarter with a fake punt, snapping to one of the players who normally comprises the shield and having him flip the ball on an end-around. Bush read the flip and got to the sideline in time to tackle the ball carrier; on replay, he appeared to teleport into the frame.
Cramps were the only thing that slowed Bush down tonight, and he was far from the only one. Khaleke Hudson, David Long, and Josh Metellus also cramped up and had to leave the game for brief periods, though all four returned.
[Fuller]
Two players, however, were injured and did not return to the game. Chase Winovich was rushing the passer on 2nd-and-6 in the third quarter when Indiana lineman Simon Stepaniak shoved him from the side, then fell on him late in the play after Winovich was already on the ground and Ramsey had stepped up in the pocket. Harbaugh said that X-rays at Michigan Stadium and the hospital were negative, as was a CAT scan. Harbaugh declined to name what exactly Winovich injured and added that he thought they were in a good place considering the test results.
The most frightening moment in the game came on Michigan’ kick return after Indiana’s fourth-quarter field goal. Berkley Edwards was leapt into by Cam Jones, who was called for targeting, as the returner ran past. Edwards was on the turf for minutes that felt like an eternity as a silence unlike anything I’ve ever experienced fell over Michigan Stadium. Trainers and the team’s medical staff were eventually able to transfer Edwards to a board and cart him to an ambulance. He has feeling in his extremities and though Harbaugh said he suffered a significant concussion he was reportedly responding well to other tests.
With relatively good news on the injury front, Michigan escapes another bizarro Indiana contest with a win and all their goals in front of them. For the second time in three years, Michigan travels to Columbus with the division and a shot at the Playoff on the line. The Revenge Tour commences once more in 157 hours and 48 minutes.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:23 PM ^
The revenge tour concludes in 157 hours and 48 minutes, and let's hope it wraps up the same way it started.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:45 PM ^
Nope. We still need to play ND in the championship.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
Don't forget we own Bama a L due to what happened at Jerryworld in 2012 ( yeah I know different team and coach) . So the revenge tour's second leg would be OSU, Bama and ND in that order. First things first, beat OSU
November 18th, 2018 at 7:43 AM ^
Oh if only there was also some level of "revenge" that could be realized as against these ridiculously poor referees Michigan has been up against for years now. The newly introduced state of mind "intent" requirement that must be shown for a ball-kicking penalty hopefully gets investigated and pressed by the AD or whoever handles those complaints with the B10. That was beyond absurd. With that said, the playcalling and time management during that last minute of play before the half was somewhat painful to watch.
November 18th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
The time management was okay until the last play. You cannot throw that ball to anyone who is not in the end zone.
November 18th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Yeah, as frustrating as our struggles in the red zone were today, that play at the end of the half was the one moment I was pounding the seat in front of me in aggravation. I did not like leaving those 7 points on the field.; especially when we came out in the 2nd half and scored right away after making Indiana go 3 and out. We should’ve been up 29-17 than 22-17 with the game effectively being over. Oh well, get better Chase, be well Berkeley, beat Ohio.
November 18th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
The play call was correct. The execution by Shaw was off. I don't think JH said throw it three yards behind the plane.
November 18th, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^
Maybe it's not a foul in basketball.
November 18th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
2015 Oregon state right. That was crazy. I think the UM AD should say, behind the scenes, that we get fair officiating or we are done with the Big ten. Look at Nebraska with the "Big 11 mostly Texas"
they left a shitty conference that favored one schoool. If all refs think JH is not deserving of objectivity then we should leave.
November 18th, 2018 at 8:25 AM ^
That would be amazing. I could die then...
November 18th, 2018 at 1:33 AM ^
Yes - Revenge Tour _resumes/continues_ in 157 hours. Really appreciate the recap.
November 18th, 2018 at 9:27 AM ^
True, true. But I went with "commence" because I felt that they had to restart after a week off the tour, that this was something akin to a stop at IHOP on a long road trip: you'll think "this year it's different, I'll try somewhere else" and then you'll end up there anyway.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
Such a somber, uncomfortable win. I don’t understand how spying a QB is so hard. O Line was still impressive, Higdon had a pretty decent day I thought. Not near as confident going into The Game as before.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:38 PM ^
you don't understand because you are a couch coach. watch football but know nothing about it. and by the way how "confident" should osu be after their game?
November 17th, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^
Speaking of cheap shots....
November 17th, 2018 at 11:10 PM ^
I would say OSU should feel pretty confident, IU does the same exact thing OSU does but with way less talented players. Mesh routes across the middle, same running scheme except Dobbins is a hellavuh lot better than Scott. And as for the comment about how I know nothing about football? Just shut it, you are just some guy on a couch too. We come here to discuss what we think among one another and no one claims to know much more than anyone else. If you want to use the arm chair coach remark than this blog isn’t for you.
November 17th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
Dobbins is not a "helluva lot better than Scott." Michigan will not play or prepare for OSU like they did Indiana.
November 17th, 2018 at 11:37 PM ^
Ramsey ran for at least 5 FDs. Haskins May be better in a clean pocket, but he’s more uncomfortable under fire, does not escape as well and certainly does not do designed runs as well. UM saw Ramsey’s A- game and his strengths were effective. Haskins strengths are very different.
November 18th, 2018 at 1:11 AM ^
I think you COMPLETELY ignored the other side of the ball normich, where osu gave up over 50 today.
I'm guessing this omission was NOT accidental?
November 18th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
You claimed that you don't know why spying on a QB is hard. It was explained to you why that is hard for you to understand, and you act offended because you now know why you don't understand. Maybe this blog isn't for you.
Only the most moronic buckeye fans feel their team should feel "pretty confident" after giving up 51 points to a 5-6 Terrapins team.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
Brown kept bringing pressure with the linebackers because our dline was uncharacteristically ineffective in this game. That tends to take away the guy you need to spy the QB. They started playing more zone to help mitigate the numbers imbalance in the back 7, but of course that left them more open to chunk plays in the passing game. Credit to IU's O-line for being able to neutralize them for most of the game. Except Stepaniak. No credit to him. He can get fucked.
November 17th, 2018 at 11:37 PM ^
Losing Chase in the 2nd half made a helluva difference in the effectiveness of the DL. That, and the DT's getting blown out regularly on running plays.
November 18th, 2018 at 12:26 AM ^
Thought the DTs had issues throughout, particularly in the first half.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:56 PM ^
I would be right with you if I didn't watch the OSU OT over Maryland. OSU is allergic to stopping the run, and when Haskins gets happy feet he is a different QB. I think a lot of what OSU is "good" at plays into our strengths .
November 18th, 2018 at 12:52 AM ^
Brown was trading the spy for blitzes that rarely induced any real pressure on the QB. Not exactly confidence inducing.
November 18th, 2018 at 1:14 AM ^
Sorry bro, you fumbled going in the endzone costing us more than 1 game.
I'm way more confident in Don Brown than you these days A-Train
November 18th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
The o-line didn't seem impressive to me today, Shea seemed pressured quite a lot
November 18th, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
The offense better be ready to score. Field goals aren’t going to do it next week
November 17th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
Indiana is a dirty team.
Further, Tom Allen looked like an idiot pumping up his team. Screw him, screw number 72, screw number 42, and screw number 43. The kicking the ball from the refs' hand should've been an unsportsmanlike at the very least. The BIG won't do anything, but the refs letting Indiana get away with dirty hits and cheap play led to the head-hunting.
Edit: typo. Of course, the causation is conjecture.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:31 PM ^
This is all true (except the guy that hit Edwards is #34) - the B1G will do nothing; O'Neal and crew will continue to ref games; and the allowance of IU to get away with a lot directly led to the head hunting.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:33 PM ^
Exactly. Those dipshits are the reason it got to Edwards getting absolutely splattered by some jackass who wasn't even trying to make a play on the ballcarrier. That is the most inept officiating crew in the B10, and they should be fired. Out of a cannon. Into the sun.
November 17th, 2018 at 11:10 PM ^
Agree with these comments 1000%
IU received so much favorable ref treatment there's a very good argument that it led to the scary injury on Edwards. They're about player safety are they?
November 18th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
Can he sue?
November 18th, 2018 at 1:38 AM ^
The cheap shots took place after the zebras allowed IU's kicking of the ball to go unpunished. The officials gave IU an inch, they took a mile.
November 18th, 2018 at 8:24 AM ^
It’s understandable - both plays were unintentional. /s
November 17th, 2018 at 10:28 PM ^
For as underwhelming as the defense was, and the offense’s inability to actually get touchdowns, the game never really felt like it was in jeopardy. Even though we weren’t getting touchdowns it felt like we were pretty much moving the ball at will.
November 18th, 2018 at 12:29 AM ^
I think you're right; at the same time, it was another one of those wins that felt too much like a loss. Foolishly, I was expecting it to be a lot easier. Besides the injuries, it was most deflating when Shea had to start pulling to get the first down - it meant the coaches knew that the risk to Shae was less than the risk we'd lose. I hate that it was necessary pre-OSU.
November 18th, 2018 at 7:55 AM ^
I had little confidence our D could stop them. It wasn’t until we had a 2 score lead with 2 minutes to go that I could say, “We’ve got this”.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:28 PM ^
If one watches the replay, Cam Jones didn't even bother with the returner...it was as if he was trying to settle a score with Edwards.... is it possible that they have blocking assignments on the kicking team, as to take out blockers, to free up teammates to tackle the returner?
IF NOT
then Jones should be banned the rest of the season.... that was criminal...seriously...that was so blatant, and imagine if Edwards died or were paralyzed on that hit......before anyone might say I'm overreacting, I suggest you watch the replay in slow motion...he didn't even look at the runner running right at him, and instead, targeted Edwards...
November 17th, 2018 at 10:38 PM ^
You are 100% correct. He let Hawkins run right by and simply went after Edwards. If he didn't intentionally target Edwards, he was running down the field looking to hit someone. The announcers went on and on about how dangerous kick off returns are, but the only thing dangerous about that play was that jones was intentionally head-hunting, not playing football.
November 17th, 2018 at 11:11 PM ^
You are spot on.
November 17th, 2018 at 11:23 PM ^
Good point. Hawkins is basically right next to him. There's no way he should have been hitting Edwards like that if he was really trying to stop the play.
November 18th, 2018 at 5:31 AM ^
Counterpoint:
(I only played FB through HS, so don't know college coaching. That said, my HS coach played at UMiami OH in the late 60s -- he tought football the way his coach did. Horn tooting over.)
When you're a small guy on kickoffs, you just *know* you're gonna get whacked. So (coaches teach this, but its mostly self preservation) you Hit Them First. I'm an unabashed Michigan homer. And that shot was foul. Nonetheless, I can see why the guy did it.
And I stand by my statement that Bo would've approved. Not been proud of the outcome. But approved of a little guy hitting someone on kickoff coverage. (Guy went too far. But. . . I can see why.)
November 17th, 2018 at 11:28 PM ^
Yes there are people on kickoffs who blow shit up. I'm not sure he was one of them, he seems more a gunner to tackle the ball carrier. But yea they used to exist anyway. Kickoff rules also ARE different now (no 3 person wedges, etc.) but again blower uppers do/did exist.
November 18th, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
The a-hole refs took an eternity to confirm the blatant targeting. And only after the crowd was chanting to "kick him out!". I swear that if they didn't call it, it would have been a blood bath.
November 18th, 2018 at 8:45 AM ^
Fortunate to get this O’Neil crew at home against Indiana instead of next week in Columbus. We’ve had some good officiating this season, but this crew isn’t one of them.
November 18th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
November 17th, 2018 at 10:29 PM ^
Less than one week. LFG.
November 17th, 2018 at 10:29 PM ^
OK, now just feat da buckin fuckeyes
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