Michigan 10, Iowa 3
It's a win.
Let's start there. Savor it. Michigan beat a ranked team. They even covered the spread.
You'd like more details? Well, that's unfortunate.
This was ¡El Assico! 2: This Time in Blue. Neither team cracked 270 yards of total offense. Of the game's 26 real drives, there were:
- 15 punts
- four interceptions
- a lost fumble
- two made field goals
- two missed field goals
- a single, solitary touchdown
- Iowa's eight-play, 12-yard drive to end the game.
The defense, obviously, emerged as the game's heroes. The Hawkeyes, a team that still utilizes a fullback, mustered only three yards per non-sack carry. That's an important distinction to make, as Don Brown's group hounded Nate Stanley for eight sacks that, by the NCAA's tally, took Iowa's rushing output from 66 yards down to one. Kwity Paye (2.5 sacks), Jordan Glasgow (2), and Cam McGrone (1.5) were frequent uninvited guests in Iowa's backfield, and Khaleke Hudson sealed the win with a blitz that forced a desperation left-handed throw from Stanley on fourth down—Daxton Hill chased down the receiver near the line of scrimmage.
The touchdown. [Fuller]
After a rocky start for both teams, Michigan briefly looked poised for a blowout. Aidan Hutchinson handed the offense a quick field goal drive with a forced fumble, and after another defensive stop, Josh Gattis opened things up a bit. Shea Patterson hit Nico Collins down the middle for 51 yards to open the drive and picked up another first down with a crisp throw to Mike Sainristil to set up a short Zach Charbonnet touchdown. At the end of the first quarter, the Wolverines held a 10-0 lead and 101-57 edge in total yardage.
Then the game got trapped in the proverbial muck. Both quarterbacks were erratic; Stanley tossed three interceptions after going 140 attempts without one, while Patterson averaged 3.8 yards per attempt outside of the Collins bomb. Neither team could establish a reliable running game. The wind was the game's most impactful player for large swaths of the second half.
You can choose your favorite moment of absurdity, from Iowa calling a timeout to set up a fade to Oliver Martin, to Gattis dialing up a direct snap to Charbonnet from a covered receiver formation, to Kirk Ferentz taking an intentional delay of game before a 28-yard punt fair caught at the 14, to Stanley throwing a perfect fly route to Lavert Hill, to Donovan Peoples-Jones eating a nine-yard loss on a botched trick play, to Michigan unintentionally taking a delay of game before a punt that netted 25 yards, to Iowa punting from their own 49 on a drive that had reached the Michigan 25, to Stanley's final yakety-sax throw that looked for a moment like it might inconceivably work out. That probably doesn't cover all of it but I can't take responsibility for the damage that game did to my brain.
Ultimately, Michigan's defensive aptitude prevailed, or Iowa's offensive ineptitude lost out, or however you'd like to interpret that game, which we're all glad is over.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score, if you dare.]
October 5th, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
Big life. Big stage. Big Ten. pic.twitter.com/HWgg6Ivr5g
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) October 5, 2019
October 6th, 2019 at 1:45 PM ^
It was dry and mild yesterday. Just imagine if it were 30 and sleeting. Yikes.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
Why so fucking negative. Defense dominated a good team. A few miscues on 3rd and long but overall great D.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:43 PM ^
Bless your poor deranged soul, nobody's complaining about the defense. This was one of the worst showings on offense at home since 1995.
October 5th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
2007 Michigan vs Ohio State has something to say about that. Still have nightmares from that game.
October 5th, 2019 at 6:37 PM ^
At least that game had the excuse of playing a QB with a dislocated shoulder.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
All the hand-wringing about what this means for the future is completely justified.
And Iowa's offense isn't good.
And the game wasn't fun to watch.
All that being said, hopefully at some point in the coming hours or days, you can find a spare 10 minutes or an hour to enjoy that defensive performance without letting those other thoughts intrude. Most fans cheer for college football teams that don't turn in a defensive performance like that once in their entire lives. It's worth reveling in, if only for a bit.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
I’d be shocked if Ohio State wins by anything less than 50 against this team.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
Which is exactly what we said about Hoke's last team, and then they came one 2 point conversion short of the biggest upset in the history of the Game.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
That team was manned by one of the most underrated QBs in Michigan history playing on a broken leg for the second half. Gardner would be a Heisman contender if he wasn’t stuck playing for Michigan.
Meanwhile our current QB is too scared to throw the ball beyond 5 yards.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
Sure, that’s why he went to Japan to play pro ball.?
October 5th, 2019 at 6:55 PM ^
Im sorry what correlation does this have for what I said? Outside of Brady what modern UM QB has been half way decent in the NFL? Henne? Rofl.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:59 PM ^
Wrong. The biggest upset was M 24, OSU 12 in '69. Trust me. I was there.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
It’s a big fucking win. Congratulations to the team. Toughness for certain.
I thought we needed more run in the red zone. Iowa plays very good D.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^
Nice double post. Username checks out.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
It’s a big fucking win. Congratulations to the team. Toughness for certain.
I thought we needed more run in the red zone. Iowa plays very good D.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
The only thing worse than the offenses was the video feed wigging out in the middle of a play OVER A DOZEN TIMES, including crucial third and fourth down plays. -3 communication network.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:51 PM ^
The trick play looked like it could have been a good one. Maybe All is running free if he isn’t tripped. So annoying.
On the missed Nordin field goal he immediately looked at the snapper who gave him the “my bad” sign. I think with a good snap he makes it as he doesn’t have to hesitate and can fully swing thru/across. It was subtle but it made a difference.
Those are the plays we point to in a close loss and wonder what if. Thankfully that isn’t the case here.
October 5th, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
That Moody miss late was brutal. Felt like we were able to ice the game (and it functionally would've) and then our reliably kicker biffs it.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:52 PM ^
8 sacks, 4 forced turnovers- and we win by 7. Not saying it’s the offense, but I’m saying it’s the offense. Seems like they threw everything in the playbook at Iowa, but didn’t run anything more than once?
ONE throw downfield? ONE RPO? ONE bubble screen that gained 1 yard? Patterson still holding the ball too long, and overthrew another pass to the end zone to Ronnie Bell- his accuracy is not good and I feel like the coaches don’t trust him go downfield so They are not letting him. Frustrating.
Yikes for the offense. But- if the defense gives up only 3 points per game every game- we can win.
Unfortunately 3 points per game is not realistic against every opponent.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:50 PM ^
We probably won't see it again in our lifetimes.
October 5th, 2019 at 6:01 PM ^
We will hold OSU to 2.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:52 PM ^
When the announcers are openly questioning your offensive playcalling the entire second half, you know something's wrong......
October 5th, 2019 at 5:48 PM ^
That kind of depends on who the announcers are.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
The lack of offensive rhythm is breathtakingly bad. This appears to be a "be careful what you wish for" situation handing the keys to Gattis. His limited experience calling plays is showing. Nothing is established -- a little of this, a little of that, and good results at nothing consistently. I'm sure it will get better, but it's maddening to watch four or five plays of brilliant football followed by head scratching plays.
October 5th, 2019 at 6:08 PM ^
Yeah that’s the thing . . . There were those 4-5 stings that looked really good, followed by 3 plays where they would look just awful then punt.
October 5th, 2019 at 8:19 PM ^
There was nothing wrong with looking for a fresh, flashy offensive guy to make the change at coordinator. He just picked the wrong guy, with no track record. There are literally dozens of high quality offensive coaches with track records. Phil Longo. Graham Harrell. Kevin Johns. Even Rhett Lashlee. Jake Spavital (would he rather be the HC at Texas State or OC at Michigan?). Ohio State poached Yurcich and still has Kevin Wilson as co-OCs. Or do what LSU did and go the NFL route, but find somebody who is actually creative.
Instead, he recklessly and stupidly handed the reins of the offense at a major college football program to Some Guy Who Was in the Same Room as Nick Saban.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:56 PM ^
This was a game that felt like a 30-3 win. Total domination by Michigan. Offensive errors again thwarted the result. We can’t do that in Happy Valley and get the win. Gattis needs to keep growing and coaching these guys up. Improvement can happen folks.
Go Blue !!!
October 5th, 2019 at 11:34 PM ^
But it didn't feel like a 30 - 3 win. It felt like another escape. The offense had Michigan one big play from a tie game for 3 quarters. A first down. One first down and the game is sealed, and they couldn't get it. They had to turn to the D to get it done. Again.
October 6th, 2019 at 7:56 AM ^
Yet total yardage was nearly dead even. Not sure how you got total domination out of that.
October 5th, 2019 at 4:59 PM ^
Ugly ugly game.
Good news, if there is any, is you have Illinois this week before shit gets real.
Better figure shit out fast...
btw I would LOVE to eat a big giant bowl of crow two weeks from today. Please figure it out.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:04 PM ^
When it comes to piss poor coaching, I thought that the 2013 offense was as bad as it could get.
I was wrong.
Both offenses would have done better with the Hoke/Borges pairing than the clowns that they had in charge today.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^
Hoke/Borges ???? You should go drink the hemlock now....
October 5th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
On the bright side, the NCAA total makes this a 10x rushing Rutger!!!
October 5th, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^
Spot on Ace. Savor it. Michigan wins a big game against a ranked undefeated opponent at a fork in the road point of the season. Defense was epic and ballin. Still believe in our receiving corp, and hopefully they will shine in future Saturdays. Most important thing today was to win. Michigan did.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:49 PM ^
Exactly. Just imagine how Iowa fans feel.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:52 PM ^
TING!!
We are trying to fix our tepid offense, and have fallen flat on our face so far.
Iowa isn't even trying to fix it.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:14 PM ^
Throw the fucking ball up to Nico 10 times a game.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:57 PM ^
Shea seems afraid to make mistakes or he doesn't trust himself. He goes through his progression and seems reluctant to throw the ball unless the dude is wide open. I don't think he trusts his own arm
October 5th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
Yeah Brian has that UFR last season where he out and out said that Patterson needs to throw more interceptions, by which he meant take more risks. Still seems the case.
October 5th, 2019 at 9:04 PM ^
Shea goes through his progressions?
Never seen it. Radar lock then scramble or chuck it OOB.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
Cam McGrone, Dax Hill, Mike Danna, LaVert Hill, Khaleke Hudson, Josh Metellus, Brad Hawkins, Aidan Hutchinson, Ambry Thomas, Kwity Paye, Josh Uche, Jordan Glasgow, Carlo Kemp, and the whole defense played extremely well.
The speed of McGrone and Hill stands out, Khaleke Hudson is always around the ball, Danna filled in nicely for Paye, Thomas and Hill were unbeatable. Brown mixed up the defense nicely. By the end of the game, Iowa's offense had moved into reverse.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
Nice gamer Ace.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
Okay all you sunshines suck it up!
Against quality opponents there will be no pretty wins. The offense is entirely new and the team has far from enough time in camp to internalize it. Personally I don't much care for the new offense, but thats what Harbaugh has chosen to run. It's his call, and all we can do is wait for either it to gel or for Harbaugh to change his mind. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on the latter.
An ugly win is a win none the less
October 5th, 2019 at 5:27 PM ^
Ugly win ? Your seat in the fan base needs to get trashed. This win was pure beauty. Wonderful. Looked so fantastic to me that I am giddy. If we can thrash this 4-0 team ? We are in business.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
That was a 1980’s Bo vs Hayden Fry special....we were caught in a time warp.?
October 5th, 2019 at 5:22 PM ^
Don Brown owns Iowa today. Just a total domination.
October 5th, 2019 at 5:42 PM ^
If you are at all one dimensional, Brown can usually end you. This performance however, makes the performance in Madison even more baffling. Sure seems like this defense should've been able to force Coan to win. Is Dwumfour really that big of an impact? I guess he might be (or maybe adding one more guy to the platoon makes everyone better). UFR will be interesting
October 5th, 2019 at 5:53 PM ^
Dwumfour, Dax and McGrone may indeed be a total game changer.
October 6th, 2019 at 7:18 AM ^
The Iowa interior OL isn't good.
The Wisconsin interior is really good.
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