Michigan 20, Indiana 10
De'Veon Smith's diving touchdown put Michigan up for good. [Eric Upchurch]
For 40 minutes, Senior Day at Michigan Stadium couldn't have gone much worse. The offense had nothing going with John O'Korn, who looked hesitant and flustered in Wilton Speight's stead. Indiana led 10-6 and looked poised to upset Michigan for the first time since 1987.
O'Korn had thrown for all of 46 yards when he dropped back on third-and-eight from the Michigan 36 with five minutes left in the third quarter. Indiana got instant pressure and O'Korn broke the pocket, jetting down the sideline for 30 yards, Michigan's longest play from scrimmage to that point.
"The opportunity presented itself. I thought I was going to score," O'Korn said, cracking a smile. "Then I got tackled from behind."
De'Veon Smith would not be denied in such fashion. He broke through the line, fended off a tackler, and scraped the ball along the top of the pylon for a spectacular 34-yard diving touchdown.
Following a short Indiana punt against the wind two drives later, Smith burst untouched into the secondary, and tiptoed down the sideline past a dominating block from Kekoa Crawford for a 39-yard score.
"Grinding out first downs. Grinding meat. De'Veon," said Jim Harbaugh, succinctly describing Smith. "It felt like old-fashioned, slobber-knocker football."
Smith accounted for over half of Michigan's total yardage with a career-high 158 yards on 23 carries. As Michigan Stadium turned into a Winter Wonderland in the fourth quarter, his punishing runs salted the game away on a 15-play, 51-yard drive that took nearly nine minutes off the clock and left Indiana with no shot at a comeback.
Michigan Stadium as snow globe. [Bryan Fuller]
While Michigan's offense scuffled early, the defense and special teams kept the Wolverines close enough for the eventual comeback. The defensive front, led by seniors Taco Charlton and Ryan Glasgow, ran rampant in the Hoosier backfield; those two accounted for 5.5 of Michigan's 12 tackles for loss. Ben Gedeon and Mike McCray both had excellent games, and the secondary shut down the passing game, holding the Hoosiers to 6.4 yards per attempt.
While Jabrill Peppers couldn't get much going in his few snaps on offense, he made his presence felt in the other two phases. He repeatedly gave Michigan great field position by fielding IU's line-drive punts, and a pad-popping stop on Richard Lagow in the backfield for one of his two TFLs helped hold the Hoosiers to a field goal on what would be their only scoring drive of the second half.
Special teams played a big part in this victory beyond Peppers's returns. Kenny Allen used the elements to his advantage, pinning Indiana inside their 20-yard line on four of his six punts, and he calmly connected on both of his field-goal attempts. When Peppers wasn't fielding punts, Michigan was blocking them; Michael Jocz and Khaleke Hudson got their hands on a punt apiece to help swing the momentum in Michigan's favor.
That proved enough for Michigan to avoid an upset. A much larger test looms next week in Columbus, of course, with the stakes about as high as they could be. It's yet to be seen if Michigan will have their starting quarterback on the field for the program's most important game since 2006.
"We'll see," Harbaugh said regarding Speight's status this week. "He's day-to-day."
November 20th, 2016 at 3:23 AM ^
Fair point
November 20th, 2016 at 12:44 AM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 9:23 PM ^
has the best defense in the country, not Ohio State.
November 19th, 2016 at 11:11 PM ^
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November 20th, 2016 at 10:08 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 12:07 AM ^
You didn't see a single high level throw? The fourth quarter 3rd & 7 crossing route to Darboh showed solid arm strength. Accurate, hard-thrown ball off his back foot while being pressured and rolling out. Also, the deep ball to Darboh in the third quarter (play before second De'veon TD) was on-the-money and Darboh short-armed it.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:47 AM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^
A few feet behind the receiver perhaps. At worst, that throw will grade out as CA in the UFR.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:19 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:06 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:07 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:09 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:15 PM ^
That play scared the crap out of me. Refs took forever to blow whistle, and DeVeon could have been killed. Literally.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:22 PM ^
I thought that was awesome!
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:55 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 5:58 AM ^
It was Braden and it was really cool to see that. We also got jipped out of 2 yards on that play because they spot it where the helmet comes off. We would have had a 3rd and 2 but instead didn't convert on 3rd and 4.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:28 PM ^
He took a helluva shot after his helmet was ripped off! Glad he didn't that in the head... I saw a 7 on the jersey of the OL that covered him after the hit. Not sure, but it may have been Bredeson.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:59 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:12 PM ^
But would have been nice for Jake Butt to at least have someone who could throw a pass to him in his last game at the Big House. When Speight is back next week, I'm sure Butt will be an important part of the offense again.
GO BLUE!!
November 19th, 2016 at 8:17 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:17 PM ^
That was not a pretty win, but Smith looked incredible out there, too bad he wasn't the feature back getting 90% of the carries all year. He would have done great with them, I always thought they should have given him the ball more. That was a cold game and fun to watch, happy for hte seniors.
The only disappointing this was O'korn. He looked despicable, I had more faith in him but I guess I should not have. Let's hope Wilton is back next week, that is a for sure loss if he is not. I'll be major happy next year when the time comes when our backups can complete a 10 yrd pass, McCaffery looks the real deal and he'll be a good backup and starter.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:24 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 9:24 PM ^
Smith was a monster tonight, but we lose another game or two if Smith had gotten 90% of the carries this year.
November 19th, 2016 at 10:02 PM ^
November 20th, 2016 at 7:58 AM ^
i don't think you know what "despicable" means. look it up!
November 20th, 2016 at 10:03 AM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:18 PM ^
iced the game...
And thank you seniors!
November 19th, 2016 at 11:04 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:19 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 8:21 PM ^
That picture is *fantastic*. Can you please give access to a high-res version?
Edit: Nevermind.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mgoblog/30978029632/in/album-721576727826…
November 19th, 2016 at 8:20 PM ^
I'm hoping they have a bunch of new plays, formations, packages, etc. for OSU next week. If they roll out another clunker on offense, it won't take much for OSU to grind out a win.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:24 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:24 PM ^
Spectacular photo - well done Mr. Upchurch!
November 19th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
Back up QB, bad weather - they just needed to get through this game and get ready for Columbus. Solid second half.
This is going to be one long week until noon next Saturday.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
Where are all the fools that were calling for Smith to never touch the ball again? Where are the ones screaming for Evans to start and Smith to be relegated to 4th string? Morans...
Helluva game for Smith - congratulations, young man!!! He carried the team today.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:45 PM ^
November 19th, 2016 at 8:50 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 9:20 PM ^
East Lansing version. Someone will post you a photo. Wait for it.
November 20th, 2016 at 5:55 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 9:28 PM ^
probably shouldn't call people morons.
Smith was awesome!
November 19th, 2016 at 10:06 PM ^
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November 19th, 2016 at 10:47 PM ^
"Where are all the fools that were calling for Smith to never touch the ball again? Where are the ones screaming for Evans to start and Smith to be relegated to 4th string? "
My guess is that they're hanging out with all the fools that were insisting that O'Korn was the far superior QB and should have been starting over Speight.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:35 PM ^
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