Michigan 34, Indiana 10
The pride of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. [Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
It's a new day. Sort of.
There was plenty to celebrate in the first Michigan game of the post-Brandon era. The Wolverines thoroughly dominated Indiana, more than doubling their total yardage and earning the team's first double-digit win since the Miami game.
Devin Gardner set a season high in passing yardage. Amara Darboh posted the best day of his career. So did Ann Arbor native Drake Johnson, who rushed for 122 yards and two scores in his first extended action at running back. The defense shut down the nation's leading rusher, IU's Tevin Coleman, and even forced a pair of turnovers.
There was plenty of bad that was familiar, too. Gardner tossed an ugly interception and narrowly avoided a pick-six when the game was still competitive. Brady Hoke bungled basic clock management at the end of the first half, robbing Michigan of a chance to score before the break. The Wolverines punted from the Indiana 43 on a fourth-and-short. And, of course, the entire game came with the caveat of facing an IU squad with a miserable defense and a depleted depth chart at quarterback.
Oh, and the announced attendance of 103,111 was met with a mixture of laughter and boos; perhaps the program sold that many tickets, but on a chilly afternoon in Ann Arbor, there certainly weren't that many seats filled.
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
On this day, though, the good should be the focus. With Jake Butt suspended for the game for a violation of team rules, reserve tight end Keith Heitzman was able to record his first career touchdown on an improvised shovel pass from Gardner (pictured above).
Injury also created opportunity in the backfield. With Derrick Green out for the season and De'Veon Smith in and out of the game with a dinged up ankle, Johnson got 16 carries—14 of them in the second half—and he salted away the game, playing kitty-corner from where he starred in high school at both football and track. Johnson, who'd seen mostly special teams duty in his time at Michigan, showed off that track-star speed by breaking multiple runs into the Indiana secondary.
Darboh broke the century mark on nine receptions, scoring from 12 yards on a hard-thrown post from Gardner to give Michgian a 17-0 lead that would stand as the halftime score. He and Devin Funchess combined to reel in 16 of Gardner's 22 completions; no other Wolverine had more than one.
The defense dominated an Indiana offense sorely missing injured quarterback Nate Sudfeld. They got some help from IU coach Kevin Wilson, as well. Wilson benched Tevin Coleman after he put the ball on the turf twice, losing the second on a recovery by freshman Bryan Mone. Indiana couldn't generate any offense without Coleman, who'd finish with a season-low 108 yards—must be nice—on 27 carries; his mark of four yards per carry was well below his season average of 8.8.
The Hoosiers also insisted on running much of their offense from the Wildcat, which Michigan had dead to rights for most of the game. Jake Ryan recorded 2.5 TFLs among his team-high 11 tackles; fellow linebacker Joe Bolden had two TFLs of his own as M repeatedly shot gaps into the IU backfield. Any hopes Indiana had of getting back into the game were dashed when Ryan Glasgow sacked IU QB Zander Diamont, stripped the ball, and came up with the recovery in the third quarter; Johnson got the corner for his first touchdown on the ensuing drive.
The final yardage read Michigan 404, Indiana 191.
Hoke refused to address questions about Dave Brandon's resignation in the aftermath of the game, and that felt right. Today was about the team on the field, and while the opponent wasn't a strong one, they were able to ignore this week's distractions and take care of business. That alone was an impressive feat.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:19 PM ^
Rehire Brandon! That way we can fire him next Friday too!
November 1st, 2014 at 7:23 PM ^
Good one!!!
November 2nd, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
Drake Johnson equals old Mike Hart #nuffsaid
November 1st, 2014 at 7:20 PM ^
DRAKE JOHNSON!!!
November 1st, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^
deserved this! Hail to them!
November 1st, 2014 at 7:37 PM ^
They could have easily quit on the year.
November 1st, 2014 at 8:28 PM ^
My guess is that a big part of this is Brandon's departure. From what I read here, DB appeared to micromanage the team.
November 1st, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^
The players were inspired to win because DB was fired yet the students, who actually won their battle with DB, showed their apathy by not showing up for the game.
November 2nd, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
• Exactly how and in what way was Brandon "micromanaging the team?"
• Exactly how and in what way was Brandon telling Hoke what to do in the management of the day-to-day affairs of the team that wasn't entirely appropriate for his role as AD?
November 2nd, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
It's bad for your mental health.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:05 PM ^
They looked good out there!
If only we started hating breast cancer when we played State!
November 1st, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^
I'm shocked there isn't a Darboh stiffarm GIF created yet. Our fanbase is slacking.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
in the post game presser. He eplained his reasoning. You may not agree with his strategy, but "bungled" might not be the best characterization.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:05 PM ^
I wanted to say the same thing. (So I will.) Bungled to me sounds like you wanted to do A, but your synapses wouldn't fire quickly in the right way to accomplish the act, so you ended up with B. It seemed to me like Hoke wanted to play it cautiously, and without an indication of something well within reach, figured 17-0 was good enough. As leu2500 implied, there's plenty of room for disagreement, but it didn't feel like the same kind of incomepetnece we've seen elsewhere. I'm not being an unabashed apologist. Instead, I want the criticism to be above questioning.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
Brady Hoke bungled basic clock management at the end of the first half, robbing Michigan of a chance to score before the break.
The way Gardner and the defense were playing, I'm not sure it's fair to say Hoke bungled the end of the half. In that context, it was a reasonable strategy.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:34 PM ^
Was going to post the same thing. You can argue against Hoke's strategy there (I sure would after the big first down run), but it was not poor clock management given the decision to not risk anything before the half.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:35 PM ^
At that point, I had no interest in seeing Gardner throw downfield into the wind with a minute left in half. He had just thrown a pick and an almost pick-six going in the same direction. More than happy to go in the locker room up 17-0 and getting the ball back to start the second half.
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November 1st, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^
was still too conservative an approach given the circumstances and the opportunity to give your team confidence instead of telling everyone that we don't really trust you not to make a mistake because we get the ball starting the second half. And then coming out in the second half and not moving the ball. So what was the point of doing nothing? Risking nothing you get more of the same against a team that can't pass and couldn't break any big plays running the ball.
At this point, I guess it matters not.
November 1st, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^
a pick 6, which he is wont to do, you would be leading the chorus berating Hoke for allowing such a travesty to occur when they could have gone into the locker room up 17-0 instead of 17-7.
There are much deeper problems with the team than back bench ankle biting about closing out the half leading 17-0.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^
I thought Brady made the right move. The team was up 17-0, going into the wind with a QB that had just made a couple bad passes, and they were getting the ball to start the second half. In that situation you play conservative and be happy with taking a 3 score lead going into the half.
November 2nd, 2014 at 12:11 AM ^
There...there is reason here.
There is light.
November 1st, 2014 at 10:54 PM ^
This this. There are way to many of us that have been angry and discontented for so long that they look for reasons for discord. They can't let go of the strife...
November 2nd, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
Or Michigan could've gone down the field and picked up 3 more points and gone into the half up 20-0. But of course that would never happen, because our head coach doesn't consider possessions as opportunities.
November 2nd, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
That's still not bungling clock management though...
November 2nd, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
You are right..either could happen...So there are valid arguments on both sides. This started as a rebuttal to those calliing Hoke an idiot for bungling the clock management. Both sides can be defended.
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November 1st, 2014 at 11:10 PM ^
knows UM is passing - not a good scenario for DG. He would likely stare down WRs and hesitate to run. An INT was probably more likely than another score.
Pushing for points would appear desperate. Hoke actually showed discipline by playing it cautious. He made some otter mistakes, but this wasn't "bungled".
November 1st, 2014 at 8:54 PM ^
if he had called a timeout that ended up unused they could have run the ball without Gardner throwing once and still gotten a field goal before the half. It was bad clock management and Hoke has a history of it. Additionally we get scored on by rivals before the half very frequently.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:41 PM ^
but it is not bad clock management if you are trying to run out the clock and avoid another turnover.
November 2nd, 2014 at 6:56 AM ^
sorry, but I do maintain that I feel like our strategy consistently works against us while everyone else scores on us before the half. OSU diid it in 2012 and MSU did it the past 2 years just off the top of my head.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:54 PM ^
What would that prove?
November 1st, 2014 at 10:48 PM ^
IN fact, I argue that it was the correct strategy. We're up 17-3 and will the ball after the half. IU can't drive on us. Our QB is a turnover machine. Putting him in an unnecessary fast break offense could give IU a TO, points, and momentum heading into the half. It was absolutely the right move. And we ultimately won by 24, so any arguments against that decision are moot during this game.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
Happy for the kids. When do we get Harbaugh?
November 1st, 2014 at 7:59 PM ^
and if we dont get Harbaugh (which we wont), who then???
November 1st, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^
Harbaugh
November 1st, 2014 at 8:54 PM ^
There's two Harbaughs. Either one.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^
Then Harbaugh.
November 2nd, 2014 at 12:09 AM ^
Harbaugh
Miles
Patterson
Mullen
Narduzzi
Graham
Etc. Etc. Etc.
There are more options that are upgrades over sticking with Hoke!
November 1st, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
Thanks Blue! ...for letting us just watch, listen to and think football for an afternoon.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:34 PM ^
Super excited to see a competent running game. Opponent notwithstanding it is a breath of fresh air. #FREEDRAKE
November 1st, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^
It looked to me like he was hitting the holes a lot quicker and harder than Smith or Green. But I fear he won't be given a chance for more touches in the following weeks. (barring injuries)
November 1st, 2014 at 7:39 PM ^
Oh, and the announced attendance of 103,111 was met with a mixture of laughter and boos; perhaps the program sold that many tickets, but on a chilly afternoon in Ann Arbor, there certainly weren't that many seats filled.
It's tickets sold plus all the press/field passes given out, plus I think all the workers there too. Subtract them all (and there are always extra for Homecoming, with the alumni band present) and you end up with like 98,000 tickets sold in a 109,901-seat stadium. That sounds about right. Aside from the overflow sections behind the students (which is where the unsold tickets would be located) it was reasonably full, at least in the first half. It didn't seem too different from earlier cupcake games IMO.
What did strike me today was how many students bailed at halftime. I don't know if I've ever seen that before.
November 1st, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
Got to disagree strongly. There were a ton of empty seats everywhere throughout the stadium for the whole game.
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November 1st, 2014 at 7:59 PM ^
When I say "reasonably full" I don't mean packed like sardines (like for an OSU/MSU/ND game) but enough people to look from a distance like it's full. Look at the photos above.
Up close you could see the empty pairs of seats here and there but aside from the overflow sections, you couldn't tell from a distance - until the second half when people, starting in the student section, progressively filed out.
November 1st, 2014 at 8:15 PM ^
In my row, 5 guys took up 8 seats and there was no gaps in between anyone.
People underestimate how empty the non-student section can get when people just comfortably spread out.
November 1st, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^
From the bottom of section 43, I would say the 90% estimate (98k/110k) is accurate.
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November 1st, 2014 at 8:22 PM ^
My Dad and I were the only two people in our row in Sec 41. Out of like 20 seats. At kickoff and throughout the 1st half.
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November 1st, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^
We're playing for a bad bowl game and the weather has turned. Can't expect too much.. I still remember the Boy Scout leader in my section, a couple rows up, instructing me on how to get the pain out of my frozen feet. No luxury boxes then but plenty of empty seats all around, among the snowdrifts and we had winning season after winning season.
November 1st, 2014 at 11:52 PM ^
I was one of those bundled up scouts back in the 60s.
November 2nd, 2014 at 1:19 AM ^
What was his advice?
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