At the midway point of their season, Michigan football was faced with a tough decision. Last week against Penn State, the team benched starting quarterback Bryce Underwood after a scoreless first half marked by two interceptions in favor of Tommy Carr, grandson of Wolverine great Lloyd Carr. The freshman seized the opportunity, as the offense produced three touchdowns in the second half (each coming off a turnover generated by the defense) en route to a 21-18 victory over the Nittany Lions.
Coming into Saturday’s matchup hosting the defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers, head coach Kyle Whittingham played his cards close to the vest early in the week. But by Friday evening, news spread that Carr would get his first start of the season in a critical game for Michigan against the #6-ranked team in the country. Inside the program, much had been made about the freshman’s performance in practice throughout the season and how it translated to his ability to process at live speed during the Penn State game, but the Wolverines coming out of last week with a win was primarily a product of achieving season highs in rushing yards (211) and forced turnovers (3). Against Curt Cignitti’s Indiana squad, Carr would need help from his supporting cast on both sides of the ball to give Michigan a chance at upsetting the champs.
Unfortunately, Michigan’s injury report heading into kickoff wasn’t a source of good news, either. In addition to the ongoing absence of right tackle Andrew Sprague, tackle Blake Frazier was also ruled out, along with tight end Zack Marshall and edge rusher Dom Nichols.
Playing to their Strengths
In their four previous meetings with Power 4 opponents, the Wolverines had failed to score more than 21 points this season. Fortunately, that is not an untenable benchmark, as their defense hasn’t allowed more than 20 points to any opponent this year. Boasting one of the best secondary units in the country and a formidable pass rush, first-year Michigan DC Jay Hill and his defense would need to play complementary football to their offense by keeping the Hoosiers’ attack in neutral for as long as possible.
The good news for the Wolverines is that this defense more than kept up their end of the bargain, producing what was undeniably its best performance of the season. The veteran leadership in the Wolverines’ defensive backfield deserves praise for executing not just a consistently solid game, but one in which they were asked to produce numerous game-saving plays. Senior cornerbacks Zeke Berry and Jyaire Hill each made multiple plays on the ball/PBUs, with Berry also hauling in a massive pick in the third quarter – the first interception thrown by Indiana starting QB Josh Hoover all season.
Hoover, who entered this matchup as one of the most dependable and clean passers in the FBS this year, was held to 7-of-17 for 60 yards and an INT in regulation, with zero passing yards in the second half. Predictably, this also meant Michigan’s secondary had its way with Hoosiers star receivers Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh, holding the pair to a combined 5 catches for 57 yards on the day. While the Indiana rushing attack fared slightly better, even that unit was held to 3.7 YPG for 131 yards and did not find the end zone after 60 minutes of play.
So, in a game where the Wolverines’ defense held a Top 10-ranked, defending national champion to 6 points and less than 200 yards of offense through four quarters of football – what exactly went wrong?
Jekyll & Hyde
As well as Michigan’s defense played on Saturday, the offense didn’t do them many favors in return. Out of seven drives in the first half, they produced only one that went for more than 20 yards and reached Indiana territory, resulting in a missed 53-yard field goal attempt by Trey Butkowski. To make matters worse, two of those first half drives ended in turnovers inside Michigan’s 30.
The first came on a regrettable mistake by Carr. Rolling out to his left, he attempted a toss to Savion Hiter to avoid a sack, but the ball traveled laterally and was recovered by the IU defense. Luckily, the heroics of the aforementioned Jyaire Hill keep Indiana out of the end zone, leading to a chip-shot FG to put Indiana up by three.
Carr’s next costly error is, admittedly, less regrettable as opposed to just straight-up bad. On a 3rd & 7 early in the second quarter, he makes a pass on an in-breaking route to his primary target, JJ Buchanan. The issue is that Buchanan was blanketed by four Indiana defenders in the area, where AJ Harris ultimately deflects it into the waiting arms of Amare Ferrell. Again, the Wolverines’ defense bails out the offense after the turnover, forcing a 3-and-out by stifling Hoosiers running back Turbo Richard on the early downs before getting after Hoover on 3rd and long.
Somehow, despite producing less than 100 yards and surrendering the ball in their own territory multiple times, Michigan only found itself trailing Indiana 6-0 at halftime.
A Major Disappointment
With the game still very much up for the taking and the Wolverines receiving the ball to start the second half, the opportunity was there to swing momentum in favor of the home side. Coming out of the break, Carr and the offense put together their longest drive of the day, establishing his connection with Buchanan on back-to-back passes hitting the skinny post for 17 yards a pop. After the woes of the first 30 minutes, Jason Beck’s side of the ball had finally reached goal-to-go downs, getting all the way to the 1-yard line on a pivotal 3rd down call.
In a game where Michigan had not one, but two 3rd down plays inside the IU 5 that both ended in sacks, the first will be the one Maize & Blue fans vocally lament for days (or weeks) to come. With a chance to take the lead halfway through the third quarter, Beck calls a bootleg pass for Carr at the Indiana 1. The design of the play was for the freshman to connect with Manuel Beigel, who lines up as a jumbo tight end or ‘rhino’ and quickly springs open off the block. But by the time Carr is able to turn around off the fake handoff, he’s immediately blown up in the backfield by Tobi Osunsanmi for a loss of 13. Adding salt to the fresh wound, Butkowski goes on to hook the 32-yard field goal – his second miss of the day.
And, to reiterate, this scenario played out twice. In the final minute of regulation and trailing by a field goal, the Wolverines again found themselves at the goal line on a 3rd down from the IU 3 1/2 line. Again, Carr is asked to make a game-winning play inside the pocket, but with nobody open, his ailing offensive line can’t buy him enough time to abort into a QB run, leading to another sack.
After forcing OT on Butkowski’s game-tying field goal, the Hoosiers needed only two plays to do what they hadn’t done in four quarters, scoring the game’s only touchdown. Michigan came inches short of a rebuttal, with Carr’s first look at the end zone leading Buchanan just out of bounds, and their final attempt on 4th & 9 landing a hair short of Salesi Moa’s hands.
Before even stepping to the podium after the game, Whittingham vocalized to the media what everyone in Ann Arbor already felt about the performance.
“That was disappointing, to say the least”
Wasted Opportunity
For so much to go right for the Wolverines in a big-time matchup against one of their best opponents on the schedule, it’s hard to look past the woes that cost them the game. But, if further encouragement is needed, it can be found in the fact that not only did the defense play a remarkable and resilient game, but also one where Whittingham’s team overcame a detrimental weakness that had plagued them all season: bad penalties. Coming into the Indiana game, they averaged more than 7 flags a game for 60+ yards. That number came down to one penalty for 15 yards against Coach Cignitti and the Hoosiers.
After the loss, Michigan defensive back Smith Snowden highlighted how, even in the face of the loss and a 4-3 record, the team knows that they have the potential to win any game – they just need to figure out how to finish.
“It’s not a talent problem; we just gotta execute. The talent’s there. I look across the field and I know that the people on the field are in there for a reason, because they make plays in practice. And you practice how you play. We just gotta figure out what’s going on right now in order to flip the ship and turn this around.”
Final: Michigan 6, Indiana 13
