Week 8: Indiana Recap

Team 134 bounced back with a close but not nerve-wracking game against Indiana.  Yes, after the fumbled snap on the 5 yard line I felt like I just got kicked in the goods… or like this:

 

But the outcome of the game never felt in doubt for more than a few minutes because Al Borges remembered he has special players on offense, and allowed those athletes to make plays in space.  Devin Gardner looked more like the Notre Dame Garnder than Connecticut, Fitz Toussaint looked like he was running against CMU, and Jeremy Gallon is still wide open.  Yes the opponent caveats apply: Indiana has the worst defense that Michigan will face this year, but the offense did not play down to the competition for one of the few times this season.  As I mentioned in last week’s preview, this Wolverine team is not a smash mouth team yet but they have a lot of weapons that can be extremely hard to defend if used right.  The season looks a lot brighter if you could expect a similar game plan for the rest of the season, unfortunately, I do not have that confidence yet.  This week it’s the defense that looked questionable (at best) for most of the game. It is somewhat explainable, but still concerning.  Indiana has one of the nation’s fastest offenses, and the Wolverines were simply not ready for the up-tempo attack all game. Luckily they were able to come away with 2 interceptions that kept the comfortable lead in place.

While I still think Devin Gardner can be a good pocket passer, he can be elite when used out of the gun consistently.  When defenses have to worry about his legs, as well as his arm, weaknesses are exposed and exploited much easier. Indiana looked confused trying to defend Michigan all game. Some of that had to do with their absolute awful talent, but some has to be credited to the offensive game plan and execution.  Indiana seemed content to double team Funchess after his two 100+ yard receiving days, but this meant that they left Gallon open in space on most plays.  Even as he topped triple digits in the first quarter he was left alone, and it continued when the numbers topped 200 and 300.  The offensive line made some major changes, again, but it is hard to glean any information from it because of the opposition.  It seems like they are more comfortable zone blocking and running out of the shotgun, though. Toussaint actually had holes to get up field, and Devin shredded the Hoosiers time and again. It was interesting to see Kalis brought in as a 6^th offensive lineman in big sets instead of A.J. Williams.  This new formation should be much more successful. A week after wanting Al Borges to be left in Happy Valley, he responds with an effective plan against an overmatched defense. Let’s see how he game plans for Michigan State.

The defense started the game relatively strong, recording 3 and outs on 4 of the first 5 drives. After that, Indiana was only stopped by turnovers. It looked as if the Wolverines just were not prepared for the extremely high tempo offense that the Hoosiers run. Most of the breakdowns happened when defenders weren’t in set position, or there were miscommunications. Indiana ran many short passes which prevented the Michigan pass rush to really affect Suffield or Roberson.  The Hoosiers also attacked the Wolverine linebackers in coverage with tight ends.  It became clear that this unit is very good at diagnosing plays and shooting gaps/ getting off blocks to stop running plays, but there is room for improvement in pass coverage. The secondary took the brunt of the broken plays.  A week removed from having his best game at Michigan, Raymon Taylor looked slow and not technically sound.  On top of that Countess and Stribling were both beat multiple times in this game, but most of the issues happened from confusion.  Luckily, Michigan will not face a team this up tempo the rest of the regular season (the only teams similar is Oregon and Baylor which would be a BCS bowl matchup). Of course this outlook would look much different if the secondary came away with the two missed interceptions.  Taylor had a guaranteed pick 6 that instead bounced into the receivers hands. Indiana scored on the very next play.  Stribling high pointed another ball, but instead of mistiming his jump he was out-muscled by a receiver, who then ran into the end zone. I would guess that is at least a 14 point swing, which makes the outcome decided early in the 3^rd quarter.

Top Performers:
Jeremy Gallon
Devin Gardner
Taylor Lewan
Devin Funchess
Thomas Gordon

Areas of Concern:
Raymon Taylor
Freshman cornerbacks dropping interceptions
Erik Magnuson at guard
Brendan Gibbons
Every team remaining has a much better defense

We have made it to the second bye week of the season. This time around the Wolverines will have extra time to prepare for the 2^nd major test of the season; a battle with Michigan State in East Lansing.  Michigan could possibly still be the best team in the Legends Division depending on which offense shows up.  Michigan State looks like the favorite in the division at this point.  The Wolverines can forget about the Rose Bowl (or Indianapolis) if they cannot find a way to win next Saturday.