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    • Michigan football scores vs. Indiana: Sherrone Moore escapes again
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    Michigan football scores vs. Indiana: Sherrone Moore escapes again

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    BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia notes Michigan footballhis show on Saturday in sa 20-15 loss to Indiana on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

    Crime: D

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    For the fifth time in as many losses, Michigan failed to score more than 17 points. The passing game, as has often been the case this year, was not good. Davis Warren completed 16 of 32 passes for 137 yards and didn’t have a completion longer than 16 yards on the afternoon. He completed 11 of his last 26 attempts for 73 yards. Even more troubling, the running game had perhaps its toughest day of the year.

    As a team, UM rushed 34 times for 69 yards, while none of Donovan Edwards (15 carries for 46 yards), Kalel Mullings (10 carries for 30 yards) or Benjamin Hall (four carries for 9 yards ) didn’t even have a single race longer. over 10 meters. To make matters worse, the offense started with first-and-goal from the 7-yard line in the third quarter and had to settle for a field goal and on the opening drive had a field goal after going down to the line of 3 meters. . On the day, Michigan managed just 206 yards of offense, went 6-of-17 on third-and-fourth down conversions and had just two plays of more than 15 yards all afternoon — both of which went 16 meters.

    Defense: B-minus

    Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but it’s been a tale of two halves for Wink Martindale’s unit. The first half was pretty terrible as the Wolverines allowed 17 points, three scoring drives and four total possessions that went inside their 35-yard line. Rourke was 14 of 18 for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. Zeke Berry was badly beaten on a 7-yard fade route and a 41-yard catch-and-run, while Jyaire Hill allowed a 36-yard touchdown on a stop-and-go to fall short by two scores at the beginning of the second.

    After halftime, it was a completely different story as Indiana ran 24 plays for 18 total yards. Michigan had four sacks in the second half (two by TJ Guy and one by Josaiah Stewart and another by Cameron Brandt), while Brandt also had a tackle for loss to put IU behind the sticks. The Hoosiers had six possessions in the third and fourth quarters, but no possession took more than 2:45 off the clock. In fact, they only had two total first downs after halftime as UM held IU to a field goal with an interception, three points and a kneel to end it.

    “I thought they did an unbelievable job in the second half,” Moore said. “The fight, the effort … that offense averages 40 points, so to hold them to 20 was huge. I thought they played really well in the second half.”

    Special teams: B-plus

    Let’s start with Dominic Zvada, who almost single-handedly kept UM in this game for three quarters. First, the Arkansas State transfer made a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter to save a drive that nearly ended in a turnover. He connected on a 20-yarder in the third quarter before tying a career-high 56 yards late in the third to cap a possession and set a UM scoring record of land from 50 meters or further ( 5) in a quarry.

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    Tommy Doman also had a nice comeback day; his five punts went for 235 yards (47 punts) as he had two punts of more than 50 yards and an IU pin inside the 20 (which was actually at the 4). Even freshman Jordan Marshall got involved with four kick returns for 100 yards, which included a long of 37 to spark the offense to start the second half.

    The only draw, Michigan allowed three punts to be returned for 49 yards and IU made both field goals.

    Coaching: D-minus

    There were questionable decisions all over the place, but the offensive play calling may have been the most suspect. On second-and-goal, after going over 70 yards, UM took Warren out of the game and went with Orji (clearly scoring the run). IU crashed hard, the snap was slightly lifted and had to hand off to Hall, who only gained 1 yard. Also, that Hall was in the game and not Kalel Mullings was questionable, but as Sherrone Moore said after the game, “I wanted to get Ben some carries … (and) Donovan was practicing a little bit better. … ended up putting Kalel in the game. the second half”.

    Later in the first half, Alex Orji cleared a ball near midfield. Michigan challenged the call moments later, and while many on social media suggested Moore was looking for a targeting call, after the game he said that was not the case. “I said the knee down is possible,” he said. “I wanted to challenge her, to fight for my children.”

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    Beyond that, on third-and-goal in the second half (after the defense forced a turnover to set up first-and-goal at 7) UM put Orji back into the game and was stuffed for no gain. Instead of going for 4th and 3, UM opted for a conservative 20-yard punt.

    The cherry on top came late. Michigan needed to force a stop on IU’s final possession and the first play was a gain of 8. Instead of calling an immediate timeout, for some reason nearly 30 seconds passed before Moore stop. IU got the first down on the next play.

    “Conversations about what the game was going to be and what we were going to do,” Moore explained of the delay. – That’s what it all came down to.

    Tony Garcia it is Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email them at [email protected] and follow X @RealTonyGarcia.

    Do what “Hello Yes!” your favorite Michigan Wolverines podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify).

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