The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Monday, November 25, 2019 — 3B

Michigan 
tops 
Hoosiers, 
39-14

BLOOMINGTON — Five minutes 
in, and the game already seemed like a 
nightmare.
Indiana running back Stevie Scott 
punched the ball in the end zone and 
here it was, prophecies of a “trap game” 
coming true right in front of Michigan’s 
eyes, the monkey that is the Hoosiers 
still on its back.
Then, the Wolverines got the ball.
And as soon as Michigan’s offense 
got going, it didn’t really stop. Senior 
quarterback Shea Patterson moved the 
ball all over the field, throwing for five 
touchdowns as the wide receivers put on 
a show and the 13th-ranked Wolverines 
(9-2 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) pulled away 
in the second half to beat Indiana (7-4, 
4-4), 39-14, in a prelude to next week’s 
matchup with Ohio State.
“We heard this week that their 
coach was saying that they’re one of the 
toughest teams in the Big Ten and we 
took that as disrespect,” said fifth-year 
senior offensive tackle Jon Runyan. “So 
we came up here and we showed them 
how we play football. And we’re happy 
with the results.”
The game began with a span of 19 
frenetic minutes in which the teams 
scored two touchdowns each, in a 
reversal of your usual November Big 
Ten tilt. Michigan’s first drive was as 
methodical as the Hoosiers’, capped 
off with a 50-yard pass to freshman 
Giles Jackson and then, two plays later, 
Ronnie Bell’s first touchdown of the 
season. 
Quarterback Peyton Ramsey ran the 
ball in from the one-yard line to begin 
the second quarter. Junior wideout 
Donovan Peoples-Jones responded with 
a highlight-reel catch for a score of his 
own, then flexed for the crowd.
“Just man coverage, and then he ran 
a heck of a route and I just got the ball 
where he could catch it,” Patterson 
said. “All those guys out there tonight 
— Nico (Collins), Tarik (Black), Ronnie, 
Donovan — just give them a chance.”
After that touchdown, Don Brown’s 
defense seemed to remember what 
it was. The Wolverines adjusted to 
Indiana’s 
pass-first, 
spread-style 
offense and forced three consecutive 
three-and-outs. Meanwhile, Patterson 
threw 29- and 24-yard passes to Collins, 
the latter for a touchdown.
Michigan led by just seven at halftime. 
It seemed the perfect blueprint to 
another one of those Michigan-Indiana 
games that’s far too close for far too 
long, but as the third quarter dawned, 
the Wolverines began to pull away.
First, it was a Quinn Nordin field goal. 
Then, Collins found himself open in the 
middle of the field with only green in 
front of him for an easy touchdown — 
and Michigan tacked on a two-point 
conversion with backup quarterback 
Dylan McCaffrey to increase its lead 
to 18. After that, a strip sack gave the 
Wolverines the ball on the Hoosiers’ 
19-yard line, and Patterson connected 
with Collins again for the wideout’s 
third touchdown of the day as his 
teammates flashed three fingers to 
celebrate.
“Just momentum changing, that we 
were able to get the ball out and then 
Nico capitalized on that,” said senior 
linebacker Josh Uche. “... It was just a 
great momentum killer for them.”
Indiana threatened to put together 
a few drives, getting to Michigan’s 32 
before the fumble in the third quarter 
and driving to the Wolverines’ four 
at the start of the fourth before a 
failed fourth-down conversion left the 
Hoosiers empty-handed.
As the clock wound down, Michigan 
continued to have its way, relishing — 
finally — an easy win over a team that 
seems to always make it difficult. Cheers 
of “Let’s go blue” and “Beat Ohio” rained 
down over Memorial Stadium as the 
Wolverines got their 24th-straight win 
in the series.
All week, people spoke of this as a 
trap game, the game before The Game 
against a deceptively good opponent 
Michigan couldn’t overlook. And for 
a few seconds, the ingredients for an 
upset were there.
But as they settled in, the Wolverines 
changed the recipe and dominated — 
just the way they knew they could.
“We knew after those first two 
touchdowns, when they started slowing 
down a little bit, we knew the game was 
ours,” said sophomore defensive end 
Aidan Hutchinson. “All the momentum 
stayed with us the rest of the game and 
you could hear the crowd simmer down 
for the rest of the game. They know 
what team is in control.”

BLOOMINGTON 
— 
Shea 
Patterson’s previous pass had fallen 
hopelessly incomplete, a wide-open 
Donovan Peoples-Jones looking on 
as the ball clattered to the end-zone 
turf.
Staring into a third-and-9 from 
the Indiana 11 with Michigan 
trailing by seven, Patterson could 
have easily wilted. He could have 
found Nico Collins underneath, 
short of the first down, or fled the 
pocket in search of a few extra 
yards.
And a few weeks ago, that’s what 
he might have done. Why risk an 
interception with a field goal all 
but assured? That’s the mentality 
Patterson seemed to play with 
earlier in the season, throwing just 
five touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 
first five games.
But not now. This Patterson 
stood in the pocket, unfazed by 
the Hoosiers’ blitz, and fired a 
perfectly-thrown 
back-shoulder 
pass to Peoples-Jones, allowing 
his star receiver to make a play. 
Seconds later, this Patterson took 
to the air, both fists clenched in 
celebration. And when it was all 
over, this Patterson jogged off the 
field victorious, with 750 passing 
yards and nine touchdowns over his 
last two games.
“He beat his man and ran a 
heck of a route,” Patterson said, 
understandably shifting the credit 
onto Peoples-Jones’ highlight-reel 
catch.
Then, in a rare moment of public 
self-reflection, he turned the praise 
onto himself: “I just gave him the 
ball where he could catch it.”
Over the next three quarters, 

Michigan never looked back en route 
to a 39-14 win. And as a nervous first 
half devolved into an unexpected 
rout over the 7-4 Hoosiers, that 
mentality — as simple as it seems — 
carried the Wolverines.
It’s what allowed Patterson to 
find Collins for a trio of touchdowns, 
including two on contested end zone 
throws he might not have attempted 
a month ago. As Collins took a 
slant route 76 yards to the house on 
the second of those touchdowns, 
it would have been easy to heap 
praise on him. Doing so would have 
been justified, with his afternoon 
providing enough content for a fine 
NFL Draft highlight package.

It would also ignore the catalyst 
that makes this offense go.
“Shea’s going through the reads, 
finding all the receivers,” Collins 
said. “That’s pretty much it. He’s 
just going through the progressions, 
finding the open receiver. He’s 
giving us a chance.”
The offense, of course, doesn’t 
start and end with Patterson. When 
asked 
about 
their 
connection, 
Collins’ first reaction was to credit 
the offensive line and that’s fair. This 
offense, so predicated on options, 

only works if the quarterback has 
enough time to go through his reads.
It also only works if the run game 
keeps defenses honest — something 
it struggled with at times early in 
the season — and if receivers are 
getting open. It’s why Michigan 
coach Jim Harbaugh repeatedly 
defended Patterson in the face of 
early-season criticism. Even now, 
he’s wary of pinning too much credit 
or blame on one player. “A lot goes 
into each and every (play) — all 11 
(players),” Harbaugh said. “All 11 
being in sync.”
None of that, though, happens 
without Patterson.
“His rhythm, his getting the 
ball out, is all on time,” Harbaugh 
said. 
“Everything 
has 
become 
very precise with Shea, with the 
receivers, with the tight ends, 
backs. The passing game has been 
operating on time extremely well.”
When 
the 
Wolverines 
were 
written off for a dead a month ago, 
Patterson was ridiculed for saying, 
“We’re right where we want to be.”
Saturday 
night, 
sitting 
at 
a 
podium beneath Memorial Stadium, 
he acknowledged that wasn’t the 
case — it took “growing pains” to 
get where Michigan is now. But with 
one game left to define his legacy, he 
also knows what’s left to play for. 
“Just the word Ohio State in itself is 
enough for us,” Patterson said.
Minutes 
later, 
as 
Harbaugh 
sat in the same seat, extolling 
his 
quarterback’s 
performance, 
he paused and turned to a team 
spokesperson.
“Another record I think today?”
First Michigan quarterback to 
throw for four touchdowns in back-
to-back games, came the response.
“First quarterback in Michigan 
history? Wow.”

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor

His rhythm, 

his getting the 

ball out, is all on 

time. Everything 

has become very 

precise.

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Senior quarterback Shea Patterson threw for 366 yards and five touchdowns against Indiana, helping Michigan to a 39-14 win.

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Michigan’s defense turned the game around after giving up 14 points on Indiana’s first three drives, shutting it down the rest of the way.

With defensive 
turnaround, 
‘M’ looks to 
Ohio State

BLOOMINGTON — Peyton Ramsey 
watched the play and jumped. His arms 
flew upwards. He landed past the goal line. 
He pumped his fist once, then pumped it 
again. He shouted.
It was only five minutes into Saturday’s 
game, and if Indiana had come in wanting 
to make a statement, there it was. An 
80-yard drive into the end zone where 
the Hoosiers’ offense hummed, where 
Michigan’s defense was set on its heels. 
A shot across the bow. And Indiana kept 
attacking.
Three drives into the game, the 
Hoosiers had 153 yards of offense, two 
touchdowns and a chance to expose the 
Wolverines a week ahead of their biggest 
game. A chance to make beating Ohio 
State seem like a pipe dream. That early 
success ended up being nearly all Indiana 
got.
It wasn’t a matter of adjustment, 
sophomore 
defensive 
end 
Aidan 
Hutchinson would say hours later, seated 
in front of a microphone still in uniform. 
It was about just settling in and letting the 
defense do its thing.
“We knew after those first two 
touchdowns, they started slowing down a 
little bit,” Hutchinson said. “We knew the 
game was ours.”
After the promise of the game’s opening 
20 minutes, Indiana ran into the same 
wall that befell Michigan State, Maryland 
and Notre Dame. In the end, Michigan 
won, 39-14, holding an offense that came 
into Saturday ranked top-15 in SP+ to less 
than five yards per play and next to no 
production after three opening drives that 
seemed to poke holes in a maize and blue 
facade.
Instead of Ramsey flying upwards, his 
fist swinging in celebration, the lasting 
image of this game for Michigan’s defense 
will be sophomore linebacker Cam 
McGrone facing the Michigan sideline, 
swaggering towards the bench and 
pointing his left arm to the side, indicating 
change of possession a second before it 
was called. That came toward the end of 
the third quarter, after Josh Uche, Carlo 
Kemp and Hutchinson converged on 
Ramsey, notched the third sack on the day 
and forced the ball loose. One play later, 
junior wideout Nico Collins was in the end 
zone with Michigan’s last touchdown of 
the day, a blowout having been codified.
“I finally was able to get one, got the 
ball out and then my man Nico capitalized 
on that,” Uche said. “… It was just a great 
momentum-killer for them.”
By that point, though, the Hoosiers’ 
momentum was all but dead. And a week 
before the Ohio State game, Michigan’s 
defense changing course mid-game and 
coming out with an emphatic win brings 
to mind what it couldn’t do against the 
Buckeyes last year.
When Ohio State hit the Wolverines 
with crossing routes early on in Columbus 
last year, Michigan tried to adjust with 
zone coverage. But when the Buckeyes 
moved their pieces on the chessboard in 
accordance, Don Brown’s defense had no 
answer — ending in a 62-39 defeat.
This year’s game won’t be last year’s. 
But with everyone’s eyes looking forward 
to Nov. 30, the Wolverines’ defense 
figuring something out on the sideline and 
dominating the rest of the game will at 
least placate some nerves.
“We just did what we were supposed 
to do, just stayed on the little things, 
on the details,” Uche said. “We just 
executed. Each player was executing their 
assignment. We just hunkered down on 
that. Coach Brown called an excellent 
game, and we just did what we were 
supposed to do.”
The schematic similarities between the 
Hoosiers and Buckeyes, both of whom run 
up-tempo, spread offenses, were brought 
up postgame. Left unsaid was the obvious: 
that stopping Indiana and stopping Ohio 
State are two entirely different things, 
both in theory and in practice. 
“We don’t see them as unbeatable,” 
Hutchinson said of Ohio State. “Every 
team can be beat and we’re just gonna go 
out there and do our job.”
By his own estimate, Jim Harbaugh will 
take about six hours to revel in Saturday’s 
win before he moves his thoughts forward. 
“I stop thinking about this game,” he said, 
“and pretty much go right to this one.”
The next week will grapple with 
a situation as frustrating as it is true. 
Michigan’s defense is playing about as 
good as it could be right now, and that still 
may not be enough next Saturday.
Still, at around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, 
when the enjoyment wears off and 
Harbaugh starts thinking about the 
weight that has dragged down his first five 
years in Ann Arbor, he’ll know his defense 
is as ready as it can be.

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

sheaturday night 
fever

Patterson’s five TDs lead Michigan over Indiana

