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