Both optimists and pessimists have plenty to take from Michigan’s effort against Indiana. What this means for the Wolverines going forward:
After getting crushed by a pair of top-three teams earlier this season, the Michigan Wolverines headed to Bloomington as big underdogs yet again. While No. 8 Indiana came out victorious, it certainly was a much improved effort from the Wolverines. Still, it is frustrating to fall short, as the upset was definitely in reach.
Michigan is now 5-5 on the season with the second bye week here. A win over Northwestern would salvage bowl eligibility, but anything other than a miraculous upset in Columbus was solidify this season as a huge waste. Nevertheless, the loss to the Hoosiers was instructive in a few different ways that could be meaningful down the road.
A symphony of disaster
IU’s Jacobs School of Music is one of the nation’s best, where talented musicians master their craft to the tune of beautiful melodies played in perfect harmony. The 2024 Michigan coaching staff has been…anything but that. All season long there have been head-scratching decisions, from overall game plans to ridiculous play calls to straight-up incompetence.
As much as it pains me to say this — and this is certainly not a place I thought I would find myself at any point this year — I think we really need to question Sherrone Moore’s hiring. Moore has this team utterly unprepared week in and week out, has had to make significant personnel changes after getting them wrong during the summer, and looks befuddled far too infrequently in-game.
Unfortunately, Saturday’s loss again emphasized the latter. Moore continues his strange challenge patterns, turtled with his fourth down decisions, and he had zero sense of clock management to essentially cement the loss. 10 games is too soon to give up on a coach, and Michigan is assuredly going to give him some runway, but should we feel confident at all in his ability? Maybe the recruiting efforts are giving him some breathing room because the on-field play is leading to nothing but questions.
Find your engines
The Little 500 is a fun spin (pun intended) on the Indy 500, at a lesser distance, of course. Over the weekend, even small yardages felt like a trial for the Michigan offense. Three times the Wolverines reached the three-yard line, and just once did that result in a touchdown; needless to say, the game was basically decided on these possessions.
What frustrates most is Michigan’s complete lack of plan in these situations. Runs up the gut, including obvious keeps by Alex Orji, fooled no one, and while Kirk Campbell got way too cute on fourth down against Oregon, there is a ton of room for creativity here without getting stupid. I get that the offensive line (and quarterback room) is limited, but pathetic red zone offense is unacceptable.
This goes back to this team not having any identity. The run game has regressed a ton, in part due to the predictability. Still, with the best players on this offense clearly being Kalel Mullings, Donovan Edwards, and Colston Loveland, short fields should be the one time this offense can actually function. Instead, the Wolverines left way too many points on the board, and that is what ultimately cost them.
Fortification
Bloomington is known for its limestone quarries , and maybe just maybe Michigan is starting the process of unearthing something too. Though Moore deserves all of the criticism above, Wink Martindale — shockingly — had his unit play its best half of the season. It was a rough start with both Zeke Berry and Jyaire Hill getting beat on first-half touchdowns, but the defense was nothing short of inspired coming out of halftime.
Like we all thought since the offseason, this defensive line is good enough to keep Michigan in most games, and that was finally proving to be true as the Wolverines built the comeback. Kurtis Rourke was sacked four times and was picked off by Berry, and while it happened way too late, this defense showed it could hang with one of the country’s most explosive offenses.
Of course, it was not enough for the upset, as the Michigan offense was unable to take advantage of the opportunities it was provided by the defense. This team is still far from complete, and it will lose many of the pieces that backboned the turnaround on Saturday, but maybe there are some green shoots to take away from this loss. In a season full of frustration, seeing some glimmers of hope for once felt important.