Michigan Survives Upset Scare, Defeats Indiana 36-33

By Sean · Sunday, September 27, 2009 · 9:03 PM |  Share | 3 Comments 

Photo by AP/Tony Ding

Michigan eclipsed its win total from a year ago by beating Indiana yesterday, but it certainly wasn’t easy.  Indiana came ready to play and caught Michigan off guard with its pistol offense.  At the same time, Tate Forcier played like a freshman for much of this game, but he stepped it up and looked like an experienced senior when it mattered most, laying his body on the line and making plays in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.  I think he was telling the truth when he said he doesn’t get nervous, as Forcier kept it cool under pressure and led Michigan to a 36-33 victory by throwing a 26-yard touchdown pass to Martavious Odoms on third down with a couple minutes left in the game.

1st Quarter

• Indiana got the ball first and moved down the field with ease.  The Hoosiers didn’t even face a third down until the 8th play of the drive, and Brandon Graham tackled the ball carrier for a loss of a yard, making it 4th and 2.  IU went for it and picked up the first down with a 5-yard pass.  On the very next play Tandon Doss scored on a 25-yard touchdown down the left side of the field.  Indiana ran an option, leaving Doss all by himself after the pitch was made.
• Michigan wasted no time in answering the touchdown with one of its own.  On the second play of U-M’s first drive, Carlos Brown caught a pass from Tate Forcier, hesitated, and then sprinted through a wide open hole.  He ran down the left sideline and was caught by an IU defender at the end of the run, but he fell into the end zone on the tackle, making this a 61-yard touchdown.  Great blocking downfield by Michigan’s receivers is what allowed this to turn into a big play, as they created a huge opening for Brown to run through.
• Indiana went three and out and punted the ball away to Michigan’s 29-yard line.
• The first bad call of the game by the referees came on the first play of Michigan’s next drive.  Forcier threw a pass downfield to Greg Mathews, who had an Indiana defender draped on his back.  A flag was thrown for pass interference, but the referees decided to pick it up.  The lack of a penalty wouldn’t end up being a big deal, but it was annoying at the time.  Thankfully after a 6-yard Brown run Forcier found Martavious Odoms for 7 yards and a first down.  Indiana was called for roughing the passer on the play, moving Michigan into Indiana territory.  Two plays later Brown found the end zone again on another big play, this time running the ball for 41 yards.  He went down the left sideline again and nobody caught him this time.
• After trading punts on the next couple of drives, Indiana’s Ben Chappell lobbed a pass downfield to an open Tandon Doss for a gain of 56 yards.  Boubacar Cissoko got beat on the coverage, and as far as I know, this was the last time he played on Saturday.  J.T. Floyd replaced him, as Cissoko really was seen as a defensive liability.  The long pass set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Darius Willis on the next play, tying the game up at 14.

2nd Quarter

• Following more punts by both teams, Indiana again got something going, this time by using a combination of runs and passes to move down the field.  The Hoosiers got all the way down to Michigan’s 7, but the drive stalled and they had to kick a 24-yard field goal.  This was the first of a four times where Indiana had its drive stall deep in Michigan territory, and as you will later see, the Hoosiers’ red zone struggles really cost them the game.
• Tate Forcier has made some mistakes in his young career, but none of them could really be considered a “freshman mistake.”  The first one that can accurately be described as that came when he was under pressure and tried to get rid of the ball around Michigan’s 30.  The pass came out as a short floater and was easily picked off by Indiana.
• With a short field, it looked like Indiana was going to have little trouble scoring after Tandon Doss picked up 26 yards on a catch.  Once again, however, the Michigan defense kept Indiana out of the end zone with three big stops at the 3-yard line, forcing the Hoosiers to kick another field goal.  Indiana was now ahead 20-14, which was a good thing based on what happened so far.
• Denard Robinson came into the game and put together the first true scoring drive of his career.  (I say that because usually his scoring drives are quick touchdown runs)  Robinson got things started with a 5-yard run and a 3-yard pass to Kelvin Grady, who took a big hit but managed to hang on for the catch.  David Moosman had a heads up play on 3rd and 2, as he snapped it when an Indiana player jumped offside.  The ball zoomed by Robinson, who wasn’t ready for the snap, but that was intentional and it moved the chains.  (This strategy would bite Michigan in the butt later in the game.)  Robinson ran for 2 more yards on the next play and then threw an incompletion to Kelvin Grady.  Facing 3rd and 8, it was obvious that Robinson was going to have to throw it.  He did just that, and boy was it a great pass and catch.  Shoelace found Kevin Koger open in the middle of the field for a gain of 36 yards, putting Michigan deep in Indiana territory.  It wasn’t a perfect pass, but Koger made up for it with an outstanding catch.  Two plays later Brandon Minor powered his way into the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown, giving Michigan a 21-20 lead.
• Indiana went three and out, giving Michigan a chance to increase its lead with 2 minutes left in the half.  Denard Robinson stayed out there as the quarterback and made his own costly freshman mistake.  He ran the ball for a gain of 3 yards on 3rd and 9, and at the end of the run he had the ball knocked loose and recovered by an Indiana player, who returned it 7 yards to Michigan’s 21.  In that  situation ball security should be the top priority, especially when you know you can’t pick up a first down, but Robinson tried to fight for extra yardage and fumbled.
• Indiana was unable to even pick up a first down (mainly thanks to a holding penalty), so they settled for another field goal, giving the Hoosiers a 23-21 lead with 16 seconds left.
• The proceeding kickoff was squibbed to Kevin Grady, who returned it 14 yards to Michigan’s 46, giving U-M a chance to at least attempt to get in field goal range.  Forcier did find Roy Roundtree for a gain of 35 yards, but time expired on the play, meaning Indiana went into halftime with a 2-point lead.

3rd Quarter

• Michigan was off to a promising start to the second half thanks to a 45-yard kick return by Darryl Stonum and a 15-yard pass to Kevin Grady.  A pass to Martavious Odoms a couple plays later made it 3rd and 4 at the Indiana 30.  An Indiana player jumped offside and David Moosman snapped the ball, which went by Tate Forcier for a loss of 22 yards.  Everybody waited for a flag to be thrown, but the officials ruled that the Indiana player got back onside before the snap, making it 4th and 26 and taking Michigan way out of field goal range.  Zoltan Mesko’s punt was downed at the 2-yard line by Stevie Brown, pinning the Hoosiers back near their goal line.
• Indiana and Michigan traded three and outs and punts, and the Hoosiers ended up at their 13 when all was said and done.  This time around they put together a good drive thanks initially to an 18-yard pass and a pass interference penalty on J.T. Floyd.  Indiana had another couple big passes to move the chains and ended up inside Michigan’s 15-yard line.  That’s as far as the Hoosiers got, though, and once again all Indiana could get out of a promising drive was a field goal.  It put them on top 26-21, but it was yet another field goal inside the red zone.
• Denard Robinson started Michigan’s next drive with runs of 8 and 5 yards, but another mistake on the snap turned out to be another drive killer.  Moosman’s snap zoomed by Robinson, this time just appearing to be a mistake since no Indiana player jumped offside, and went for a loss of 20 yards when Denard fell on it.  This play basically led to a punt since it made it 2nd and 30, and Michigan was unable to move the chains.
• The Hoosiers put together another promising drive and quickly got into Michigan territory as the third quarter came to an end.

4th Quarter

• The start of the fourth quarter proved to be important, as Indiana’s Nick Freeland missed a field goal attempt from 42 yards out after Michigan’s defense came up with a stop.  Unlike the 4 field goals he made earlier in the game, this one was snapped from outside of the red zone and went wide left.
• At this point in the game Michigan finally realized that running the ball was the key to offensive success.  I don’t know why Michigan seemed so resistant to running the ball for much of the game after its second touchdown, but it’s a good thing the gameplan returned to what Michigan is best at — running.  A couple of passes on third downs kept the drive alive, but after that Carlos Brown, Tate Forcier, and Brandon Minor took over with their ground game.  Forcier eventually scrambled to the right side of the field on 3rd and 4 and jumped into the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown, giving Michigan a 1-point lead.  U-M decided to go for the 2-point conversion to make it a field goal game, and a false start on Mark Huyge made the attempt a bit tougher.  That didn’t matter to Forcier, though, as he scrambled and got upended at the 2-yard line.  Thankfully Steve Schilling was there to push the pile forward into the end zone, putting Michigan on top 29-26.
• Michigan’s lead immediately disappeared, as Darius Willis got the ball on a handoff to the left and ran by all of U-M’s defenders for an 85-yard touchdown.  The defensive backs lost contain, allowing Willis to score the longest touchdown against Michigan since 1987.  Just like that the Hoosiers were back on top, now by a score of 33-29.
• Michigan had to punt after its next drive went nowhere, and Zoltan Mesko boomed the ball 59 yards.  That proved to be important, especially after Indiana lost 12 yards on a Ryan Van Bergen sack.  Michigan ended up with great field position right around midfield after the Hoosiers had to punt, and that is mainly thanks to Zoltan.
• After a couple Carlos Brown runs, Tate Forcier scrambled and moved the chains on 3rd and 4.  He ran to the left side, had no one open, and cut back to the right to just barely pick up the first down.  Forcier landed on his shoulder and was on the ground for a minute or so in some definite pain.  Brandon Minor then ran for 7 yards and Denard Robinson went for 5 more.  Minor then ran for 4 and Robinson lost a yard on the next play, making it 3rd and 7 at Indiana’s 26.  Forcier came back into the game and threw a perfect pass to Martavious Odoms, who got behind the defense and made the catch for a Michigan touchdown.  It was Odoms’ first receiving touchdown at Michigan, and it couldn’t have came at a better time, as Michigan now led 36-33.
• With 2:29 left, Indiana had plenty of time to at least get in field goal range.  Donovan Warren prevented that from happening, though, as he intercepted Ben Chappell’s pass on the first play of the drive.  Warren jumped the route and it appeared that he and the Indiana receiver were fighting for control of the ball.  In that situation a tie goes to the receiver, but the referees ruled that Warren had possession of the ball and the Indiana receiver only had a hand on it and nothing more.  Indiana coach Bill Lynch sprinted down the field to the nearest ref, threw his gum, and understandably was extremely pissed off.  The play was reviewed, but since simultaneous possession isn’t something that can be looked at, the call was upheld.  (It is my understanding that the play could have only been overturned if the pass was incomplete, not because of something like simultaneous possession.)
• Brandon Minor ran for 5, 4, and 2 yards, picking up a first down and putting Michigan into position to take a knee three times.  Tate Forcier did just that, running out the clock and sealing a Homecoming win that gave Michigan a perfect September.  Forcier’s shoulder definitely was bothering him at the end of the game (he couldn’t even toss the ball to the official with that arm), but somehow he staved off the pain and delivered a perfect strike to Martavious Odoms to win the game.

A couple people on ESPN have mentioned that Michigan was looking ahead to Michigan State, which is why this game was so close, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Fact of the matter is that Indiana played a hell of a game and gave Michigan’s defense problems with the pistol offense.  On top of that, Michigan’s offense struggled quite a bit during the second and third quarters, and outside of one touchdown drive they did nothing except make a lot of mistakes and a couple costly turnovers in that time.

Indiana actually outgained Michigan by nearly 100 yards, which is why those four field goals in or near the red zone turned out to be so important.  Just one touchdown instead of a field goal would have put Indiana in a position to win this game, but I guess that’s why it’s good to have a “bend but don’t break” defense down by the end zone.  Michigan gave up its fair share of big plays, including that 85-yard touchdown run near the end of the game, but most of the time Indiana had the ball in Michigan territory it couldn’t find the end zone.

As Michigan turns its focus to next Saturday’s showdown with Michigan State, two things really concern me: Michigan’s pass defense and the health of Tate Forcier.  I think this game has the makings of a shootout, as both teams will probably put up a lot of points.  Regardless of who the quarterback is, Michigan State will have some long passes, a couple of which probably will go for touchdowns.  I won’t worry too much about Blair White if Donovan Warren is the one covering him, but if Boubacar Cissoko or J.T. Floyd are matched up against the man who torched Michigan’s defense last year, color me concerned.  Even if Warren is on White, MSU has a pretty decent group of receivers that can make plays, especially against Michigan’s undermanned secondary.  Just like against Indiana, the defense will have to be in “bend but don’t break” mode.

As far as the health of Forcier goes, it appears his right shoulder is pretty banged up.  He was in lots of pain after someone patted him on it after Michigan’s last touchdown, and as I mentioned earlier, he couldn’t even toss the ball to the referee with that arm at the end of the game.  Based on the report of someone who talked to Forcier last night and some speculation from mgoblog, it seems like he will be questionable for the MSU game at best.  Chances are he will play if he can throw the ball, but it is very reminiscent of Michigan’s last game at Spartan Stadium.  Two years ago Chad Henne was injured and essentially listed as questionable for the MSU game due to a variety of injuries.  Lloyd Carr didn’t say who would start, but Henne ended up playing through the pain and led Michigan to a comeback victory.  My guess is that this will be a similar situation with Forcier, though I’d be willing to bet that Denard Robinson gets more playing time than usual and certainly more than Ryan Mallett’s one play against MSU when Henne went out with an injury.