Hassan Haskins had a career day which carried Michigan to a win against Indiana
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No. 7 Michigan continued its winning ways against Indiana on Saturday night. The Wolverines have now won 21-straight games against the Hoosiers when playing in Ann Arbor after the maize and blue won, 29-7.
While this seemed like a vanilla game for the Wolverines, the maize and blue dominated the statistics. Michigan outgained Indiana in yardage, the Wolverines had 411 yards on offense compared to the Hoosiers having just 195 yards. Outside of the only scoring possession that Indiana had, the Wolverines defense was suffocating on the true-freshman Donaven McCulley on Saturday — Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, and Taylor Upshaw were menacing to the Hoosiers. McCulley was held to just 88 yards throwing the ball during the game.
While Michigan may have physically dominated the game, the injury bug crept up on the Wolverines on Saturday night. Star running back Blake Corum left after the second drive and never returned. We also saw the likes of Gemon Green, Andrel Anthony, and A.J. Henning all get hurt and never return to action.
You know what they say, next man up. That’s exactly what Hassan Haskins had to do, and he surely didn’t disappoint.
Michigan has deployed a two-running back system this year between Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins. Neither has had to do too much, but they both have been vital to the success that the Wolverines have had this year. Corum is the shifty-scat back while Haskins will lower his shoulder and make the defender pay.
Once Corum went out on Saturday, Haskins showed that he is capable of being the No. 1 running back at Michigan, and he made the best of the situation by having a career day. Haskins rushed for 168 yards and he found the end zone once.
Jim Harbaugh had some praise for. Haskins in the post-game press conference.
“Big game by Hassan Haskins,” said Harbaugh. “Career-high. I think that’s his fifth 100-yard game of the season. Made the big play, he made the big play on the outside zone play for about 64 and Cornelius Johnson got behind the defense.”
With Corum being out, and Saturday marked the second-straight game that Donovan Edwards has missed to an undisclosed injury, Haskins talked about having a heavier workload, and the pressure behind it.
“It was a different feeling,” said Haskins. “I’ve been praying for Blake (Corum) today. But it was definitely a different feeling, but I had to get the job done.”
“I try not to let all the pressure get to me,” said Haskins. “I got to keep calm and do what I do best and play football.”
Haskins had 27 carries on Saturday, which helped guide the Wolverines to a much-needed victory. Haskins was asked how many carries he feels like he could handle in a game. The star of the offense was also asked what Mike Hart may have said to him with the workload being shouldered onto him.
“My body is feeling good,” said Haskins. “I would take as many carries, they would give me, so I’m not complaining.”
“He (Coach Hart) told me to get ready, it’s going to be a long battle,” said Haskins. “It was a lot of carries — he was just telling me to get ready and be prepared.”
Haskins has been known to hurdle the oncoming defender, and he did it once more on Saturday. Not only can Haskins hurdle, but he showed off his burst of speed on a 62-yard scamper and showed how well he can pass protect. All of those plays came big for Michigan to get touchdowns in the red zone on Saturday — which has been a big concern for the Wolverines. Haskins was asked about the red zone offense against the Hoosiers and going forward.
“We like to score in the red zone any chance we get,” said Haskins. “We just got to develop more with that in our game. We gonna get it done.”
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3 things we learned after Michigan football defeated Indiana
