No. 4 Michigan football sloppy, outlasts overmatched Indiana 31-10

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh said all week long the Wolverines were in for a battle Saturday against Indiana.

He did his best to convince others of as much, going through the list of tight games Michigan has played against Indiana, including a loss in its last trip to Bloomington in 2020. But few listened to his warnings about the potential trap game, which Michigan opened as a 22½-point favorite before its top-10 showdown with Penn State.

Turned out, he was right.

The No. 4 Wolverines got everything they could handle — plus some scary adversity when running backs coach Mike Hart collapsed on the sideline in the first half — but despite playing their sloppiest game of the season, Michigan outlasted an Indiana squad spurred on by its homecoming crowd and pulled away in the fourth quarter, 31-10, to remain undefeated.

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Scripted drives the saving grace

When Michigan got to set up its drives, it was all but impossible to stop. It's those nonscripted possessions that remain a concern for Michigan's co-offensive coordinators, Sherrone Moore and Matt Weiss.

J.J. McCarthy opened the game with three consecutive completions resulting in two first downs before Michigan gave the ball to star tailback Blake Corum for the first time.

On a run designed to the left, Corum was surrounded by Hoosiers when he planted his left foot in the ground and cut up field. Five yards later, as another Hoosier approached him, he made the same move, juking to the right.

He scampered up the right sideline 50 yards before he was tackled just inches shy of the goal line. He ran the ball in on the next play to put Michigan up, 7-0, less than three minutes into the game.

But the Wolverines couldn't get the running game going after that.

On the next 16 rushing attempts in the first half, Michigan netted just 27 yards. The passing game wasn't much better, with McCarthy completing 13 of 18 first half passes for 134 yards. The Wolverines would manage just a field goal over the remaining 27 minutes in the first two quarters.

Michigan's offense did the same thing in the second half with a fast start. Starting the drive from its own 2 yard line, the Wolverines started to march. Cornelius Johnson dropped a wide-open pass that would have gained 25 yards on second down, but McCarthy salvaged the drive when he found Ronnie Bell for a gain of 14 to move the sticks.

Bell finished with a game-high 11 catches for 121 yards.

Fast forward seven plays and the offense faced third-and-7. McCarthy felt the blitz come from his left side, stepped up in the pocket and ran directly where the pressure came from for a gain of nine to move the sticks.

Two plays later Johnson made up for his mistake as he caught a crossing route and took it 29 yards into the end zone for the score to take the lead, 17-10.

Michigan had a chance to put the game away after starting with the ball at the Indiana 33 on its next possession, but McCarthy threw his first interception of the season when he forced a ball into double coverage looking for Bell in the end zone.

Still, the defense got the ball back and the Wolverines offense opened the floodgates in the fourth quarter. Michigan put together its first nonscripted touchdown drive of the day with 9:47 to play, after Schoonmaker caught a pass in the flat from McCarthy and dove into the end zone for a nine-yard score.

That capped a six-play, 57-yard drive that started after Michigan challenged a 15-yard pass to Schoonmaker that was originally ruled incomplete, but eventually overturned.

Michigan, which was able to start running downhill against a gassed Indiana front, found the end zone one final time on its last drive. The 10-play, 60-yard drive had six rushes and four passes and finished when McCarthy found Johnson on a 6-yard screen pass.

McCarthy finished the game 28-for-36 with a career-high 304 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

Need to clean it up

One reason Michigan was able to handle the first five weeks with relative ease (other than the inferior opponents in the non-conference schedule) was its ability to do all of the little things right. The Wolverines were flagged for an average of fewer than three penalties and 27 yards per game, their 14 total was the fewest in the nation entering play.

Michigan had more than that in the first half, racking up five flags for 54 yards. One of the more costly penalties early came late in the first quarter when Michael Barrett dropped Indiana's Connor Bazelak for a sack. As he motioned across his face to celebrate, the flag came out and he was dinged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Instead of third-and-20, the Hoosiers got an automatic first down and later connected on a field goal to tie the game at 10 early in the second quarter.

The problem wasn't fixed in the second half.

After the defense forced a quick punt, the Hoosiers special teams unit came onto the field and punter James Evans booted it into the end zone. However, the Wolverines lined up in the neutral zone, which gave Indiana a second opportunity to punt it and on the second time it was downed at the Wolverines 2-yard line.

In total, the Wolverines were flagged a season-high 10 times for 85 yards.

Special team was another area the Wolverines consistently won earlier this season, but seemed out of sorts Saturday.

Michigan forced a punt on the Hoosiers' opening drive and AJ Henning had what appeared to be a nice 20-yard return, but the Wolverines were flagged for a block in the back which resulted in a 30-yard swing.

In the second quarter, Michigan couldn't punch the ball into the end zone on a goal-to-go situation, so the sure-footed Jake Moody trotted onto the field for a chip-shot 26-yard field goal.

It was blocked.

Defense ultimately holds strong

Early on the defense didn't seem to have answers for Indiana's up-tempo offense. The Hoosiers marched 75 yards on a 10-play drive their second time with the ball, including a perfectly thrown 33-yard pass by Bazelak over the head of DJ Turner as the pass rush slammed him to the turf.

Indiana scored when Bazelak found Josh Henderson on an out-route from the backfield, as he beat Michael Barrett in man coverage and out-raced him to the pylon. The next drive looked like the Hoosiers would score again.

On the ninth play of the drive, Bazelak connected with Aaron Steinfeldt who ran into the end zone untouched from 10 yards out. After the refs convened for about two minutes, they called offensive pass interference, which took the points off the board. They'd ultimately settle for a field goal.

Two possessions later, Indiana marched again. Jaylin Lucas started the drive with a 39-yard rush up the middle. The Hoosiers would gain yards on their next six plays to set up first-and-goal at the five, but two incompletions sandwiched a rush that lost two yards and Indiana would have to settle for a short field goal attempt.

Mike Morris returned the favor of Indiana's blocked field goal and got his hand on the attempt, keeping the score tied at 10.

From there, the Wolverines defense found its form. Junior Colson came up with a big sack on Indiana's opening drive of the second half to stop it before it got to midfield. The Wolverines forced a three-and-out on the next possession. DJ Turner made a big hit on what would've been a first-down catch over the middle on Indiana's third drive of the half.

On the fourth drive of the half, Michigan transfer Ayobi Okie got home on a bull rush and slammed Bazelak to the turf on third-and-10 to force the Hoosiers' fourth punt in as many possessions.

The nail in the coffin came after Michigan had gone up two scores and Indiana had one last chance to move the ball. After two incompletions, Bazelak was dropped by Derrick Moore for a sack, the defense's sixth of the game.

Braiden McGregor sacked Bazelak on Indiana's final series, on fourth down, to seal the game.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan overcomes sloppy play to beat Indiana 31-10