Michigan Monday
Football

Michigan Monday: Moore Harm Than Good

For the first time since 1968, the Wolverines went into a game against Indiana as an underdog, and for the first time in a non-COVID season since 1987, they left the game with a loss to the Hoosiers.

This time it was a 20-15 defeat that had to be tantalizingly close for Michigan fans, but the reliance upon hope has been a dead-end street this year for them so they probably didn’t buy too much into the possibilities.

The loss marked the ninth-straight time this season that the Wolverines failed to reach the 30-point mark, and the fifth time in six games that they failed to produce 300 yards of total offense.

Indiana got out to a 17-3 halftime lead and then held on as Michigan tried to fight back and win an improbable game against the No. 8 team in the nation.

The Wolverines got a touchdown from running back Kalel Mullings to make it 17-15 with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter, but the two-point pass attempt failed. They managed just one more first down the rest of the game.

Michigan has now lost four of their last five games, scoring 56 total points in those four losses. They are off this next week, which will give the Wolverine coaching staff more time to figure out how to stop sabotaging the team during the actual games.

When Michigan Was On Offense

Michigan averaged 3.1 yards per play on Saturday. It was their worst mark since a 24-21 loss to Iowa in 2013. The Wolverines averaged 2.8 yards per play that game. It was the third time that season they reached that low-water mark.

There are now 12 teams nationally that average more yards per rush than Michigan averages per pass (5.6 yards). Against Indiana, they were under that number as Davis Warren completed 16-of-32 passes for 137 yards (4.3 ypa). The long pass of the day was just 16 yards.

Tight end Colston Loveland was targeted 10 times. He finished with just four catches for 37 yards. Much of that came while he was lined up out wide. At least Michigan is trying to improve their wide receivers by using Loveland in different ways.

But if you’re only going to average 3.7 yards per target, have you actually improved anything?

Michigan rushed for 69 yards on 34 attempts (2.0 ypc). The long rush of the day was just eight yards. Donovan Edwards rushed for 46 yards on 15 attempts. Kalel Mullings went for 30 yards on 10 attempts. Quarterback Alex Orji was held in check, carrying the ball three times for just one yard. He also lost a fumble.

The offense line continues to be severely lacking.

This entire Michigan offense is like that 8-year old girl who got in a car and drove to Target earlier in the summer. Yeah, she had an idea of what she was doing, and she technically made it, but stuff like that is illegal for a reason.

But in this analogy, Sherrone Moore gave the kid the keys and said, “Bring me back a W.”

It was another bad week for the Michigan coaching staff. The usage of Alex Orji was effective for a couple of weeks, but the way they used him in this one was anything but. He came into the game on third-and-goal from the three-yard line. He was in an empty set, which means that everybody knows that he’s carrying it, so they only need to run at him and tackle him. Even the broadcast crew said what was going to happen.

(I said this on the Michigan Monday edition of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, and I’ll say it here as well — Alex Orji is absolutely throwing at least one pass against Ohio State. Just get ready for it.)

If you’re going to put Orji in the game, you have to have somebody next to him. If you motion the back out of the backfield and leave him alone, the play is dead.

There is no such thing as a one-man Orji.

Alex Orji also lost a fumble in this game, which was challenged by Michigan. For the second week in a row, a low-level staffer buzzed down to Sherrone Moore to tell him to challenge the call. They did. They lost. It was an obvious fumble seen from multiple angles.

And that wasn’t even Moore’s most egregious mistake. That came towards the end of the game with Michigan trailing 20-15 and trying to force a punt to get the ball back.

The drive for Indiana began following a turnover on downs for Michigan. The Hoosiers had 1:35 on the clock. Michigan had three timeouts remaining. Indiana running back Ty Son Lawton picked up eight yards on the first down. It was a terrible result for Michigan, but rather than call timeout immediately, Moore waited about 29 seconds before deciding a timeout was warranted. Indiana got a first down on the next play and ran out the clock from there.

It was an incredible moment of game mismanagement, and it keeps happening week after week. It doesn’t necessarily happen this badly — but how could it? This was not something that should ever be considered standard or typical. This was high-level WTF’ery.

There was also a third-and-seven situation from the Indiana 46-yard line. Michigan ran the ball for four yards, which everybody assumed meant that they were in four-down territory. So, facing a fourth-and-three from the Indiana 42-yard line, the Wolverine offense lined up for the snap … and tried to draw Indiana offside. It didn’t work. Michigan settled for the purposeful delay-of-game penalty and punted the ball.

Even Michigan’s broadcast crew couldn’t shine that one up. They were as baffled as everyone else.

So when people ask what’s wrong with Michigan’s offense, the answer is literally everything. It’s play-calling, game management, lack of execution, lack of talent, lack of development, and whatever other opposite-of-superlative you can think to throw in there. It would almost assuredly be apt.

When Michigan Was On Defense

Michigan’s defense proved that the Indiana offense is human after all. The Hoosiers had a season-low 40 yards rushing on 28 attempts (1.4 ypc). Ty Son Lawton didn’t do too badly, rushing for 55 yards on 12 carries. The defense sacked quarterback Kurtis Rourke four times, resulting in a significant loss of rushing yardage.

Rourke completed 17-of-28 passes for 206 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He had some crucial drops in this game, which were quite atypical for how this offense has operated on the season.

Cornerback Will Johnson was again out. You can’t help but wonder if his presence could have changed the outcome of this game.

The presence of defensive end TJ Guy certainly impacted the outcome. He finished with two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, as starters Derrick Moore and Josiah Stewart were quieter than usual.

Linebacker Jaishawn Barham had a big day as well, leading the team with six tackles, while adding two TFLs and a sack. Safety Brandyn Hillman had two of the biggest hits of the season — and he amazingly he didn’t get ejected for either of them. And I’m not saying he should have. It’s just that when you see hits like this, you immediately look for a flag to come flying in.

As it relates to Ohio State, it was interesting to watch Michigan get pressure with just four rushers. They messed with Rourke’s timing all day long, but he was still making some clutch throws. But not all of those throws ended up being caught.

Michigan’s defense played well enough to win this game. They had been giving up 175 yards rushing over the previous three games. They shut that down in this one. The Hoosiers were held 151 yards under their season average on the ground.

Ohio State fans should take note of all of the above.

Michigan’s defense is still capable of winning games, they just can’t do it by themselves.

The Michigan Special Teams

It was a pretty good day for the Michigan special teams overall, but when they absolutely had to have their best, they didn’t get it. Trailing 17-15 with just over five minutes remaining in the game, the Wolverines went three and out and were forced to punt from their own 26-yard line. Tommy Doman had averaged 50 yards per punt on his first four kicks, but this one only went 35 yards and was then returned 22 yards to the Michigan 39-yard line.

Indiana hadn’t moved the ball at all in the second half. In fact, they had -6 yards of total offense since halftime. The Hoosiers only moved the ball 16 yards after that punt, but it still led to a field goal to make it 20-15.

The Hoosiers also had a 20-yard punt return earlier in the game as well, so this may be something to watch as Doman’s kicks get bigger than they have been for much of the season.

Kicker Dominic Zvada remains automatic, connecting on field goals of 39, 22, and 56 yards.

Something new to watch is freshman running back Jordan Marshall as the kick returner. Marshall has been out with an injury most of the season, but he had four returns for 100 yards total in this one, with a long of 37 yards.

What Does It All Mean?

It means that we learned more about Indiana in this game than we did Michigan. Which should be good news for the Buckeyes.

This was the Wolverines team that we’ve seen throughout the season. There isn’t enough offense to outscore a competent foe, which usually means there ultimately isn’t enough defense to overcome their many flaws both on the field and on the sideline.

It also means that Michigan now has a week off before hosting a Northwestern team that should be overmatched, assuming the Wolverines are capable of actually overmatching somebody.

It would be nice if Michigan could use the off week to go back to the drawing board, but Jim Harbaugh took that with him when he left too.

The Road To The Game

Aug. 31 – Michigan 30 – Fresno State 10 (1-0)
Sept. 7 – Texas 31 – Michigan 12 (1-1)
Sept. 14 – Michigan 28 – Arkansas State 18 (2-1)
Sept. 21 – Michigan 27 – USC 24 (3-1, 1-0)
Sept. 28 – Michigan 27 – Minnesota 24 (4-1, 2-0)
Oct. 5 – Washington 27 – Michigan 17 (4-2, 2-1)
Oct. 12 – OPEN
Oct. 19 – Illinois 21 – Michigan 7 (4-3, 2-2)
Oct. 26 – Michigan 24 – Michigan State 17 (5-3, 3-2)
Nov. 2 – Oregon 38 – Michigan 17 (5-4, 3-3)
Nov. 9 – Indiana 20 – Michigan 15 (5-5, 3-4)
Nov. 16 – OPEN
Nov. 23 – Northwestern
Nov. 30 – at Ohio State

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