The Michigan defense played a spectacular half of football. Perfect, some might even say.
But instead of celebrating a sixth victory on the season and bowl eligibility, the Wolverines were lamenting their fifth loss of the season and their third to a top-10 team.
Michigan allowed just three second-half points, but the offense only mustered 12 points: two field goals and a touchdown.
With just 206 total yards of offense, it was much of the same for the Wolverines' offense, which hasn't scored more than 20 points since Week 5 against Minnesota. Davis Warren completed 16 of his 32 passes for 137 yards in the loss.
The Michigan quarterback discussed the struggles after the game.
"We just left things out there," Warren said. "Left opportunities on the table in the red zone that we should've converted. Trying to put the ball in the end zone, but we just gotta be better. You go to the red zone three times and three field goals — it's just not winning football."
"Defense fought their butts off there in the second half. I think that was one of the highest-scoring offenses in the country; held them to 20 points or something, so yeah, left some plays out there in the red zone and then left a couple out there on third down."
Warren was right. Indiana hadn't scored fewer than 31 points in a game all season, until it ran into Wink Martindale's defense. Unfortunately for Michigan, though, the days of complementary football are long gone.
Driving late in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead, Kendrick Bell got open past the sticks on 3rd down, but Warren sailed the throw, forcing the Wolverines to punt it away.
"I gotta make a better throw there to Kendrick (Bell) and give him a better chance to pick up the first, because we had an opportunity," Warren said after the game.
It's been nine straight games in which the Wolverines have failed to reach the 30-point mark.
"We gotta go back to the drawing board and find ways to punch the ball in in those crucial moments — those crucial situations. ... You can talk the talk about wanting to start faster. ... But at the end of the day, you have to go do. And we didn't do enough in the first half there — just couldn't get the wheels churning again."
Michigan has two more opportunities to get the coveted sixth win and obtain bowl eligibility. The Wolverines have a bye next week but will host Northwestern before heading to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.
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