If the message coming out of last week’s player-led meeting was to stay encouraged and turn the page, then the Wolverines accomplished their goal. Saturday night’s victory was an offensive slog--three of Michigan’s six trips to the red zone ended with a field goal--but you wouldn’t know that sitting across from players and staff in postgame interviews.
As Jim Harbaugh said after Michigan defeated Rutgers earlier in the season, “Wasn’t pretty, but when they start making the space for pretty on the scoreboard, we’ll worry about that.” The true test for Michigan on Saturday night was to not let their loss to Michigan State snowball into two losses, and the consistent production of running back Hassan Haskins and the pressure exerted by edge rushers Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo was enough to get Michigan past Indiana. “We feel back to normal, that nothing’s changed and we’re back to (being) confident,” cornerback DJ Turner said.
The defense earned their confidence with an excellent performance, limiting Indiana to 195 total yards and one score. They yielded 3.5 sack-adjusted yards per carry and a miniscule 3.5 yards per passing attempt while recording three tackles for loss, two sacks, and nine QB hurries. “We were preaching that all week because obviously you all saw what happened last week at Michigan State and that’s out of our control, but going forward we said that whatever happens somebody had to pay for it and it just happened to be Indiana,” Ojabo said in response to a question about defensive lineman Taylor Upshaw’s postgame interview in which he said someone had to pay for the MSU loss. “That was our mentality coming into this week. Probably going to keep it going throughout the rest of the year. It’s working for us so far.”
“As a team we preach brotherhood so no matter what happens in the past week we just know we’ve got each other’s backs, so any time you step on the field it’s a great feeling. Obviously we came out with the win so even better feeling but it’s on to the next. Can’t dwell on the past nor the present. Short-term memory.”
When Ojabo says short-term, he means very short-term. Players were asked a number of times about the three-game slate against Penn State and Maryland on the road and Ohio State at home with the East division hanging in the balance and the goal of reaching the Big Ten title game and a College Football Playoff berth still on the table. “We feel prepared and looking forward to it. We’re trying to take it one week at a time and so we’re trying to go 1-0 next week,” Turner said.
“Our coaches are even preaching ‘We’re not worried about next week, it’s play by play.’ We’re taking this play by play,” Ojabo said. “We’re not even thinking about tomorrow or film tomorrow or who we got two weeks from now. It’s play by play and day by day.”
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