BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Michigan Wolverines pulled away in the second half from the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana was shut out offensively in the second half and didn't have enough to keep up with U-M.
The Hoosiers got off to a 7-0 start and were up 14-7 early in the second quarter. U-M proceeded to score 32 unanswered points and cruised to their fourth straight victory.
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"Credit to Michigan, they’re a good football team," Indiana head coach Tom Allen said postgame. "They played well. [I’m] disappointed; we got beat on both sides of the football and didn’t play well, didn’t play like I expected us to and wanted us to. That’s on me. I’m the head coach. It’s my responsibility."
The Hoosiers dealt with a number of injuries throughout the course of the game. Indiana was already without star junior wide receiver Whop Philyor coming in. Scott left the game for the end of the first half before returning. Redshirt junior quarterback Peyton Ramsey appeared to take a hard hit to the ribs in the first half, although he didn't come out of the game. Junior wide receiver Ty Fryfogle was helped off the field multiple times in the game. Finally, freshman left tackle Matthew Bedford was carted off the field in what looks like it could be a serious injury.
Allen didn't blame the offensive woes on the injuries (and close calls), though he admitted they may have played a part.
"Well, a lot of it was their d-line was dominant, I thought," Allen said. "They gave us a lot of trouble, didn’t allow us to get things the way we wanted to get them done. In terms of time to throw, they were very disruptive. I think that was probably a bigger variable than anything.
"When guys get injured, other guys have to step up, that’s part of it. I think it was more them than us."
The offensive side of the ball wasn't the only problem for Allen and his group. U-M was able to put up 453 total yards on Allen's defense and exploited the Hoosiers' back end. U-M senior quarterback Shea Patterson went 20-of-32 passing for 366 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. The Wolverines' wide receivers took advantage of a struggling secondary. Junior wide receiver Nico Collins capitalized with six catches for 165 yards and three scores, including a 76-yard catch and run.
"One of my concerns was their receivers versus our secondary, just the matchup," Allen admitted postgame. "We play a fair amount of man and those guys have to win those one-on-ones and we didn’t win very many of those. That, to me, was my biggest frustration. You got to win those. They’re going to win some, but we got to win some. We didn’t win enough of those.
"They got some big guys. The size is a big variable and a lot of speed to go along with that length. I was just not pleased with the way we competed with those footballs. We got to come up with some of those and got to get some break ups on some of those key ones. We mixed in some zone and it hurt us a little bit. At the same time, you’re trying to balance it to get pressure versus coverage and all that whole dynamic.
"We attack, and that’s what we do, but unfortunately, we gave up too many big plays that you can’t be giving up. A couple of them were, to me, that we didn’t execute the scheme properly. We got to beat one-on-ones.
"They were just better than us tonight, unfortunately."
U-M went for a two-point conversion to go up 32-14 in the third quarter when redshirt sophomore quarterback Dylan McCaffrey ran it in. Allen was asked postgame if he thought anything of it, and if there was something between he and Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh.
"There’s nothing with [Harbaugh] and I," Allen said. "I got a lot of respect for them. The two-point play, we didn’t get lined up. We didn’t execute. They hadn’t shown that before, but other people do it, too.
"They’re just competing, trying to score points and doing what they need to do. It’s all good."
As Allen attempts to build his program, he points out that the Hoosiers' lack of depth remains a cause for concern.
"This time of the year, it gets exposed in these types of games against this type of talent and the caliber of team that we’re playing, so we have to stick to the plan and keep getting better," he said.
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