What They're Saying: Michigan Wolverines Football 10, Iowa 3
The Michigan Wolverines got a much-needed win Saturday afternoon, when the offense scored 10 first-quarter points and the defense was good enough to make that enough.
We take a look around the web at what they're saying about the U-M victory:
Chris Balas, TheWolverine.com: Notes, Quotes & Observations From Michigan's 10-3 Win
On offense, though, it was more of the same — just what are they trying to accomplish when it comes to a game plan?
Take away the tired fan clichés (“they need to pass to set up the run!”) and it’s still fair to wonder what offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ identity is for this offense, or if he’s got the right pieces to fit what he’s trying to do. It got so unnerving that at one point the crowd was buzzing simply when senior quarterback Shea Patterson finally kept on a read option for a 15-yard gain.
As has been the case much of the season, the good was followed by something silly. Fifth-year senior Jon Runyan Jr.’s false start helped end the drive after only three more plays. Later, Patterson scrambled for 10 yards on third-and-six, and the Wolverines followed up with a nine-yard loss on a reverse to Donovan Peoples-Jones on which he was looking to throw.
Drive over.
Credit Iowa, of course, for a stout defensive effort. At the same time, U-M’s offensive line opened some holes early, scored 10 quick points … and sputtered to the finish line.
Paul Myerberg, USA Today: Winners and losers from Week 6 in college football are led by Michigan
We should take the game tape from Michigan's 10-3 win against Iowa and bury it deep underground, not for the purposes of creating a time capsule for the future but for the opposite: so that no one person anywhere, at any time, will be able to watch it again.
Iowa ran the ball 30 times and gained a yard. Quarterback Nate Stanley was credited with minus-65 rushing yards. (Allowing eight sacks will hurt the per-carry average.) The Hawkeyes turned it over four times, three via interceptions.
Michigan gained 267 yards of offense. About a fifth of that total came on a single play in the first quarter, in quarterback Shea Patterson's 51-yard completion to wide receiver Nico Collins that preceded the game's only touchdown. Patterson ended with 14 completions in 26 attempts for 147 yards and an interception, marking his third Big Ten game in as many tries with a turnover and the second time in three weeks the Michigan passing game has looked merely average, if not far worse.
In all, the two teams combined for 528 yards of offense across 131 plays, which is about 100 yards fewer than Oklahoma has averaged per game on half as many snaps. Purists — otherwise known as Michigan fans, in this case — will point to defensive excellence and expound on the beauty of an October contest where the Wolverines have more takeaways than third-down conversions. That's a stretch.
In the alternate precinct where Jim Harbaugh resides, Michigan's offense is doing just fine.
It’s meeting expectations, producing satisfactory results and not handicapping his team.
In this strange realm that Harbaugh entered Saturday, the Wolverines are, in his words, “hitting their stride.”
“In every way,” he said. “That’s what I see.”
It was easy to question what exactly Harbaugh saw in the hours before he made those comments, when his 18th-ranked Wolverines slogged their way to a 10-3 victory over No. 14 Iowa.
Back in the real world, where 111,519 packed into Michigan Stadium, it was clear U-M did little when it had the ball. The last 10 of its possessions produced nothing and five of those drives lasted three plays or fewer. The momentum accrued during a 52-0 victory over Rutgers had dwindled halfway through the first quarter Saturday.
By then, the Wolverines had scored all that they would and elected to be “patient,” as quarterback Shea Patterson later explained.
Along with the offense, the fans waited and waited and waited before some started booing early in the second half — frustrated that yet another possession ended with nothing to show for it.
Two weeks after getting completely dominated at the line of scrimmage in a blowout loss at Wisconsin, Michigan was on the other side of that equation this week. Iowa’s usually stalwart offensive line was overwhelmed all afternoon with UM getting pressure in Stanley’s face and ultimately forcing four turnovers. That’s an impressive turnaround for Don Brown’s defense after getting manhandled by the Badgers in Madison three weeks ago.
But the offense, on the other hand, still has a lot of question marks. Shea Patterson was only 14-of-26 for 147 yards and an interception. Patterson’s best throw was a 51-yarder to Nico Collins to set up the game’s only touchdown, but he continues to underwhelm on a weekly basis.
The running game wasn’t much better. The Wolverines mustered only 119 yards on 33 attempts, an average of just 3.6 yards per rush. In all, Michigan was limited to just 267 yards and was forced to punt eight times. Some of that is the product of a stout Iowa defense, but it does not look like the Michigan offense has taken any steps forward as the season has progressed. The struggles that existed early in the year are still present, even if Harbaugh doesn’t think they are.
If Michigan wants to realistically compete in the Big Ten East, it’s going to take a pretty miraculous turnaround on offense. The Wolverines have a trip to Illinois next weekend in what should be a pretty easy win. But the following two weeks — a trip to No. 12 Penn State and home game against No. 9 Notre Dame — will likely set the tone for the rest of the season. And maybe even Harbaugh’s future with the program.
Unleashing and unloading on a less-mobile quarterback like Stanley is one thing. Doing it against Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State might prove to be another. That’s why Harbaugh can’t escape questions about his offense, not until we see it play error-free against a quality opponent.
“I thought (the offense) took what was there,” Harbaugh said. “I thought Shea in particular took what was there, and sometimes there wasn’t anything there. He managed the game extremely well and did the job on the turnovers (one interception, no fumbles). … I really do think they’re hitting their stride. I’ve got great faith in our players and in our coaches.”
I’m not sure how Harbaugh defines hitting a stride, because the offense didn’t hit much, finishing with 267 yards, three-for-13 on third downs. Charbonnet rushed for 42, mostly on plows up the middle. Patterson wasn’t overly accurate – 14-for-26 for 147 yards – and rarely took shots downfield. He only got things going on one drive in the fourth quarter, with consecutive completions to Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black. That preceded a rare field goal miss by Jake Moody and led to a sweaty finish.
Regular backup quarterback Dylan McCaffrey was out with a concussion, but going forward, a changeup is something Harbaugh and Gattis might consider. Michigan visits Illinois next, and can’t get stuck in another grinder.
Andrew Kahn, MLive: Iowa football team goes into detail on why Michigan’s defense was so effective
Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon looking at the clouds above Michigan Stadium.
Iowa entered the game against Michigan having allowed just six sacks in four games, all victories. Stanley was sacked eight times on Saturday in Michigan's 10-3 win.
"We knew that they were going to do a lot of different things, change up their fronts, bring different blitzes," Stanley said. "We knew they were going to be aggressive."
Several Hawkeyes said Michigan didn't do too much defensively they hadn't seen before. It didn't make stopping it any easier.
Removing sacks from the equation -- boy, does Iowa wish that was reality -- the visitors managed just 66 rushing yards. Stanley had some success when he had ample time (260 passing yards), but the senior threw three interceptions and was under duress much of the game.
"Schematically they did a lot of things that were very tough on us today," Stanley said. "I think they had a great plan as far as their blitzes were concerned. They did a lot of things that were very hard on us, pickup-wise. Probably the hardest that we've seen all year and possibly the hardest we'll see all year."
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