A week after suffering a brutal loss at The Big House, the Michigan Wolverines suffered an embarrassing loss on Saturday. Minnesota didn’t do anything special, but the Golden Gophers played error-free football (aside from one horrible mistake) and managed to take the Little Brown Jug away from the Wolverines for the first time since 2014, winning the game by a final score of 20-14. It was also the first time Minnesota had beaten Michigan at home since 1977.
So far this year, I’ve only written about one thing I liked and one thing I hated in each game. Well, we’re changing that this week, because I really hated a lot of things in this game. Let’s go.
1 thing I loved: The defense FINALLY gets some takeaways and turns them into points
Much has been made of the lack of takeaways from Michigan’s defense so far this year. But on Saturday in Minnesota, the Wolverines finally produced a huge takeaway.
Late in the first quarter, Minnesota quarterback Drake Lindsey was under pressure from linebacker Troy Bowles while attempting to pass. He was hit as he threw the ball, and the ball stayed in the air for what seemed like an eternity. Once finally back on earth, the ball was eventually recovered by cornerback Smith Snowden.
This allowed Michigan to score the game’s first touchdown, a five-yard run by running back Jordan Marshall to tie the game at 7-7.
Then, late in the second quarter, with the Gophers driving down the field, Lindsey was backtracking while being pressured when he made a huge mistake – throwing himself across his body and getting intercepted by linebacker Nathaniel Staheling. The fifth-year senior raced 79 yards to the house to give Michigan a 14-7 lead shortly before halftime.
Sometimes the best offense is an elite defense, and that was certainly the case for Michigan in this game.
1 thing I hated: Minnesota’s first offensive drive of each half
After Michigan was forced to punt on its first drive of the game, Minnesota recovered the ball at the 20-yard line after the punt went into the end zone. The Golden Gophers continued to march down the field, ending the drive with a two-yard touchdown run from running back Darius Taylor.
Everything that happened before that was pretty hard to watch. Minnesota quarterback Drake Lindsey threw an 11-yard run to Noah Jennings on the Gophers’ first offensive play. Two plays later, Lindsey went right back to Jennings for 22 yards. Then, two more plays later, Lindsey found Taylor for a 33-yard gain. Staheling took a while to get to him, causing Taylor, as the kids say, to be wide open.
Safety Chris Bracy was called for pass interference in the end zone on third down, although I strongly disagree with the officials’ call. This gave Minnesota the ball at the two-yard line, and Taylor immediately threw it into the end zone.
Giving up two explosive plays on the first drive of the game — against Minnesota, of all offenses — is concerning. And that’s even more concerning considering it was the defense’s first drive after giving up the game-ending 91-yard drive against Iowa the last time we saw them on the field.
The Gophers got the ball back to start the second half, and their offense managed to find plenty of success on this drive as well. Fortunately, Minnesota was flagged for a false start on 3rd-and-6 at the Michigan 33-yard line, and the Wolverines were able to make a tackle for loss on the next play. That forced Minnesota to punt…but Andrew Marsh smothered it – his second of the season – to give the ball right back to the Gophers.
Minnesota couldn’t take full advantage, scoring a field goal to get within four points. Still, giving away free points to the opposition isn’t something you should do when you’re struggling to produce points offensively.
Another thing I hated: third-down penalties
We’ve all talked about how indisciplined this team has been so far this year, which equates to a lot of penalties against the Wolverines.
Things didn’t change this weekend in Minnesota. Michigan was flagged five times in the first half, four of which were called on third down. The first against Bracy, as mentioned above, was pretty tricky. But I can’t say the same about others. Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng was called for flagrant pass interference.
On offense, right guard Brady Norton was called for a false start on 3rd and 4. Later, quarterback Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines were flagged for a delay of game on 3rd and 15.
Third. And. Fifteen. And you can’t direct a play?
Ultimately, I blame Underwood for the delay of the game, but head coach Kyle Whittingham needs to recognize what is happening and call a timeout. Michigan had two timeouts to end the first half, so it’s not like no timeouts were available.
Michigan finished the game with six penalties for 43 yards. Less than previous weeks, but still not good at all.
1 last thing I hated: anything offensive
There really isn’t much positive to say about this offense at the moment because there isn’t much that works. First, Underwood threw a horrible interception in the third quarter, passing the ball to JJ Buchanan while Marsh was wide open and could have gotten into the end zone for a touchdown if he wanted.
Maybe Marsh being wide open wouldn’t have mattered considering he fumbled the punt and dropped a pass in the first half that got away from him (or maybe a facemask…it could have been his facemask. I’m not entirely sure since there’s no video online anywhere).
Also, don’t keep picking on Marsh…what the hell is that?
Underwood threw a second interception on the next drive after his first pick. It was the third consecutive possession that Minnesota started with the ball in Michigan territory.
This one is more about the instant pressure that the offensive line gave up, which happened a lot against Minnesota. At one point near the end of the game, the FOX broadcast showed a graphic indicating Underwood was pressured 10 times, punched nine times and sacked three times. The makeshift offensive line finally cracked and that was one of the many reasons the offense couldn’t put anything together on Saturday.
Nothing was working for the running game either, as the Wolverines ran 28 times for 79 yards (2.8 yards per carry). Marshall had 10 carries for 50 yards and a score, while freshman Savion Hiter carried the ball eight times for nine yards. The longest run of the day came from Underwood for 14 yards; he finished the afternoon with 20 rushing yards on 10 attempts.
At 3-2 — and with Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State still on the schedule — the margin for error is completely gone. Michigan can still turn things around this season, but something has to change, and it has to change during the bye week. If not, we could be looking at a 6-6 season.
What did you like and hate about the Minnesota game? I can’t imagine you liked it much, if anything, but let me know all your thoughts in the comments section.
Gn sports
