Michigan - IU Post Game: Too Close of a Shave

I'm a electric razor guy but sometimes I like to use a regular razor to get a closer shave. Well, my skin isn't used to the regular razor and I get small cuts on my face and neck.

The Michigan Football team used a regular razor today which gave us another reminder that this is the start of the journey and not the middle of it. This team last year lost these type of games. Today, Michigan won and the difference was a true freshman named Tate Forcier who is a real "gamer".

He threw balls to Indiana's defensive lineman and also hit a Odoms on a beautiful post route for the winning touchdown. On this day he looked like a freshman and veteran, but the most important thing was he never gave up and continued to run for first down and touchdowns even when his shoulder was banged up. Tate might be the toughest 188 pounder in college football.

We also learned on Saturday the Michigan defense has a lot of problems. Indiana had a great game plan and gained a total of 467 yards to Michigan's 372. IU seemed to march down the field at will but could only muster field goals instead of touchdowns. Which was the difference in the game.

Boubacar got benched early for JT Floyd who has also looked shaky this year. (Is it time to burn Justin Turners redshirt?). The Michigan D gave up big runs and intermediate pass routes, but when the game was on the line, Warren wrestled away a pick to seal/steal the game.

A win is a win and since Michigan only had three last year. We will take this one (No. 4).

Now to the Cheers and Jeers:

Cheers

• Tate's toughness
• Carlos "Santana" Brown's screen pass and running ability
• Odoms catching the deep touchdown pass
• Warren's pick to save the game (which I thought was a bad call btw)
• Zoltan averaging 48 yards per punt
• Stonum had 218 yards on kick off returns
• The gum toss by IU's head coach Bill Lynch was a classic!

Jeers

• Where was the defense?
• Michigan have a problem at corner back opposite Warren
• Linebackers? Hello? Where are you?
• Pass Rush—One sack during the game
• I was afraid of bad snaps with the loss of Molk. Moosman and the QB's need to work on the shotgun all week. Those bad snaps must have cost Michigan 60-80 yards.
• The run game? I think Michigan tried to force the pass game when they were getting five-seven yards each time Brown or Minor touched the ball. Too many QB run plays when Tate was in there.
• Turnovers

Michigan is going to have to win games like this all year. They are going to have to outscore opponents because the defense is going to give up a ton of points. Give credit to IU, they were a much better team than most of us thought.

Note for next week: Beware of the 1-3 Spartans. They are desperate and next week will be the FedEx Duo's (Tate and Denard) first taste at a hostile environment. Not to mention the extent of Tate's injuries and how that will effect his playing time next Saturday.