Michigan Football: Grading the Wolverines' Loss to Iowa

For the second time in three outings, Michigan found itself with a chance to win a Big Ten road game in the fourth quarter.

Against Michigan State, the Wolverines wasted a fourth down opportunity due to a missed blocking assignment. 

Saturday, Michigan had a similar fourth-down chance on Iowa's 3-yard line with two seconds left. This time Denard Robinson's pass to Roy Roundtree fell incomplete, as Iowa's B.J. Lowery appeared to interfere. 

The loss dropped Michigan to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the Legends Division.

Earning a berth in the inaugural Big Ten title game will now be an uphill battle. It's conceivable the Wolverines could finish 6-2 in the division with victories over Illinois, Nebraska and Ohio State. 

Since the tiebreaker is the head-to-head result, Michigan State (4-1) would have to finish no better than 5-3. That would mean losses in two of its last three games. 

Iowa, also at 3-2, would have to lose one more game.

Michigan fans were certainly upset with the Iowa loss—if not by the questionable officiating, then by Michigan's inconsistent play.

Let's check the letter grades to see where the Wolverines might improve. While a Big Ten crown looks unlikely, a trip to a respectable bowl game doesn't. 

Quarterbacks

For someone who agreed to the challenge of a transitional offense, Denard Robinson is taking a lot of heat. Remember, he could have transferred after learning a new offense would accompany the coaching change.

If you looked at stats alone, you'd think he's having a banner season. Currently, he's fifth in the league with 97.8 rushing yards per game, sixth in the league with 179.7 yards per game and second in the league in total offense.

True, he's not throwing the ball with the confidence of 2010 or, for that matter, high school.

The coaching staff promised he'd run the ball less and throw the ball more this season. All right, he has carried it a tiny bit less. Last year after nine games, he had 183 rushing attempts. This year it has been 147.

The question is not that he's playing hurt, it's how hurt?

Despite the criticism, Coach Brady Hoke remains confident in the junior quarterback. "We continue to grow as a team," Hoke said, "and he continues to grow as a quarterback."

The other concern is Devin Gardner, who doesn't play nearly enough to gain any confidence. Without confidence, well, see the photo above.

Grade: B- 

Running Backs

Considering that Michigan played from behind 55 of the 60 minutes, the fact that Fitz Toussaint and Vincent Smith combined for 72 yards was a good thing.

Toussaint, despite being in Robinson's shadow, is becoming a solid running back. He's averaging 70 yards per game, but most importantly 5.7 yards per carry.

Smith, who is most effective as a pass-catcher, is becoming a pretty good sidekick.

Grade: B- 

Receivers

The end of Saturday's game was certainly exciting.  First, Junior Hemingway nearly made a miraculous catch which would have brought Michigan within two points in the final seconds. Many observers thought Hemingway's knee touched before he trapped the ball on the ground.

Why the official called it incomplete might never be known, and why there was insufficient evidence to overturn it might not be known either.  

Naysayers point to the Calvin Johnson rule, which states that you must complete a process before it can be called a catch. (Note: Detroit Lions fans are still seething about this.)

Problem is, Calvin Johnson plays in the NFL, not the Big Ten. 

Seconds later, the game ended when Roy Roundtree failed to catch a pass while defender B.J. Lowery was too close for comfort. 

Michigan was the recipient of a similar call in the 1971 Michigan-Ohio State game. If Woody Hayes was still alive, he'd still be tearing up yard markers.

Bottom line is calls go both ways—if Michigan didn't drop a few early, things might have been different.

To prove the point, the official didn't miss pass interference on Michigan tight end Kevin Koger. Of course, Koger caught it for a touchdown anyway, so the charity flag wasn't necessary.

Grade: C+    

Offensive Line

With two sophomores and a junior among Saturday's five starters, the offensive line can still be considered young. Many offensive lines rarely start a player before his junior or senior year.

The run blocking has seen better days, but the pass blocking against Iowa was superb. Denard Robinson had all day to throw. In fact, he was sacked only once.  Actually, the Wolverines have been sacked just 12 times all season.

The only sour note was another personal foul picked up by Taylor Lewan.

Give Mike Schofield props for filling in again for the injured Ricky Barnum.

Grade: B

Defensive Line

The defensive line, linebackers and secondary all seemed to play in quicksand during the first half. Things got better after intermission. The Wolverines held Iowa to 19 yards and two first downs in the third quarter. The damage however, was already done.

If anyone read the scouting report, they would know running back Marcus Coker, receiver Marvin McNutt and quarterback James Vandenberg would top the stat sheet. 

Coker was steady all day, finishing with 132 yards on 29 carries.

"Coker ran hard today like he does." said Mike Martin, who continued his improved play with six tackles. "We just have to get better on our side of it. It’s about us tightening down on how we play and getting better."

Vandenberg, who is in his first season as Iowa's starting quarterback, was basically untouched in the first half. 

"Yeah. They were doing some things with their play-action stuff, and they were doing a good job with that," Martin added. "So we just needed to adjust a few things, and I think we did a better job with that the second half."

Defensive end Craig Roh and defensive tackle Will Heininger each had a sack in the second half as Vandenberg was held to 57 yards passing.

Grade: B-

Linebackers

The linebacker position is the most youthful on Michigan's squad. Freshman Brennen Beyer has taken over for freshman Jake Ryan at SAM, freshman Desmond Morgan now starts at WILL, and junior Kenny Demens patrols the middle. At 6'1", 248 pounds, Demens had 11 tackles against the Hawkeyes, and also leads Michigan with 66 for the season.

Beyer, a 6'3", 225-pound linebacker from Canton, made the first start of his career. "I think Brennen Beyer played a lot of football," Coach Hoke said. "This is a good environment for a freshman to play."

Grade: B

Secondary

Troy Woolfolk, who's been battling injuries throughout most of the season, moved from cornerback to safety, a position he played early in his career.

The move could now be made since freshman Blake Countess has cemented a spot as a starting cornerback.

While there are no super stars yet in the secondary, there's been tremendous improvement over last season where multiple long runs and touchdown passes were commonplace.

Michigan still has trouble with feature receivers like Notre Dame's Michael Floyd, Michigan State's B.J.Cunningham and, of course, Iowa's Marvin McNutt.

Against Michigan, McNutt caught nine passes, but his longest gain was only 24 yards.

Grade: B- 

Special Teams

Other than the bobbled snap by Drew Dileo on the extra point, Michigan had a rather uneventful day on special teams. Coach Hoke didn't seem concerned with Dileo's miscue. "He’s caught probably a thousand of them," Hoke said. "It’s like anything else. It’s probability. It’s going to happen."

Brendan Gibbons continued his solid, if not spectacular, placekicking with a 32-yarder in the third quarter. Gibbons now has connected on 7-of-9, with the longest from 38 yards out. 

Grade: C

Coaching

While there's no doubt it will eventually happen, Hoke and his staff would like nothing better than to get its first "signature" Big Ten win. It will probably happen sooner than later, but until it does, Michigan will still be known for its late-season collapses.

Against the Hawkeyes, Michigan failed to play an inspired first half.  

"Well that’s why you play 60 minutes of football," Hoke said. "I didn’t think we as a team played as well as we could and should throughout the game, but especially the first half. We have to do a better job of coaching, preparation, all those things."

And playing from behind at Iowa is a tall order. The Hawkeyes never came close to making a mistake.

Michigan has an opportunity Saturday to get a huge win at Illinois. Coming off a three-game losing streak, the Illini (6-3, 2-3) have had two weeks to prepare for Michigan, thanks to a bye week.

Grade: C

Intangibles

Who would have thought that a one-in-a-million fumbled snap and some questionable officiating could have such a impact on an exciting football game?

You can only wonder how it—trailing by eight instead of seven—might have an effect on that final drive.

The other subject, of course, is officiating. We won't revisit the two plays in the end zone as time expired.

The was, however, another chapter in this unusual folly.

With just under two minutes remaining in the first half, Michigan faced a 2nd-and-7 from the Iowa 32-yard line. On a designated running play, Denard Robinson ran around left end, then out of bounds near the Iowa 13.  Robinson, who was at least a yard out of bounds, was tackled by James Morris right in front of the official. The replay clearly showed a foul should have been called.

Two plays later, Robinson threw a pivotal interception at the Iowa goal line. On the same play, Lewan was whistled for his personal foul.

And to think, if Robinson wasn't sacked late in the Michigan State game, and the Wolverines were more fortunate in Iowa City, then we all could be looking at a 9-0 football team. But of course, you can take all these ifs along with a silver dollar, and you can still only get a small cup of coffee.