What we learned against Michigan

I apologize for the delay of this post, I have had computer troubles all weekend.Looking back at the Michigan game it seems as if everything most people thought would happen did. Our offense torched the Michigan secondary and Denard Robinson torched our defense. Going into it my thought was whoever had the ball last or whoever did not make the last mistake would win and that seems to be how it played out. Here are a couple of key takeaways from the game.

1. Our offense alone could get us to a bowl game. I know Michigan’s defense isn’t that stellar but something has to be said for the way our offense played this past weekend. Ben Chappell was 45 of 64 for 480 yards and 3 touchdowns. That breaks the school record for passing in a game. Tandon Doss had an phenomenal game with 15 catches for 221 yards and 363 all purpose yards. Belcher finished second in receiving for the game hauling in 10 catches for 91 yards. The offensive line created a couple of more holes this game then in the previous ones but there is still room for improvement. They gave up 2 sacks but considering Chappell threw 64 times I think they did another good job of pass blocking.

It must have been tough on the offense going into the game knowing that they had to put up a lot of points in order to win the game. We knew going into it the defense was going to have a difficult time stopping Denard Robinson and Michigan was very successful moving the ball down the field. I think our offense alone can get us victories against Arkansas State, Illinois, Northwestern and Purdue. However, if the running game and offensive line can improve, I wouldn’t be surprised if they stole another game against a Penn State, Wisconsin, or Iowa type of team. I’m not going to go out on a limb and predict an upset against one of those teams just yet or say that Illinois, Northwestern and Purdue are guaranteed victories but I still think the Hoosiers have a very good chance and making it to a bowl game this year.

2. Our secondary remains a question mark. Not a suprise here but there were a couple of things that surprised me. Our defense struggled mightily in the first half and you got to see plenty of different combination of players get a chance in the secondary. At one point walk on corner Greg Heban get a shot to play in the 2nd half. I was very surprised that Coach Lynch didn’t give Andre Kates an opportunity to show what he can do. Matt Ernest had a very difficult time defending runs to the outside, Richard Council most notably gave up the big play at the end to Hemingway and overall the secondary was not impressive.  Both Lawrence Barnett and Yatta Kiles got to see significant playing time at the safety position. I think Chris Adkins’ return soon will improve the secondary as well.

Personally, I think there should be some changes to the secondary. I think many different people need to get a look at a starting job if the play continues as it did on Saturday. What worries me is that Coach Lynch won’t make the moves because of seniority or because in Ernest’s case he moved from offense to defense for his senior season. If the current players can’t perform then there needs to be personnel changes and others need to be given the opportunity to step up and start.

3. Although a victory would’ve been huge for the program, it is still moving in the right direction. For all the criticism that has been going on regarding the Hoosier defense we still need to point out that it isn’t like anybody else has been able to stop Denard Robinson this year anyway. I know they could have played a lot better and that we need to improve on the fundamentals like tackling but going into the game we knew Denard would put up his numbers. What worried me was that the last couple of times we have had some optimism and a big crowd going into a big game we comletely lay a goose egg and fall on our face. This was not the case what so ever against Michigan. The game was competitive the whole way through and I hope that the fans do not get discouraged that we could not come away with the victory.

Winning the game would’ve been a huge boost to the program as well as the fan base but there is still a good chance the Hoosiers can go bowling this season. Next week will be tough against OSU but there are a handful of games that I talked about earlier that are very much winnable games, especially with the way our offense is playing. We have seen an uptick in the quality of recruits Coach Lynch and staff have been able to bring into the progam and it is extremely important we get to a bowl game and keep the momentum going.