Michigan Football vs Iowa: Game Balls and The Depression Sets In

Michigan football lost to Iowa last Saturday. Here are the game balls and some analysis of the depression you may feel.

Jim Harbaugh-coached teams usually play like well-oiled machines; something got caught in the gears on Saturday in Iowa City. For the first time this season, Michigan football played down to its opponent, and it paid for it in the form of a 14-13 loss at the hands of a 5-4 Kirk Ferentz-coached team.

Michigan football has now dropped four straight at Kinnick Stadium, and the last time Iowa beat a top two team was in 1985 at home against the Wolverines. Kinnick does weird things to otherwise good Wolverine squads, and playing a team with little to lose at night doesn’t help either.

We’re going to attempt to find some bright spots among the individual performances, but make no mistake about it, that was a wire to wire failure at every level. Michigan was favored by twenty one and playing inspired football–this game shouldn’t have been close.

Wilton Speight finished with a QBR of 10.5. Mike McCray and Channing Stribling continued to struggle mightily in run defense.

Jehu Chesson looked like he was half asleep. Even Amarah Darboh was dropping big catches. The offensive line looked like a liability for the first time this year. Ferentz and company out coached Harbaugh and company. Michigan football didn’t show up ready to play and never really flipped the switch they needed to to squeak out a win.

The only real solace is the fact that this loss doesn’t change the big picture: Michigan still controls its destiny in the Big Ten. There’s just a lot more blueprint material on tape for other teams than there was a week ago.

Anyways, here are the game balls.