Michigan Football: Redemption for Wolverines with nail-biting victory over Iowa

Michigan football is back in business after back-to-back weeks of statement wins. After a win over a top 15 opponent, the Wolverines are back in contention.

Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley held one of the most exceptional statistics in college football: 136 pass attempts without an interception. That stopped with the Michigan football defense.

First Josh Metellus with a pick, then LaVert Hill, and finally Ambry Thomas got his off a tipped ball.

Covering the Hawkeye receivers seemed easy, aside from the occasional successful crossing route, and defending the rush was just as simple. Iowa entered half time with less than 20 yards on the ground. That is if you remove the negative yards from sacks, with those added, Iowa had less than 10 yards.

The defense was clicking, but the pass rush was inconsistent. There were plays where the men upfront showed what we all thought they were capable of, and then they took the next series off.

Part of it could be attributed to the Wisconsin game. As Harbaugh noted, the teams have ‘Similar DNA.” Looking back, one of the play-calls that worked consistently for the Badgers was the draw play. The Wolverines were guided into the backfield by the giant Badger offensive line, opening up gaping holes for Jonathan Taylor.

Half time adjustments by Don Brown helped this team get to the quarterback, with unique blitz packages, the Wolverines had five sacks by the start of the fourth quarter. While this line got to Nate in the first half, they were coverage sacks, unlike the second half where creativity brought down Stanley.

Offensively, the team appeared lethargic and outside of Zach Charbonnet, no one produced. As Brandon Justice from The Wolverine Louge noted, Tarik Black, Nico Collins, and Donovan Peoples-Jones were targeted a total of six times by the third quarter.

Shea Patterson was not trusting his arm the way he did in the outing against Rutgers. While the Scarlett Knights are not nearly as talented as Iowa, the Hawkeyes cornerbacks are not nearly as talented as the Wolverine receivers.

The Wolverine fan base began calling for backup quarterback Joe Milton, a request which would have been ridiculous before the season, now an understandable and logical thought.

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Jim and Josh Gattis didn’t agree, Shea stayed in the game the entire day.

In the end, Jim Harbaugh and company provided proof that the win over Rutgers wasn’t a fluke, this team is ready to compete. Sure there are issues and other problems that need addressing, but with the 10-3 win, Michigan is back in Big Ten Championship contention.