Michigan Football: Grading the Wolverines win over Indiana

Here is the report card for Michigan Football and Indiana as the Wolverines won their sixth straight game to start the 2022 season. 

Michigan football has much bigger fish to fry but it’s nice to be bowl eligible by Week 6 for the second straight year.

The Wolverines dropped to fifth in the AP poll (oh well). It’s funny how much people want to rip on Jim Harbaugh but his Michigan teams have spent more weeks ranked in the top five than not being ranked at all.

On Saturday, Michigan football allowed Indiana to hang around for a half. The first-half playcalling was too conservative and Michigan made too many mistakes. There were penalties and missed assignments and Big Ten teams will make you pay for that.

In the second half, the Wolverines dominated and outscored Indiana 21-0. The Hoosiers got just 27 yards of total offense and before we give too much away, here are the grades for Week 6.

Offense: B

It’s hard to grade an offense too harshly when it picks up 469 yards and scores 31 points on the road. However, this grade could have been an A if Michigan football just executed in the red zone.

The interception by J.J. McCarthy was the only true wart on a really good performance. But that was a mistake you just can’t make. The Wolverines were up seven and could have made it a two-score game. Instead, Indiana hung around longer, even though the Hoosiers couldn’t cash in.

McCarthy didn’t put the ball in danger again outside of maybe one throw as far as I can remember. Michigan was 7-of-14 on third down and while the run game wasn’t spectacular, Blake Corum ran for 124 yards. Michigan had 165 yards and 4.1 yards per rush as a team.

The penalties on offense were also frustrating but they were’t specific to that side of the ball either. It could have been much worse, but if Michigan had executed better in the red zone, this game would have been won more handily.