1 thing I loved, 1 thing I hated: Michigan Football vs Iowa
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Michigan Football lost in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday, losing to Iowa, 20-19, on a game-ending touchdown on the final play of the game.
Here is my one thing I loved and one thing I hated from Saturday’s win.
1 thing I loved: The pass game
Normally it’s the other way around with how offense is typically played in Ann Arbor, but coordinator Jason Beck made it a point at the very start of the game to let Bryce Underwood rip it.
Underwood was 5-of-6 for 77 yards on the first touchdown drive of the game which spanned nine plays and 89 total yards. He also had completions of 27, 20, and 18 yards in the first quarter, with the 18-yarder being the Wolverines’ first touchdown of the game to wide receiver JJ Buchanan. He also had a 32-yard completion to Buchanan in the second quarter, and completions of 22 yards to Andrew Marsh and 19 yards to Hiter in the third quarter.
Then, Underwood hit Buchanan for 49 yards in the fourth quarter, giving the Wolverines the lead back not long after they had relinquished it.
Underwood finished the game 17-of-28 for 276 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Buchanan led the team in receiving with 130 yards and two touchdowns on five grabs. Marsh also had a stellar day with seven catches for 106 yards.
Other than the UTEP game last week, the Wolverines have struggled across the board offensively. The run game has been pedestrian, to put it nicely, while the pass game has been too inconsistent. But against one of the best pass defenses in the nation every single season, Underwood and his wide receivers had something really great going on, and Beck did a really nice job setting them up for success right from the very start of the game.
1 thing I hated: Untimely penalties
Not only have the Wolverines not cleaned up their issues with penalties, but they had a lot of really untimely penalties called on Saturday against Iowa, with one of them directly costing them the game.
On the Wolverines’ first drive of the game, Buchanan was called for a false start on 3rd-and-3. Underwood picked up the 3rd-and-8 conversion…but right guard Brady Norton was flagged for a hold. The 3rd-and-18 pass went incomplete and the Wolverines were forced to punt.
Fast foward to the second quarter — Michigan has it 3rd-and-5 from its own 30 yard line. Underwood kept the ball and picked up the first down…but center Jake Guarnera was called for a hold. Hiter ran for two yards on the ensuing play, forcing Michigan to punt again.
Michigan was marching down the field with ease on its first drive of the second half. Hiter got down to the Iowa 14 yard line…but tight end Zack Marshall was called for a hold. That made it 1st-and-20; on 3rd-and-11, Underwood threw an interception to Iowa defensive back Deshaun Lee.
The defense also got flagged at a pretty bad time. Iowa was stuffed at the line of scrimmage and would have faced a 3rd-and-long, but defensive tackle Trey Pierce was called for a face mask penalty, giving the Hawkeyes a free 15 yards and an automatic first down. Iowa eventually punted, but that penalty kept the defense on the field for longer than it should have been and could have given up a go-ahead score.
Then, on Iowa’s final drive, Zeke Berry was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty; it would have been 4th-and-12 had that not happened and, well…we all know what happened after that.
These penalties were crucial, and had it not been for them, Michigan very likely would have won this game. All in all, Michigan was penalized eight times for 75 yards. It badly hurt the Wolverines today, unlike the games against Western Michigan and Oklahoma were they were flagged a combined 20 times.
What is one thing you loved and one thing you hated from the Iowa game? Let me know down in the comments.
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