Quick Hitters: Early breakdown and initial thoughts on Michigan

The Indiana football program heads to Michigan after its bye week looking to gain some momentum into the second half of the season.

Indiana sits at 2-3 and is coming off of a 44-17 blowout loss to Maryland the last time it was on the field.

Michigan is 6-0 and is coming off of a blowout win over Minnesota last weekend.

Here are some early thoughts on Michigan and the matchup.

Rod Carey debuts against the top scoring defense in the country. Michigan’s defense is once again looks to be the top unit in the country. Through six weeks, it’s giving up just 6.7 points per game — with just four touchdowns surrendered. Even deeper than that, Michigan has given up just two touchdowns before the fourth quarter. The Wolverines have also given up just the 4th fewest first downs on the season. In total, opponents are averaging just 4.5 yards per play and 233.3 yards per game this year. Indiana averages just 334.2 yards per game through five games. Rod Carey, who took over the offensive coordinator duties from Walt Bell, will have had 12 days on the job to create a game plan to attack the most difficult defense in the nation.

JJ McCarthy has totaled six snaps in the fourth quarter. Six games for JJ McCarthy and a total of just six fourth quarter snaps — coming in one game against Rutgers. Michigan has been dominant in nearly every area and on both sides of the ball this season, allowing for quite a bit of rest for McCarthy. McCarthy has been very good for the Wolverines, throwing for 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns to three interceptions. His 77.6 completion percentage is third in the nation among quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts. All three of his interceptions came in a 31-6 win over Bowling Green.

1-2 punch from Blake Corum and Roman Wilson. Not only is Michigan strong on the ground, they also have an effective passing attack as well. Corum has totaled 494 yards on the ground with a 6.0 average and 10 touchdowns. He has two touchdowns in at least three games, and one three-touchdown game. He’s been nearly unstoppable with four games with at least a 5.3 yard per carry average. On the year, he’s gone over 15 carries just twice. On the flip side, Roman Wilson has been nearly as unstoppable through the air. He is second in the country with eight receiving touchdowns on just 22 catches. Wilson averages 17.4 yards per catch and is typically used in 20+ yard routes.

Explosive plays from Michigan’s wideouts. We just touched on Wilson, who averages 17.4 yards per catch, but he’s not the only playmaker at the wideout position. Cornelius Johnson averages 19.0 yards per reception and has 342 yards on the season. He has had at least 71 receiving yards in four of six games and at least one catch of 20-plus yards in five games. With the rushing attack of Michigan, Indiana will likely need added pressure from any safeties on play-action which will likely leave a lot of 1-on-1 coverage on the outside. The Indiana football defensive backs needs to be ready to play in this one. They’ve shown it in spurts, but the last few games have been widely inconsistent from that group in terms of limiting explosive plays from opposing wideouts. Michigan ranks inside the top-40 in yards per completion, at 13.3 on the season.

Indiana’s trend of slow starts appealing to quick-start Michigan. Indiana has struggled the last three weeks to play a full four quarters. Indiana was down 21-0 at halftime to Louisville, had just a 7-3 halftime lead vs Akron and then saw a 21-3 deficit at the end of the first quarter vs Maryland. On the flip side, Michigan has outscored opponents this season 123-23 in the first half. For a team that struggles to score the ball going up against an extremely effective defense, Indiana needs to come out of the gates hot in order to have any chance at keeping this close, not even necessarily winning. The Hoosiers are in for a very tough matchup come Saturday and this one could be over after the first quarter if another slow start travels with Indiana.