Although Michigan had three sacks against Maryland and four sacks against Iowa the previous two weeks, the Wolverines struggled to have consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback.
Saturday against Indiana was an entirely different story.
Quarterback Connor Bazelak had a long, long day thanks to the Michigan pass rush. The maize and blue sacked the Indiana quarterback seven times en route to a 31-10 Michigan victory.
Jaylen Harrell had one of the seven sacks that Michigan generated on Saturday. He says that Michigan keeps trying to bring the heat each and every play. Harrell says that the Wolverines’ defense needs to stay hungry and that this same thing is possible every week.
“So you know, we try to get better each every week,” said Harrell. “Each and every practice, every snap, we just got to keep coming. Keep bringing it each and every day. This one transferred over to the game because you know, we’re gonna be doing a lot next week as well. It’s gonna keep going. Stay hungry.”
Michigan was in a dog fight in the first half. The Wolverines entered halftime tied up at 10 all. Harrell said that the team and coaching staff talked about adjustments to make. Indiana runs an up-tempo approach that found some mismatches against the Michigan defense in the first half. Harrell noted that Michigan needed to get to the perimeter better in that first half.
“You know, in the first half, they hit a couple big plays,” said Harrell. “I think they would get on the perimeter a little bit. We just changed a couple of things. Made some halftime adjustments with our coaches that we had to do in the second half.”
The Wolverines allowed 29 yards of offense in the second half against Indiana. Michigan went on to sack Bazelak four times that half. Harrell said that the defense has struggled recently finishing games and getting home to the quarterback. He said that the defense wanted to impose their will against the offense, and it just so happened to be the Hoosiers’ quarterback that took the brunt of the punishment.
“Our goal in the second half? You know, we haven’t finished the past couple games,” said Harrell. “So we really just trying to impose our will on any offensive player but happen to be the quarterback a good amount of times, you know, what we strive to do.”
Six times that IU had the ball ended in a punt in the second half. The seventh time was a turnover on downs. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy says that the defense is a relentless and determined group. He credited the offseason workouts that the team had to do keeps them going hard each and every play.
“Yeah, it was every possession they had ended in a punt,” said McCarthy. “I touched on this last week. They’re just nonstop determination. I mean, they are relentless. Yes, they are relentless, every single play. And once they get tired, all those 150s we ran in the summer, all those cross fields, everything like that. That’s where they show up. That’s where it comes to fruition. And those guys are just dogs.”
The Michigan defense will need to have the same pass rush next week when the Wolverines host a 5-0 Penn State squad. A battle of the unbeaten in Ann Arbor.
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