Defense/ST Notes: Michigan 'in the ass-kicking business,' and it's booming

The Michigan Wolverines are on fire to start the season, rolling to another lopsided victory to add to their resume this season. This time, it came in the form of a 52-7 win over the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday on a rainy, gloomy day in Ann Arbor.

Michigan has rolled through the first half of its season without allowing an opponent to score more than 10 points on them all year long. The depth and athleticism on defense is as good as it has ever been, in addition to the coaching staff.

“We’re really blessed,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game. “I hope everybody appreciates it as much as our players do, and I do. It’s masterclass-type stuff that our coaches are doing. Really good. They’re all doing great. It’s amazing.”

“Not from what I can think of,” Barrett said after the game on if he’s ever seen Michigan roll like it has this year. “Like Coach always says, ‘We’re in the ass-kicking business, and business is booming.’ You gotta keep it going.

“We kind of talked about that earlier today. Just kind of always pressing our four pillars, especially defensively. Always talking about our pillars, trying to get block destruction and communication and just Always focusing on that daily. It just continues to get better day by day.”

The final box score paints a picture of wire-to-wire domination, but Michigan had to fight through some early struggles in order to find itself on Saturday. Indiana led 7-0 after the first quarter while racking up 141 yards of total offense. The Wolverines knew that Indiana was bringing in a new offensive look after changing coordinators, so it was all about getting a feel for what they were up against.

“I feel like we just had to settle in a little bit,” senior EDGE Jaylen Harrell, who had two sacks on Saturday, said. “We knew it was going to be a, we call it a ‘training camp’ game because we knew they had a new O.C. coming off the bye, so some things that we probably weren’t going to be prepared for. But we just had to do our assignments and lock in. We got off to a slow start, but we clicked when we needed to.

“Eventually, they’re going to give up, so we just have to come every single play, every single down. Eventually, they’re going to wear down.”

And wear down the Hoosiers did, gaining only 91 yards of offense the rest of the way.

“My favorite thing is just watching like their hope slowly go away,” Barrett said. “Watching that fight, it’s kind of diminished away from them and just kind of get to the point to where they’re just like, let’s go home. That’s kind of my favorite feeling.”

‘Ball disruption’ remains key for defense

Michigan is stifling on defense on its own without forcing turnovers, but it has shown a knack for getting the ball back this year after struggling to do so last year. That has been an emphasis in practice, and the team is seeing it play out on the field on Saturdays.

“Last year, we felt like we didn’t do as well as we wanted with the ball disruption,” sophomore defensive back Keon Sabb said. “So it was a big emphasis in the spring and also during camp. We appreciate every day, every meeting starts with ball disruption and it’s showing up on the field for sure. We always emphasize it every day, every time we go into meetings. That’s kind of the first thing we talked through to start our four pillars.

“It’s of importance and the quickest we can get them the ball back, the quicker we can get points on the board. Go from there and, just take that to heart. And literally every time we go into our meeting rooms, that’s kind of what we focus on trying to get that ball back.”

Sabb picked up his second interception in as many weeks on Saturday along with junior safety Rod Moore, who grabbed his first pick of the season. The other two turnovers came in the form of a forced fumble and recovery from Barrett and a sack-fumble from Harrell that was recovered by sophomore defensive tackle Mason Graham.

Harbaugh compliments entire staff

Harbaugh used his postgame press conference to shoutout the job his entire coaching staff has done. Here’s what he had to say about the defensive staffers:

Well-documented what Mike Elston has done with the defensive line. He’s been a great coach. Develop and you see him developing young, young freshmen. Chris Partridge, our linebackers have made a huge, huge step and a huge jump this year in the way they’re being coached and trained — been phenomenal. 

Coach Clink — our secondary has never been better. The coverage, the tight coverage, the PBUs, the interceptions. You see them see them coming in droves. Two interceptions today, two fumble recoveries — tremendous. And Jesse Minter. Yeah, it was 139 yards after the three drives, but I think maybe only 100 after that and a shutout.

Jay’s coaching the safeties, too. So thrilled with Keon Sabb’s development. When he got his eyes back on that on that play — yeah, he gave up one a little bit earlier, but he is a real force now in his second year. It’s just so exciting seeing the younger players just being developed and popping and knowing the game. And you just know what it’s gonna be like as we progress, and they know what it’s gonna be like, because once you do it, and then you know what you can expect as a coach, you hold them to that level.

Miscellaneous Michigan defense/special teams notes

• No team has eclipsed more than 10 points on the Michigan defense this year. Prior to this season, the last time U-M kept all of its first seven opponents at or below 10 points was in 1973.
• Michigan has allowed only three passing touchdowns this year compared to nine interceptions.
• After producing 141 offensive yards in the first quarter, Michigan held Indiana to 91 yards the rest of the game.
• This is the first time that Michigan has forced four turnovers in a game was a 2019 win over Iowa (10-3).
• Graduate defenders Michael Barrett and Mike Sainristil are tied for the team lead in turnovers forced with 2 apiece after Barrett’s forced fumble/recovery on Saturday.