Offense notes: Sherrone Moore explains Kalel Mullings usage at Indiana

In the early stages of Michigan football’s 20-15 loss at Indiana, some were ready to put graduate running back Kalel Mullings on a milk carton. His first carry of the game came with 6.5 minutes left in the first half with most of the run going towards Donovan Edwards and sophomore Ben Hall, who had 7 carries all season.

The CBS broadcast seemed to insinuate it was a performance-based decision based on recent outings, which was an interesting explanation after 13 carries for 11 yards in the first half. Head coach Sherrone Moore addressed the usage after the game.

“Donovan was practicing a little bit better and we have two good backs,” Moore said during his postgame media. “Just rotating him in and ended up putting Kalel in the second half. [Hall practiced well too]. We just wanted to get Ben some carries. Throughout the whole year, he is doing a really good job of helping us out and wanted to get him some work as well.”

He would later say: “Ben was practicing really well, and it was time for an opportunity for Ben to get some carries. And so it felt like that was the best decision we needed to do.”

Of course, Mullings would finish the game with 10 carries for 30 yards and U-M’s only touchdown, a 1-yard rush that brought the game to 17-15 and within striking distance. However, it was not enough to spark the Wolverines to their sixth victory of the season.

The run game was never able to get going with Michigan finishing the night with 30 carries for 69 yards.

Moore, Davis Warren weigh in on performance

Michigan fans are tired of hearing it, but a lack of execution on offense doomed its chances at a top-10 win against the Hoosiers. After the game, the head coach had a familiar refrain for a less-than-stellar offensive effort.

“I mean, at the end of the day, we got to go execute,” Moore said. “We justdidn’t execute at a high level. There were some twists, some movements, some zone runs that we didn’t pick up. And it was one guy here, one guy there, but that was the story. When you look back at the iPad and look at the things, that’s what it was. And we got to be better.”

For the third week in a row, Michigan got a clean game out of its quarterback. Senior Davis Warren finished the day 16-for-32 for 137 yards, but averaged only 4.3 yards per attempt. He missed too many open chances, and Moore said that will show itself on the film.

“First, just taking care of the football, no picks,” Moore said. “He did a good job of that. But also, when he’s got the pressure in his face, he’s got to move around. That’s when the off-target throws are happening, and some of those misses are happening. So you’re not allowed to get your feet in balance when those things are happening. He’s going to keep harping on himself, and people are going to beat him up. But I’m going to have his back and just continue to lift him up and make sure he knows he’s doing as much as he can. And we’ve got to continue to help him around him.”

Warren spoke after the game and felt it was a missed opportunity for the Michigan offense, especially after the Hoosiers made their defensive adjustments.

“100 percent,” Warren said of the missed chance for a win. “Defense fought their butts off there in the second half. I think that was one of the highest-scoring offenses in the country, and held them to, whatever, 20 points or something. So, yeah, left some plays out there in the red zone. Left a couple out there on third down.

“I gotta make a better throw there to Kendrick and give him a better chance to pick up the first,
because we had an opportunity.”

Michigan had been harping on getting off to faster starts, and it did score on the opening drive in the form of a field goal, but things broke down in the redzone, headlined by a fumble from Warren that backed up the offense.

“We came out strong, they adjusted, and we just didn’t execute,” he said. “It really just comes down to that.

“You can talk the talk about wanting to start faster, wanting to do this, wanting to do that. But at
the end of the day, you gotta go do. And we didn’t do enough in the first half there, gotta get the
wheels churning again and I think it falls on me as a quarterback, it falls on the whole offense.
We started together a little bit, but the defense was on the field too much, and we were putting
Zeke and the rest of the boys in a tough spot. We gotta find ways to make plays and be better.”

Miscellaneous Michigan offensive notes

• Junior tight end Colston Loveland’s four catches on Saturday tie him with Bennie Joppru for the most single-season receptions from a tight end in program history. He has led the team in receptions in all 9 of the games he has played this season.
• Michigan is the only team in the FBS without a passing completion of 40 yards or more this season.
• Mullings’ touchdown was his eighth of the season and first since the Oct. 19 loss at Illinois, which was the last time he rushed for more than 30 yards in a game.