TheWolverine.com Podcast: Balas and Skene talk Indiana, Michigan State

Michigan hammered Indiana, 52-7, after a slow start, scoring 52 unanswered points. TheWolverine.com’s Chris Balas and Doug Skene break down the game — the offensive line in particular, which was good, not great against the Hoosiers — and talk about the upcoming rivalry game at Michigan State set for 7:30 next week.

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The Hoosiers were no match for U-M, and Harbaugh thanked his coaches, in particular, for their job in getting the win.

“The things that really hit me in this game, because there are so many players to talk about … so many great performances by every position group, every player that was out there,” Harbaugh said in the postgame. “You see the development, the plays they’re making. The next wave of young guys — you see them coming up.

“It’s time to give credit to the assistant coaches. It’s an amazing group of coaches, just every single one of them. It’s well documented what Mike Elston’s done with the defensive line. Just a great coach. You see him developing young freshmen. Chris Partridge — our young linebackers have made a huge step and a huge jump this year in the way they’re being coached and trained. It’s been phenomenal. Ron Bellamy — not only the top two receivers, but the young ones. Semaj Morgan … he had a chance to develop him in high school. That was a great play by Semaj [on a touchdown]. Not only that, but he’ll be an elite punt return blocker, which he was today. 

“Special teams, I thought their contribution was tremendous today. That was one of the best returners in the country we were up against, and the coverage units were tremendous. We were confident we were going to get a big punt return. That came; that happened [with Tyler Morris]. We had tremendous blocking. Well-coordinated. Jay Harbaugh does a great job with the special teams. Coach Clink [Steve Clinkscale], our secondary has never been better. The tight coverage, the PBUs, the interceptions. You see them coming in droves. Two interceptions today, two fumble recoveries. Tremendous.”

On offense, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy has taken his game to another level under Kirk Campbell, Harbaugh continued.

Kirk Campbell did a great job coaching the quarterbacks. J.J., already a great player,” he said. “He’s gotten him so locked in game to game. Coaching is just so upper tier, elite. He’s doing the same with Jack Tuttle and Jayden Denegal, and Alex Orji, and Davis Warren. Tremendous.

“Mike Hart … what can you say? Here comes another young back in the game. He’s got him ready to go and he was our leading rusher on like 9 carries or 8 carries, 58 yards. Ben Hall. The leg drive, the strength. He just does a great job in all facets. 

“Grant Newsome … pretty well documented all his players are plying really well. He’s in the box and he is diagnosing defenses like somebody that’s been coaching for like 20 years. It’s that good. It’s better than anybody that’s ever been up there. Telling us exactly where the shades are aligned, what we should be running. He’s giving coverages, fronts … it’s just as good as I’ve ever seen it from a coach coaching from the press box during the game today. 

“And then the coordinators, it’s well documented … that’s 10 straight games for Michigan football, a new record, over 30 points or 31 points. You start talking about the history of Michigan football, a statistic like that, know how great Sherrone Moore is, and he coaches the offensive line, where it all starts for us on offense. Jesse Minter … 139 yards after the three drives? Maybe only 100 after that in a shutout. Just really lucky, really blessed … I hope everybody appreciates it as much as our players do and I do. It’s masterclass, our stuff that our coaches are doing. Really good.”

Balas and Skene talk about that and more in today’s podcast.