Opinion: Birk's Eye View: Four games in, Michigan's defense is a concern, quarterback Tate Forcier is not

Yes, the defense has been atrocious through four games. No disputing that. Two running backs (Indiana’s Darius Willis and Notre Dame’s Armando Allen) have had career days against Michigan, the pass rush is non-existent (four sacks is fewest in the Big Ten) and the Wolverines are allowing more yards rushing (142.0 vs. 136.9) and passing (243.8 vs. 230.0) than they did a season ago.

If that doesn’t change, Michigan won’t survive the Big Ten.

As for Brown, the senior seemed underused at first glance Saturday. He touched the ball four times on Michigan’s first seven plays, had 110 total yards and two touchdowns, then sat most of the second and third quarters as Mike Shaw and Brandon Minor rotated in.

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said Brown spent part of that time icing his sore knees. And while that may be true, the Wolverines are committed to giving Brown and Minor equal playing time.

It’s a precarious situation having two No. 1 backs, both seniors, and both capable players. Minor is a fierce runner who seems to take handoffs at full speed. Brown is a home-run threat who has three touchdowns longer than 40 yards this year.

I thought Michigan’s running game looked a little disjointed Saturday, and alternating series like Brown and Minor did in the second half doesn’t afford either the opportunity to get in a rhythm. But that’s not going to change. In fact, Rodriguez said after the game he wants to get Shaw and freshman Vincent Smith more involved in the offense.

“It sounds crazy to play four, but with those two getting dinged up a little bit we’re going to have” to get them ready, Rodriguez said.

As for Forcier, to suggest the true freshman has regressed in four games as a starter is unfair and unfounded. He had a rough Saturday and hasn’t looked particularly sharp the last two weeks, but he led that game-winning touchdown drive with a throbbing throwing shoulder.

“I keep reminding people, he’s a freshman,” quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said. “And you’re throwing a freshman into the heat of the fire, he’s going to do some good things, but he’s going to do some bad things because there’s a developmental process that happens. It don’t happen over night. I don’t care how much tutoring you had, there is a process that’s going to happen and he’s in that right now.”

Smith said Forcier needs to improve on three specific areas for Michigan (4-0) to reach its full potential: Making better pre-snap reads, staying in the pocket longer, and taking better care of the ball, something Smith mentioned to Forcier during the recruiting process.

All three came into play on Forcier’s flailing second-quarter interception Saturday, when he shuffled into a rushing defender rather than step up in the pocket, pirouetted back into another, then lost control of the ball as he tried to flip an ill-advised pass to Minor.

“He’s too loose with the ball sometimes,” Smith said. “He just had a habit in high school of doing that and just got to break the habit.”

Notes, quotes and leftovers • Plenty of talk yesterday about the pending showdown with Michigan State, a team reeling after three straight losses but one that beat Michigan last year.

“They came here and beat us, so that’s extra” motivation, cornerback Donovan Warren said. “They came in our house. That’s just like somebody breaking in your house or something and just winning. … It’s big for us to have a chip in the back of our mind for this game.”

Said defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen, “They’re better than 1-3, so we’re going to be really juiced this week in practice and we’re going to be able to get after them.”

• Rodriguez was asked if he’s looking forward to seeing his team play on the road for the first time this year.

“No, I’d rather play all 12 at home,” he said. “If they’d let us do that, we’d play all 12 here at the Big House. It’s tremendous. What a great crowd. But you find out a lot about your team, and I think your team matures a lot in a tough road environment. We’re getting ready to do that.”

• Van Bergen said he was to blame for Willis' 85-yard touchdown run early in Saturday’s fourth quarter that gave Indiana a brief 33-29 lead.

“Coach Robinson trusts me to make a lot of the checks on the defensive line, and I made the wrong check,” Van Bergen said. “It doesn’t happen very often, but I did it and it was independently on me, that check, and almost cost the team a big loss. And I would have blamed that completely on myself.”

When Indiana shifted its tight end to start the play, Van Bergen reset the defensive line, sending Brandon Graham to the strong side and Craig Roh to the wide side of the field. Indiana motioned another tight end strong-side seconds later, and Graham got walled off by two blockers as Willis followed a convoy to the secondary.

“It’s something very basic, first week, and I shouldn’t have made that mistake,” Van Bergen said.

A series later, after defensive coordinator Greg Robinson told an angry Van Bergen to “channel that energy into something positive,” Van Bergen had a big second-down sack that changed field position and helped set up Michigan’s game-winning touchdown.

• One other mistake that got lost in the shuffle of Saturday’s comeback: Michigan coaches should have been more conservative with their playcalling on Denard Robinson’s fumble late in the first half.

The Wolverines led 21-20 at the time and faced a third-and-nine play at their own 25 with 1:08 left in the half. Despite long odds to score, Michigan went no-huddle and snapped the ball with 23 seconds on the playclock. Indiana recovered and, after a long pass was called back by holding, Nick Freeland made the go-ahead field goal.

• Final thought from Van Bergen, who said Michigan was fortunate to escape with a win but will be able to learn plenty from the game.

“We dodged a bullet, but I think we helped ourselves to do that,” he said. “It wasn’t just luck. We secured our assignments, made one big mistake in the second half and then we were able to rally back and make some plays for our offense.”

Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.