Yeah, Tate Forcier looked like a freshman against Indiana

As the seconds ticked and Michigan found a way to slip away with another win, the clouds that hovered all day started to lighten. The sun, it felt, was trying to peek out.

Considering what happened on the Michigan Stadium turf moments earlier, with freshman quarterback Tate Forcier interrupting his own cloudy, stormy day for a brief respite of sunshine and good play, it fit.

Forcier looked like the guy who started his college career earlier this month for one series Saturday - the game-winning one. Forcier shook off an injury, which ended up being a bruised right shoulder that he could barely move after the game, and threw a perfect touchdown pass to wide receiver Martavious Odoms to give Michigan a 36-33 win over Indiana.

Welcome to the Big Ten. It’s not always going to be a friendly place.

Unlike two weeks ago, when he led Michigan on a last-second, game-winning drive against then-No. 18 Notre Dame, Forcier didn’t play well most of Saturday. In fact, it’s the second straight game when the freshman from San Diego looked exactly that.

A freshman. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

“As a player, it makes me better to face adversity like that,” Forcier said.

The past two weeks have been lessons for the youngster. He didn’t play particularly well against Eastern Michigan. And then came Saturday, where he rushed decisions, threw a bad interception that was caught by a defensive lineman and got called for another bad decision - intentional grounding - on a third down in the fourth quarter after Indiana took its final lead.

This is a kid who earlier this season said he wanted to show that just because he was a freshman didn’t mean he couldn’t do things and didn’t mean Michigan couldn’t have success.

So far, he’s proven that. But he’s started to look like a freshman Â¬- much like Michigan has begun to show signs of a team still strapped with a lot of youth and a lack of depth - along the way. There were times Saturday where Forcier’s decision-making was questionable, at best. Some of his reads that should have been runs became throws.

There were times Forcier scrambled more when he could have easily thrown it away. His feet started getting antsy, which is expected when a quarterback is seeing things he hasn’t before, when an 19-year-old kid less than a year into college has two experienced defensive ends coming at him from both sides.

“A young quarterback, his eyes are everywhere,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “In the first half, Tate’s eyes were everywhere. On the field, in the stadium, State Street, over at Schembechler Hall.

“I don’t know where his eyes were. They were everywhere.”

And that’s Saturday’s lesson for Forcier. He still has the moxie and poise he showed against Notre Dame. He showed it by coming back after being knocked out on that final drive despite a pedestrian 11-of-21 passing for 184 yards, two touchdowns and an interception along with 15 yards rushing.

He showed it when he dove high into the end zone for another score with the game close.

But bad decisions will happen. Forcier is going to make mistakes. As much as he’d like to hide from it, Tate Forcier is a freshman. And he’s one that will leave his happy, fun comfort of Michigan Stadium for the first time in six days. Spartan Stadium won’t be nearly as hospitable. Neither will Kinnick.

That’s what’s next for Michigan after a somewhat surprising undefeated September. And Michigan State could very easily be a tougher opponent than Indiana, which for three quarters made Forcier look quite ordinary before he, again, did something anything but ordinary.

“He’s a freshman, and there’s a learning curve so you’ve got to get better and he will,” Michigan quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said. “But he came through at the end.

“And that’s all that mattered.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.