Opinion: Unanswered questions remain for unbeaten Michigan football team

It was as if police at a crime scene were turning away curious onlookers from the event at hand: Move along, folks, nothing to see here.

Maybe that was for the best Saturday, after Michigan escaped with a 36-33 victory over Indiana on its home turf in a game every bit as ugly as some of U-M’s darkest defeats last season.

Maybe collective amnesia is exactly what the Wolverines need.

“We left so many plays on the field, it was ridiculous,” tight end Kevin Koger said. “We had snaps going over the quarterbacks’ heads, and we had so many negative yardage plays. … “We’ll find out what kind of team we are next week.”

That last line was a curious one, considering the Wolverines improved to 4-0 Saturday and, like they did against Notre Dame, showed moxie and poise when they needed it most.

A perfect September, and the Wolverines still don’t know what sort of team they’ve got?

Koger’s right, though. Victories aside, a lot of questions have sprouted the past two games.

And what he left unspoken was that if Michigan finds out what kind of team it has next week, it means the Wolverines don’t know right now.

They thought they had an idea after their come-from-behind win against Notre Dame, but now, in the past two weeks, they’ve regressed.

Doldrums lasted for a half against Eastern Michigan. On Saturday against the Hoosiers, the malaise lasted for about three-and-a-half quarters.

Indiana, never mistaken for an offensive juggernaut, rolled for 467 offensive yards Saturday against the Michigan defense, ripping off an 85-yard touchdown run for good measure. The Michigan offense, on the other hand, looked like the only film it studied this past week had been Three Stooges re-runs.

Snaps flew over the quarterbacks’ heads with regularity. Tate Forcier ran in circles behind center, desperately trying to make something happen, then overthrowing and under-throwing receivers.

But just when it looked like Indiana would win its first game in Ann Arbor since Lyndon Johnson resided in the Oval Office, Michigan pulled it together in the fourth quarter.

With their backs against the wall, Forcier completed a 19-yard pass to Kelvin Grady for a first down, keying a drive that resulted in a touchdown.

With their backs against the wall, Ryan Van Bergen sacked Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell for a 12-yard loss that keyed a defensive stop.

With their backs against the wall, on a third-and-seven, Forcier threw his best pass of the afternoon - perhaps his only good pass, a beautiful rainbow that found Martavious Odoms for a 26-yard touchdown.

With their backs against the wall, Donovan Warren wrestled the ball from Indiana receiver Damarlo Belcher for an interception that clinched. Those four plays allowed the Wolverines to box their way out of an otherwise embarrassing predicament.

“This one felt like it never should have happened,” Van Bergen said. “We made way too many mistakes. We bailed ourselves out, just there bailing water out of the boat at the end.”

They got away with it against Indiana, probably the worst team in the Big Ten. They won’t get away with it against anyone else in the conference.

They need to grow up in a hurry, in about six days to be exact. Like Koger said, for better or worse, the Wolverines will find out exactly what kind of team they are next week in East Lansing.

For now, they’re left understanding that Michigan, at 4-0 has an awful lot of potential. But the Wolverines also know an awful lot of questions remain.

Pete Bigelow is the sports producer for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petebigelow@annarbor.com or 734-623-2556.