Michigan’s only penalty against Indiana might end up being the one everybody talks about.
The Wolverines cleaned up one of their season-long problem areas by drawing just a single flag, a sharp drop from their average of nearly eight penalties through the first six games. But that lone call - roughing the passer on Tariq Boney - drew plenty of skepticism and left Kyle Whittingham looking for answers.
On the Inside Michigan Football radio show, Whittingham said the officials told him Boney made contact with Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover’s helmet with his hand after forcing an errant throw. He pointed to the way the play is coached, explaining that Michigan teaches defenders to match the quarterback’s throwing hand and try to knock the ball down.
"Yeah, well, they said there was, he hit him in the head with his hand, but he tried -- we teach matching the hand, when the quarterback is ready to throw the ball, we try to match the hand with our hand and try to knock the ball down," Whittingham said. "And after the throw, his hand just kind of touched the helmet."
Whittingham said he wanted a clearer explanation from the Big Ten, especially on how much contact actually matters on a play like that.
"And I said, does it matter how hard he hits the helmet?" Whittingham said.
"I mean, grazing it is one thing, just trying to match the hand, and an actual blow to the head and trying to hit the guy is different, but I didn't get a good explanation other than, 'Hey, he hit him in the helmet with his hand.' And so we got to, we send it into the league, and we'll get a response from the league, and that'll help us.
"We do that so we know how to coach it better, and get an exact feel for what the refs are looking for and how they're being trained by the Big Ten, so the next time that happens, we have a good way to handle that situation. But the one penalty we did have, as you mentioned, was questionable, and so even withstanding that, to only have one penalty in the game was really a great job by our guys."
The flag gave Indiana better field position, but it never turned into points. The Hoosiers didn’t turn that moment into a sustained drive or a score.
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Among the names circulating are Candice Story Lee of Vanderbilt, Katie Fraumann, who has ties to Michigan, and David Benedict of UConn. Each brings a different background, but the common thread is the same: this is a hire that may define the direction of the department as much as any move on the field. For Michigan fans, the real intrigue is not only who gets the job, but how quickly that person decides the Wolverines need a different path in football. [Read more 🡒]
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The next few days of practice will go a long way toward sorting it out, with the staff planning to use those reps to narrow the competition and make the call closer to game time. For Michigan, it is more than just a roster question. The Wolverines are trying to find the steadier option before a conference game that can help set the tone for the stretch ahead, and the answer at quarterback remains the biggest unresolved piece. [Read more 🡒]
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The broader concern is that Michigan has already spent much of the season playing closer games than expected and surviving on the margins more often than it would like. Against Rutgers, the path is fairly clear: establish the run, control the pace and avoid giving an underdog enough chances to hang around. If the Wolverines cannot do that against the conferences weakest run defense, it would say plenty about where this offense really stands heading into the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]