The Michigan football team has had a mostly elite defense and questionable offense through Week 7. But starting the week, the schedule is set to get a whole lot tougher with Indiana coming to town.
Generally, for both sides of the ball, it's been the little mistakes that have piled up. For instance, against Iowa, the defense was mostly shut down, but untimely penalties extended drives, especially the final one, which ceded the game to the Hawkeyes. But after beating Penn State in a come-from-behind victory, the team is flying high, feeling like anything is possible.
"It's been a lot of, you know what, we've been making progress," senior edge rusher John Henry Daley said. "We've been doing all these things. Just stay the course, right? Bigger buy-in, more determination, just do more every single day. And that's kind of just been the thing. We're not gonna come in and just say, thank goodness, we got a win. That's great, but that's also an expectation for us to come in and win these games cuz that's the way we prepare. And so this week is just continue to stay on the same track, keep grinding, and get that same result this weekend."
As a result of the win, Daley says that the mood within Schembechler Hall is much higher than it had been for much of the season. After all, the only real solid wins were against Oklahoma and UTEP, and the win over the Nittany Lions was the first in the Big Ten.
"When you work for something, you're able to achieve it; that's a great feeling," Daley said. "But at the same time, success in college football is week by week. And so you gotta rinse and repeat every single week. And that's something that we're doing."
As noted, the back half of the schedule is potentially daunting, with four of the six teams on the schedule being ranked: Indiana, Oregon, UCLA, and Ohio State. IU will enter with starting QB Josh Hoover extant, but the other three may have (or are likely to have) different quarterbacks due to injuries.
Regardless of who's under center, Daley says that it's important for the defense (and the whole team) to put it all together. And he believes that the Wolverines may surprise some people.
"I think we're picking up some momentum," Daley said. "I think we're finding out who we really are as a team. Identity is really rooted in hard work and coming to the facility every day and putting in that grind, whether it's in the film room or watching film. So I feel like this latter half of the season is gonna be a lot better than the first half, and people are just gonna have to stay tuned."
It all starts on Saturday when Indiana comes to The Big House for a noon EDT kickoff on Fox.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan's John Henry Daley predicts strong finish to 2026 season