Daily Brews: What Indiana is saying about Michigan ahead of this weekend’s game

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Tom Allen spoke about the upcoming matchup with the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday in Bloomington and had nothing but complimentary things to say about the team he is preparing for this weekend.

“Really a lot of respect for them and their coaches and the talent that they have and how they have recruited and they are who they are historically,” Allen said during his Monday press conference. “But they just, they’re playing their best football, watching them on film the last couple days. And really impressive football team, physically and athletically and just doing a lot of great things in all three phases, they have got talented specialists. And excellent quarterback and stable of running backs. And, boy, really impressive receiver core. Big, physical, experienced offensive line.

“Some new faces on defense. But very, very athletic. Very explosive. And Don Brown does a phenomenal job schematically and they play really hard. And Coach Harbaugh has got them playing really, really well. So I know they had a big game last week, an important game for them and they played really, really good football, so, in all three phases. So just really an opportunity for them to come here. We got a great chance to finish out a home slate for this season. That’s important to us and it’s always about how you finish. And that’s a big emphasis for our guys and the way that they approach and just challenge our seniors and this team to be able to finish as a 2019 Indiana Hoosiers at home here for the last home game and how important that is.

Allen and the Hoosiers will be looking to end a major losing streak on Saturday afternoon having dropped 23 in a row to the Wolverines. Michigan is 58-9 overall in the series all-time, but these ones are rarely stress-free. Michigan has its work cut out for it this weekend on the road before the Ohio State game next week.

Jim Harbaugh takes issue with taunting penalty

One of the strangest plays of the day in the Michigan State game came when wide receivier Tarik Black was flagged for taunting after simply flexing after a catch down the field. It was not directed at anyone nor was it excessive, but the officials threw the flag anyways.

Harbaugh and his team are still confused by it.

“We have a question in (to the Big Ten conference) on it right now,” Harbaugh said during his Monday press conference. “But it’s a good question. I think he just flexed one. It should probably be spelled out. I watch a lot of TV, watch a lot of football games, and I see a lot of gestures. I remember that (cutting your throat) being something you couldn’t do. Be a good thing to talk about.”

A reporter asked what, in his opinion, constitutes a taunting penalty, to which Harbaugh says he is curious for that exact same answer from the Big Ten.

“Curious to know as well,” Harbaugh said. “Emphasis not made at a player. Tarik’s wasn’t at a player, an opposing player. Be good to get some clarity.”

Later in the game, tight end Sean McKeon made a first-down gesture after a catch and Ronnie Bell came over to pull his arm down to avoid a penalty. McKeon also spoke on Monday and said Black did nothing wrong.

“I’m not too sure the rules on that,” McKeon said. “I don’t think Tarik really did anything. It wasn’t like he was staring down anyone or over somebody. I’m not really sure why he got penalized for that.

“I know first-down signals are OK, I guess. And Ronnie (Bell) kind of yelled at me for that.”

Other Brews

• Shea Patterson on Monday won the Big Ten’s co-offensive player of the week award after his 24-of-33 passing performance for 384 yards and four touchdowns against Michigan State.
• Former Michigan basketball star Ignas Brazdeikis lit up the NBA G-League on Monday night, scoring 36 points for the Westchester Knicks, who were playing the Grand Rapids Drive.

• Speaking of Michigan basketball, the Wolverines are still on the outside looking in for the AP top 25, coming in at No. 32 this week with 11 votes.