Michigan Kicks Past Indiana
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Indiana came up short against Michigan Image: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
The Indiana Hoosiers entered today’s game at 5-5 and needing to win one of their final two contests to reach bowl eligibility. Despite a valiant effort in Ann Arbor, Michigan used five field goals from Jake Moody and strong second half defense to knock off the Indiana Hoosiers, 31-20. Indiana tested Michigan and kept things much closer than many expected against the #4 Maize and Blue but they will now need to win their regular season finish next Saturday against the Purdue Boilermakers to play in a bowl game.
Michigan began the game with the ball and quickly marched into scoring territory. However, in what would become a recurring theme in the game, IU’s defense stiffened and held the Wolverines to a field goal. Freshman kicker Jake Moody connected on a 32 yard attempt to give Michigan a 3-0 advantage. Indiana moved the ball well on its first possession but it was ended as Peyton Ramsey was intercepted on a fourth down play. Michigan was unable to take control of the game as the Hoosiers defense forced a three and out and then Stevie Scott put his footprint on the game, coming up with a couple of big runs, including the game’s opening touchdown on a 13 yard run. Michigan responded with a nice drive but again, the Hoosiers defense halted the Wolverines inside of the red zone and Moody was forced to make a field goal to make it 7-6. IU had to punt and Michigan earned their third straight red zone chance. However, Shea Patterson missed an open tight end in the end zone and the Wolverines settled for their third straight field goal and took the lead back at 9-7. Indiana refused to back down and Logan Justus hit a field goal of his own, this one from 41 yards, to put IU ahead at 10-9. Michigan avoided the red zone altogether on their next possession as Shea Patterson found Nick Eubanks wide open for a 41 yard touchdown. The Wolverines inexplicably went for two and failed to leave them ahead 15-10. IU answered with a quick drive that featured a deep ball to Nick Westbrook and ended with a seven yard touchdown to Ty Fryfogle that gave Indiana a 17-15 lead with 1:33 to play in the first half. Michigan connected on a long pass to Zach Gentry to get inside the ten yard line but Devon Matthews stood up a Michigan receiver inside the five and time expired, ending the first half with the Hoosiers ahead. Michigan entered the game surrendering only 103 rushing yards per game but Indiana was able to grind out an impressive 144 yards on the ground in the first 30 minutes.
The Hoosiers had the ball to begin the second half but they failed to register a first down and Michigan’s Karan Higdon punched it in from two yards out to give Michigan a lead they would not surrender. IU had a good drive going but it was halted with a fumble from Stevie Scott around midfield. Two plays later though, Shea Patterson was pressured and he threw it right to Marcelino Ball. Indiana had to punt again and Michigan’s Patterson hit Gentry for another long completion that put them in scoring range. IU freshman linebacker James Miller stuffed the Wolverines on a third and short and Moody had to hit another field goal to make it 25-17 in favor of Michigan. Indiana got around midfield and then attempted to steal back momentum with a fake punt. Marcelino Ball was stopped short on his run to the outside and IU’s defense was forced to hold Michigan to another field goal. Now down two possessions, Indiana moved the ball with a nice run and catch by Reese Taylor but a third and short resulted in a negative play for Indiana due to a curious option call and IU had to rely on Logan Justus to nail a field goal to cut the lead to 28-20. The ensuing kickoff resulted in a targeting call on Cam Jones that gave Michigan great field position. Their offense was able to burn clock and get inside of field goal territory and Jake Moody hit a school-record sixth field goal to put the Wolverines ahead 31-20 with around two minutes to play. Indiana got a couple of first downs but were unable to threaten on their final drive and they turned it over on downs to end the contest at 31-20.
Indiana performed admirably and gave the Wolverines all they could handle. Indiana had 196 rushing yards as Stevie Scott led the way with 139 on the ground. Michigan’s offense was strong as well, putting up 507 yards and putting together a very balanced attack against the Hoosiers. They were poor in the red zone but Shea Patterson was terrific and the running game was more than adequate. The two teams will now gladly move on to battle their arch-rivals in game with massive stakes. Michigan will travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State in a game that will decide the Big Ten East division. Indiana will return home to play the Purdue Boilermakers. The Boilers lost a heart-breaker at home to Wisconsin in triple overtime and both teams sit at 5-6 with bowl eligibility and the Old Oaken Bucket on the line this Saturday in Bloomington.