HartAttack20

September 26th, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^

It should be a slugfest, but I think people (including myself) assume Michigan will outscore IU as long as Denard is healthy and maybe even if he isn't. It does seem high, though.

jmblue

September 26th, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^

IU is not a total pushover, but I think we're overrating them a bit because of last year's close finish.  Keep in mind that when we played them last year, it was our first game without Molk and featured Moosman's Cavalcade of Shotgun Snap Whimsy.  We had like four drives killed because of bad shotgun snaps. 

mejunglechop

September 26th, 2010 at 11:04 PM ^

While I agree with your broader point, the sad truth is even if you take away the bad snaps Indiana outplayed us last year and probably deserved to win. We actually only had 3 fumbles, losing one. The real problem was they averaged a 6.6 yard gain per play while we only averaged 5.0 and they outgained us by almost 100 yards.

jmblue

September 26th, 2010 at 11:18 PM ^

But you can't take away the bad snaps.  They weren't turnovers, but they were 10-15-yard losses every time.  (I'm not sure, but I don't think bad snaps are counted as fumbles if they never touch the QB's hands.) They basically killed a bunch of drives in a row and forced our D to spend a ton of time on the field.  Remarkably, we managed to score 36 points anyway.  When we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot, they didn't stop us. 

mejunglechop

September 27th, 2010 at 8:30 AM ^

That first line is good enough to be my new tagline. I can't help but be a little jaded- my fandom began my freshman year ('06 season), when I didn't know how good I had it. The last few years have been incredibly, incredibly frustrating and it may be painful to look at the extent of it, but at the same time it shows us how far we've come. FWIW I think we beat Indiana big.

jrt336

September 26th, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^

I'd say we will win by 10-14. Probably 10. I know they haven't played anyone good, but they've won all their games by 15+. Chappell has been good. 

MGoValiant

September 26th, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^

to cover but I wouldn't feel good about it. I would be interested to see where the line is at on Friday. On second thought, I wouldn't touch that line. But Denard should play the whole game right? I'll take UM to cover. We should beat Indiana by 2 touchdowns. But what if Denard gets banged up? This is Big Ten season. Not touching it. But Denard looks so good. He should have another 200/200 game. They will definitely cover.

This is why I don't gamble.....

ikestoys

September 26th, 2010 at 10:11 PM ^

No one really has any idea what IU is all about this year... Their SoS according to Sagarin is 200th (!).

The predictor has them at 65.99 and Mich at 79.68, so -13.5 doesn't seem too far off.

Clarence Beeks

September 26th, 2010 at 11:02 PM ^

Actually, we do know something about Indiana: their run defense isn't very good.  I don't know if you've seen any of their games, but holy cow.  Towson rushed for 227 yards on them and Western Kentucky and Akron were both over 140 yards.  That's 5.4, 4.6, 5.3 yards per carry, respectively.  Michigan averages 50 rushes per game.  Using Indiana's average yards per rush given up, that's 255 yards.  If it's closer to Michigan's 6.6 average yards per rush, it would come out to about 330 yards.