Indiana Hoosiers -Next Opponent
Time to focus on the Hoosiers as they always play Michigan tough. Michigan's offense is finally putting it together and just in time. The Hoosiers are currently ranked #19 in total defense and #31 in total offense. This is a HUGE game for Michigan as a victory will give Harbaugh his 9th win of the season before squaring off against a excellent Buckeye team. The Wolverines are getting better at the right time. This game last year was a serious forewarning to the defense last year when the Hoosiers sliced through Brown's coverage schemes which helped Urban Meyer and Ryan Day prepare. Check out the stats. Indiana is also ranked #31 in sacks allowed which is good for the defense.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
I don't think this game will be on the same level as last years was. I'll put it more akin to 2016 - IU was a decent team, but not really good enough to be a viable threat. The fact that the game was so close came down to weather and John O'Korn. Don't know the weather yet, but JOK isn't suiting up next week. IU played PSU tough, but otherwise has beaten mostly downtrodden teams.
As for last years telegraphing, I just can't see the same thing happening. Well, yeah, it's still going to give OSU a defensive preview. But it's not going to be as nice to watch the film this year, as it was last year for them. Brown has been incorporating more and more zone into his schemes this year, and they are getting really good at it. They're going to cap off season-long preparation by beating the crap out of IU.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
This Indiana team is WAY better than their 2016 team.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
This game scares the crap out of me.....Peyton Ramsy is no slouch if he has time to throw the ball.
November 18th, 2019 at 2:40 PM ^
The ND game scared the crap out of me. The MSU game scared the crap out of me...
November 18th, 2019 at 7:01 PM ^
If it was Michael Penix I would be more scared. I’m still uneasy because it’s a road game and it’s Indiana, but DB certainly has a better track record against non-mobile QBs. Ramsey isn’t a total statue, but he’s not a game breaker with his legs.
November 19th, 2019 at 8:47 AM ^
Ramsey is more mobile than Penix.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
47 and sunny for now is the forecast
November 18th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
and yesterday, the weather was showing snow for Saturday -- so let's give it a couple more days.
November 19th, 2019 at 11:55 AM ^
Latest is rain ending before noon then cloudy and cool during the game. Temp in the mid to upper 30s.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:10 AM ^
They are quite smashing. If you believe in the power of Vegas it seems to think our turnaround since Penn State is for real. -7.5 on the road is a ton of respect.
Most of the IU fans online are totally despondent about losing Penix but I’m not sure why. He and Ramsey have identical numbers. It’s not a Fields to Chugonov situation.
Like last year, it feel like a true OSU warmup. Similar offense and defense stylistically, just a notch down. Last year was ominous so we’ll see if we can right some wrongs.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
Penix is on another level. I watched him earlier in year, and all I can say is wow. Excellent arm talent, very mobile...
November 18th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
Right. They may have similar numbers now but Penix has way more upside. He's a better player overall and will prove it in the coming years
November 18th, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
...explodes way more often, too
November 18th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
moves in and out exceptionally well even with protection.
November 18th, 2019 at 11:56 AM ^
He can penetrate defenses with pinpoint accuracy
November 18th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
I’m just glad Indiana can’t play with their Penix anymore.
November 18th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
If I lost my Penix I'd be pretty despondent. Like really, REALLY despondent.
November 18th, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^
It appears there's a lot of Penix envy in this thread.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
IU played PSU tough and could have won that game. I think they will put maximum effort into getting a win at home to keep #9WINDIANA alive. The big question is the status of Whop Phylior.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
IU SHOULD have won the game. According to S&P+, Penn State had a 27% chance of winning that game. IU went for 500 yards on that defense and outgained PSU by nearly 140 yards.
If you think this game will be a breeze, going to be in for a surprise on Saturday.
November 18th, 2019 at 11:45 AM ^
Your not kidding. This is going to be a tough game and we will need to continue to play very good football on both sides of the ball to come out on top
November 18th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
As someone who was hating on Indiana a bit, their performance was better than I expected vs PSU on the road. They kept fighting until the end and stayed in it. Ramsey was their whole offense as they only rushed for 2.9 ypc, and he went 31/41 for 370 yards.
I think our secondary is a strength and a notch better than PSU. We'll need to contain Scott and get some pressure on Ramsey.
I don't seem them winning, but this will be a fight and we can't let up or play conservative at the end of the game. Trounce this Indiana team, given the momentum since 2H of PSU, and I'm at least not expecting to get our doors blown off vs OSU.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:14 AM ^
IU 77 - Mich 14
November 18th, 2019 at 10:21 AM ^
we're gonna get 14 whole points? sweet
November 18th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
I simply can't wait for your OSU prediction.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^
How are we going to keep that offense under 80?
November 18th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Thank you Brutus, I just bet my house, car, wife and four children on the OVER
(Not too sure I want to win, TBH)
November 18th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
How similar is Indiana's offense to OSU's? Does defensive scheming work in the same way as offensive, where we would want to hold back on some of the more exotic/interesting packages to defend a similar type of play the next week?
They will most likely be able to score a bit, the only team they haven't put up descent numbers against was Ohio State. Our defense isn't ranked that far below OSU, their next lowest scoring game was against Penn State, who is 10ish spots behind us.
If we can hold them to <21 we should be able to win comfortably with the amount of points they give up, and hopefully not have to do anything too crazy defensively that helps out the next team on the schedule.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:34 AM ^
IUs offense is not at all similar to OSU’s. Even less so this year than last.
OSU shapeshifts. They’ll play power spread, zone read, incorporate pro-style passing concepts...they’ve even lined up under center in I formation. Not a ton of RPO’s and that fixed their run game. It’s not the Urban Meyer QB keeper offense but they still run bash which was a staple in his offenses.
IU under Penix was an air raid offense. Ramsey is more of a precision dink and dunk. They don’t run the ball much which is a departure for them. Ramsey can carve a D up. The guy is accurate and they have big bodied WRs.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:39 AM ^
Bluedream, How long are you going to post here under the guise of being a Michigan fan? Every one of your posts is about OSU. Beat it.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
They might be similar to Ohio State in the way that the air force of Jamaica is similar to the Air Force of the United States.
I mean, Jamaica has a couple of planes that fly (sometimes)...And Indiana has players and they run an offense...
November 18th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
The team down south is 45th in passing success with 254 yrds a game. OSU is 4th in rushing . IU is 13th through the air the nation with 314 yrds per game but 101st with 166 yrds a game. So IU is air raid and OSU is more balanced but hardest to stop with their ground game.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:34 AM ^
It "feels" like this is a UM team that is still on the ascending path on their way to peaking against osu. It feels like they found something special and are going to keep building. Now maybe that is just a lot of hopes and feelings that mean nothing but I believe, with that being the case, they are going to take another step forward and beat a good IU team on the road this week soundly.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
I'm going to assume UM will beat IU this week in a tough game. M is really clicking now it seems.
Fortunately, OSU has to play Penn State which should reveal some tendencies for the Buckeyes. I'm hoping for a very physical game. You know, the kind where you might not be 100% healthy going into the biggest game of the year.
November 18th, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
Fuck that...
I'm hoping both teams beat the snot out of each other... would be nice to have a weakened OSU in two weeks at home; perhaps an eye gouge or two...
November 18th, 2019 at 10:39 AM ^
Patterson should now have it on the road, after that performance at home... but the team so far tends to come out flat on road... I think this last performance, albeit at home, does the trick and keeps the confidence high, especially on defense, which is energized knowing we finally have an offense.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^
Don't look now, but our previously ranked 73rd offense is now up to 34th in SP+.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
They're a good team - I still think, as I said in some other thread here this weekend, they strike me as a #25-#35 type team nationally though.
So: Michigan could lose if they sleepwalk, but U-M is still the better team. They should win.
I sort of see this game like a few other recent U-M/IU games. U-M is nearly always in the lead, but IU is always within 1-2 scores. But they never break through.
IU @ PSU had that sort of feel on Saturday. The margin was never more than 13, but PSU still led that game for 52 of the 60 minutes, and IU never had the ball while down only 1 score in the game's final 25 minutes. Always close, but still never truly had the feel that IU would break through.
November 18th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
c'mon man. psu had to convert two 3rd down plays and two 4th down plays on that killer 4Q TD drive. fail on any of those plays and IU has a great chance to win, as they immediately drove the field for their final FG when they had first and goal at the psu 4 yard line.
November 18th, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
True, but IU didn't succeed and PSU didn't fail at those important moments.
And, I've noticed those things happen regularly when a team plays a team that is a bit better than them.
The lesser team inevitably can point to a few plays and say "if we had only been successful there at that key moment, we could have won!"
But more often than not, the lesser team doesn't succeed. Because they're playing a better football team. Better football teams rise to the important moments too.
I expect the same sort of thing in the U-M @ Indiana game. There will be a point in the game where one will think "if IU simply makes a play here, they're in business!"
But U-M will inevitably be the team that succeeds in those situations. And they'll eventually win by 7 or 10 or 14 points, close but still a victory, and then we move on to the next week.
November 18th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
The Thing about Indiana is that they never actually beat Michigan
If the game is crazy or starts bad I will have zero worry about the outcome.
November 18th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
After Indiana's bush league shit last season with Berkley Edwards & Chase Winovich, I hope we win by 100. I hope this team hasn't forgotten those cheap shots because I sure haven't.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
WHOA THERE!
You have not forgotten?
YIKES I hope Indiana knows about this
BUT they cannot say they were not warned...
November 18th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^
Another opportunity to make a statement.
I do think that Indiana will have UM's full attention which may not have been the case over the past few years.
November 18th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
I think last year's team was prepared but played their own scheme without much adaptation to what IU was doing. I rewatched the highlights from last year's IU game and it really seems like it would have been a blowout if our offense was working. Instead, IU kept it close and their whole sideline was amp'd until the 4th and 12 pass with 90 seconds left fell incomplete. I am not sure our offense is as easy to prep for as last year's given the changes we've seen over the last few weeks. By no means do I expect us to cruise but watching the entire team adapt and execute has been the most fun of this second half of this season (and honestly the last few seasons). My point here is that this team seems to adapt and is hopefully still ascending. Let's hope to see somehow more improvement this year even if IU wants to injure the shit out of us again.
November 18th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
IU must also be trending up. Sparty beat them.
November 18th, 2019 at 11:47 AM ^
Indiana will be a tough game; their offense is very capable, and they very nearly picked the defense apart on a few drives last year.
Glad for the defensive scheme changes Brown put in. I sure hope they work.
November 18th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
It should be noted that all the Indiana squads who have given us such stressful games this decade have been...bad.
4-8, 5-7, 5-7, 6-7, 6-7, 5-7 and 5-7.
I'm not including the 2014 game which we won 34-10. But even that game, IU was down to their 3rd string QB and Hoke was all but toast by then. That one could have been another close game if not for injuries.
Granted, Indiana pounded Penn State in 2013 and lost by 3 to undefeated OSU in 2012 and 7 to OSU in 2015, they are more consistently a thorn in our side every year. In 2015, we needed to score on 4th & goal just to force overtime. Two years ago, we had a 10 point lead with 4 minutes left and STILL had to win in overtime. Last year at the big house, IU went full Sparty with a ton a swag and many plays where it seemed like they were trying to intentionally injure our players.
This year, IU is actually good. If not for a couple boneheaded coaching decisions, they would have probably beaten Penn State this past weekend. Now they're at home, very functional with a shot to beat Michigan for the first time in 32 years. It's not going to be easy.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
Yeah, this is going to be a tough game. Indiana squad that is decent to good with a little extra motivation to beat UM. UM can't go into this game looking ahead to OSU.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
I'm not sure IU told OSU how to beat UM's defense; my guess is Day and Meyer already had a pretty good idea. I do think this year's defense is better equipped to handle what IU and OSU like to run and shouldn't be stuck fighting last year's battle.
But we'll see. IU is a good team and if there was a year when the streak ends, this could be it.