BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Michigan Wolverines will be the best defense the undefeated No. 8-ranked Indiana Hoosiers will face this season when they square up against one another this Saturday in Memorial Stadium.
When the season started, the reigning, defending national champion Wolverines didn’t think they’d be 5-4 heading into this week 11 matchup against the 9-0 Hoosiers in Bloomington, but here they are.
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Through their four losses, the Texas Longhorns, Washington Huskies, Illinois Fighting Illini, and the Oregon Ducks have all commemorated their victory while planting their flag against the Wolverines as they can celebrate with their fanbases by saying they dethroned the champs.
The Wolverines are 14-point underdogs heading into the matchup, and the differences between the two football programs are deafening.
Indiana, for instance, on offense, can throw the ball down the field while also being able to run the ball at will.
After starting three quarterbacks, including Davis Warren, Alex Orji, and Jack Tuttle, the Wolverines are back to Warren as neither has staked their claim to lead the men in maize this lost season.
Warren, through three games, led the team in interceptions with six, which caused him to get benched for Orji, who handicapped the Wolverines as he was unable to complete a forward pass, causing teams to stack the box as the Wolverines' offense became predictable.
Tuttle came in during the Washington game and led the Wolverines to 17 straight points after trailing 14-0, but he struggled with turnovers.
Tuttle played another game against the Illini but couldn’t move the ball down the field and turned the ball over, which doomed his time as a Michigan Man. He retired due to health concerns.
On the other hand, the Hoosiers lost their starting quarterback, Kurtis Rourke, to a thumb injury.
Still, their backup quarterback, Tayven Jackson (unlike Michigan’s), could steer the ship in his absence, even though the Hoosiers were running the ball more than passing.
Oddly as it sounds, the Hoosiers have better skills position players than Michigan, and it came from the transfer portal by first-year head coach Curt Cignetti.
Cignetti brought many good players (14 total) from his former job at James Madison while also bringing in assistants, going into the transfer portal, and grabbing many players from smaller schools to piece together a championship-caliber team.
They’re dangerous this season on both sides of the ball. They play lockdown defense while also scoring points on offense.
For instance, the Hoosiers trailed 10-0 against the Michigan State Spartans last week in East Lansing before rattling off 47 unanswered points.
The Wolverines haven’t scored 30 points all year.
But they have guys on defense who are stars who will play in the NFL, like cornerback Will Johnson, linebacker Ernest Hausmann, defensive end Josaiah Stewart, defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, and lineman Mason Graham.
But they have a guy in Mikail Kamara who leads the Big Ten in sacks with 9.5. James Carpenter, Jailin Walker, Aiden Fisher, D’Angelo Ponds, and Kamara are all transfers from James Madison and have played key roles in their teams’ success.
Indiana doesn’t currently have big-name stars like the men in maize on its team, but they play hard, and they play hard, which has gotten them to this point where they’re sitting at 9-0.
As a unit, they don’t get out of their gaps on defense, and as a team, they do not make mistakes, which is the opposite of what Michigan has done thus far.
They pressure you into mistakes and capitalize on them, which the Wolverines used as their calling cards during their three-year run.
One guy who has been part of the Wolverines' run during that span is tight end Colston Loveland, who some have said is the best in the nation at his position.
No matter the quarterback struggle, Loveland has accumulated 49 receptions for 523 yards and four touchdowns.
Last week vs. the Ducks, Loveland caught seven passes for 112 yards against the best team in the nation.
He is essential in this game against Indiana because they have struggled recently against the tight end position.
For instance, Thomas Fidone II of the Nebraska Cornhuskers snagged six catches for 91 yards. And Huskies tight end Keleki Latu caught five passes for 50 yards against Indiana.
With that in mind, the Wolverines will need to reach the 30-point mark while holding the Hoosiers to the mid-20s, which is a lot to chew off, but it is a task that the men in maize will need to achieve to seal the victory.
