Chase Winovich

No. 4 Wolverines Play Final Tune-Up Before Facing Ohio State

One week before traveling to Ohio State for a season-ending showdown that will likely determine one of this year’s College Football Playoff participants, the Michigan Wolverines will host an Indiana Hoosiers team they have dominated for decades. Michigan has won 17 straight games with the Hoosiers, who haven’t tasted victory in Ann Arbor since 1967 and are 27.5-point underdogs to end that drought on Saturday. The Wolverines (9-1 overall, 7-0 Big Ten) remained a game ahead of Ohio State in the conference standings with a 42-7 win at Rutgers last week, while Indiana (5-5, 2-5) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 34-32 win at home over the Maryland Terrapins.

SHARK BITES
  • Michigan is 17-0 in its last 17 games against Indiana (avg. winning margin: 17.65 points).
  • The OVER is 5-2 in the last seven meetings between Indiana and Michigan (avg. combined score: 66.57 points).
  • The OVER is 4-1 in Michigan’s last five games at home (avg. combined score: 58.8 points).

Indiana vs Michigan Game Center

INDIANA HAS PLENTY TO PLAY FOR AS WELL

The Hoosiers may have kept their bowl eligibility hopes alive last week against Maryland, but their 34-32 win over the Terps was hardly convincing.

Indiana’s defense gave up 542 total yards, including 353 on the ground, and allowed Maryland to convert eight of 15 third-down opportunities. The Hoosiers also blew a 31-15 third-quarter lead and needed a failed two-point conversion by Maryland, a go-ahead field goal with 2:23 left and then a fumble recovery in the final minute to pull out the two-point win. If Indiana hadn’t won the turnover battle 4-1 or held Maryland to two field goals on its first two red-zone trips, the Hoosiers would have been simply playing out the string the last two games.

However, the bottom line is that Indiana still has plenty to play for. The schedule is daunting – this weekend as four-touchdown underdogs at Michigan and then next weekend at home to Purdue – but if the Hoosiers can pull out a win in one of those two contests, they’ll be going bowling over the holidays for just the fourth time this century.

WOLVERINES PASSED THE LETDOWN TEST at RUTGERS

No one in their wildest dreams thought Michigan was in jeopardy of losing outright last week at Rutgers, but that game against the Scarlet Knights still had plenty of minefields. The Wolverines were favored by nearly 40 points in a cold-weather game in a half-empty stadium and could have easily fallen into some bad habits in a classic letdown spot.

Instead, Michigan handled the Scarlet Knights in business-like fashion, holding Rutgers without a passing yard until the third quarter. Quarterback Shea Patterson looked sharp with an 18-for-27, 260-yard, three-touchdown performance, and the defense (other than allowing an 80-yard touchdown run in the first quarter) was dominant throughout. That’s nothing new for a stop unit that enters Week 12 ranked No. 1 in the nation in both total yards and passing yards allowed per game.

Winning the game and staying healthy will be Michigan’s top objective once again this week as the Wolverines prepare for their regular-season finale at Ohio State. But based on how they handled things in Rutgers, bettors should feel pretty confident that the Wolverines won’t completely let down in the process.

EXPECT BOTH TEAMS TO STAY CONSERVATIVE IN A LOW-SCORING AFFAIR

The betting trends support the OVER in this contest, with five of the last seven meetings soaring OVER the total, Indiana going OVER in five straight games and Michigan going OVER in four of five at home. But with so much at stake going forward for each of these teams, I actually think the UNDER is the way to look in this matchup.

Although Patterson played the entire game at Rutgers, Michigan can’t afford an injury to its prized junior pivot and will probably go with a conservative attack to reduce the risk of Patterson getting hit. On the other side of the field, the Hoosiers know their best chance at earning bowl eligibility lies next week when they host the Boilermakers, not this week at the powerful Wolverines. Once this affair is out of hand (as the four-touchdown spread suggests it will be), don’t expect Indiana to pull out the stops to try to get back into the game. The Hoosiers will be just as content as Michigan to see this clock get to zero in the fourth quarter and move on to next weekend without any major injuries to their top players.

Michigan is 17-0 in its last 17 games against Indiana (avg. winning margin: 17.65 points). The OVER is 5-2 in the last seven meetings between Indiana and Michigan (avg. combined score: 66.57 points). The OVER is 4-1 in Michigan’s last five games at home (avg. combined score: 58.8 points).home
Back to Top