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Rapid Reaction: Indiana halts Michigan hex, stays unbeaten
By Jim Tomlin
Published:
Indiana had lost 24 consecutive meetings against Michigan, dating to 1987, coming into their game at Bloomington’s Memorial Stadium.
But Saturday’s matchup made it clear, if it wasn’t already, that the 2020 Hoosiers are a different proposition.
Michael Penix passed for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead 13th-ranked Indiana past the 23rd-ranked Wolverines 38-21 to move the Hoosiers to 3-0 overall and in the Big Ten.
The 2017 and 2015 games went overtime but Michigan found a way to win both. This time, Hoosiers coach Tom Allen saw his team hang on after a 24-7 halftime lead and finally end the program’s skid against UM.
Indiana stayed aggressive with its playcalling in the second half with a multiple-score lead. After Michigan struck for a touchdown early in the third quarter, with Joe Milton hitting Roman Wilson for a 13-yard score to bring the deficit down to 24-14, the Hoosiers struck back quickly. Penix was 4-of-7 passing on a 75-yard drive, capped by Stevie Scott’s 1-yard rushing touchdown, to give IU a 31-14 lead.
Milton found Ronnie Bell for a 21-yard touchdown pass to bring UM within 31-21 with 13:43 remaining. But with Michigan trying to drive to get within a score in the fourth quarter, IU defensive back Jaylin Williams intercepted Milton and returned it to the UM 33-yard line. That set up Scott’s 2-yard TD run, capping a drive on which his run converted a 4th-and-1 play inside the 5-yard line.
The Hoosiers picked off Milton again later in the fourth quarter to seal it.
IU did a good job of mixing short passes with longer throws, especially in the first half while establishing a solid offense. That helped Penix to outduel Milton, who also threw for more than 300 yards and 3 TDs but also had those two costly picks.
Penix capped the first half with a 2-yard touchdown pass in the flat to tight end Peyton Hendershot for a 24-7 lead. Before that, a big completion in traffic on 3rd and 11 to Whop Philyor for a first down set up Charles Campbell’s 52-yard field goal for a 17-7 lead.
The first half was not perfect for IU. Hoosiers defensive back Jamar Johnson was ejected for throwing a punch at a Wolverines player. On the next play, Milton launched a 37-yard touchdown pass to Cornelius Johnson on a diving catch to tie the score at 7-7 with 4:48 left in the first quarter.
But Ty Fryfogle made a one-handed catch for 36 yards on next drive after UM TD. That led to a 24-yard TD pass to Fryfogle for a 14-7 IU lead. Fryfogle had 4 catches for 82 yards in the 1st quarter and wound up with 142 receiving yards on 7 catches for the game.
The Hoosiers also completely shut down Michigan on the ground. The Wolverines were held to 13 yards on 18 carries, their worst rushing performance since they had minus-21 rushing yards against Nebraska in 2013.
IU capped its first possession with a 13-yard TD pass from Penix to sophomore receiver Miles Marshall.
Milton was 3-for-9 to start the game and that was not the only problem early for the Wolverines. Michigan DL Hutchinson went down injured early but he walked off under his own power.
The Hoosiers set the tone early. The first IU offensive play was a successful throw in the flat for a first down — they then ran two more similar plays to pick up another first down, all to the left, then a similar play to the right to Philyor.
Michigan (1-2) went three and out on each of its first two drives and the Wolverines punted six times in seven first-half possessions.
The starting offensive linemen for Michigan — LT Karsen Barnhart, LG Chuck Filiaga, C Andrew Vastardis, RG Zak Zinter and RT Andrew Stueber — had a combined eight starts going into this game. Both starting tackles, Jalen Mayfield and Ryan Hayes, were out for the Wolverines.
The 1987 meeting between the teams, which Indiana won 14-10, was a rare occasion when the Hoosiers were ranked higher than the Wolverines when the teams played. The only other times since then were in 1988, when UM won 31-6, and Saturday.
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.