Indiana Hoosiers -Next Opponent

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.

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. 

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.

IU 77 - Mich 14

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

Don't look now, but our previously ranked 73rd offense is now up to 34th in SP+.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

IU must also be trending up. Sparty beat them.

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.

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. 

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.

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.