Last season Michigan had a number of football games where the first half was unsettling or unsatisfying, with a tenuous halftime lead understating the gap between the two squads. Michigan would eventually pull away in the second half, but it didn't always make for the best viewing experience. Their trip to Bloomington last season against that woeful Indiana squad was one such game, with the contest tied 10-10 at halftime before Michigan outscored the Hoosiers 21-0 in the second half. Today's game in some ways felt like a familiar script, a sluggish opening against an overmatched opponent. Except in this season of Michigan Football, the sluggish periods are shorter, the halftime leads are larger, and the eventual margins of victory are even larger. The Wolverines took a 21-7 lead into halftime against Indiana after a poor 1st quarter and pummeled the Hoosiers in the second half to win 52-7. Michigan's defense started first and did well on that opening series, forcing
Previously: Indiana Offense We turn attention from a struggling Indiana offense to a struggling Indiana defense. Though the Hoosiers held Ohio State and Louisville, to undefeated teams, to <30 points, they have also allowed 44 points to Maryland and were gashed for 474 yards by 1-5 Akron. Today we'll take a look through the tape and figure out what challenges, if any, IU's defense poses to Michigan's offense. The Film: We're sticking with Louisville, which we used for the offense. Reasonably recent opponent who is also good and a contest where Indiana played pretty well, so we can get a sense of this defense on a good day, as opposed to all the terrible tape. The Personnel: Click for big. [Seth: JJ got his shield. Henderson has LT locked down. I also had to show Bredeson somehow.] Like usual, Indiana is playing with three true defensive linemen and then a stand-up BULL on the defensive line, two true ILBs + a "HUSKY", functionally a slot corner +
What is this diary? After each week, I take a deep dive into the box scores and team pages from Pro Football Focus, Game on Paper, College Football Data, and more websites for as many Big Ten teams as I can manage. I try to cover as many teams as I can each week, but life often makes that impossible. (This week, it didn't! I covered every team that played! [Kinda.]) I try to generate a couple blurbs based on the statistics I find compelling from each game/team.