| Michigan went into a building they've had all sorts of issues in last week, and handled business with ease. The next road trip is a little different. The Hoosiers won at home in 2020, breaking an 11 game Michigan winning streak in the building, dating back to 1987. Prior to that, you have to go back to the 50's. The Indiana win over Illinois seems more and more fluky with each passing week. I think Tom Allen, if he was being honest, is glad that game is behind him. The Hoosiers seem to be fading with each week. Nebraska couldn't stop anyone, particularly on the ground, and the Huskers shut Indiana down, holding them to just 67 rushing yards on under 3 ypc, while nearly doubling their number of sacks (from 4 to 7) on the season. The second half was even worse, with 7 drives, totaling 61 yards, on 2.1 ypp, with three 3 and outs. Indiana needs to jump out quickly. Michigan has had no trouble doing that, scoring on their first drive in both Big Ten wins, taking 7-0 leads before the first commercial. Their problem has been going into cruise control after that. Not that Maryland or Iowa ever REALLY threatened them, but they made things more annoying for themselves than they probably needed to. We wondered if Iowa could much it up enough to be a problem, and they couldn't. Iowa is the ultimate muck team, and is more talented than Indiana, so the Hoosiers need things to get even sloppier, and aren't nearly Hawkeye level at doing it. Connor Bazelak will push the ball down the field, so that's the one thing he might be able to threaten Michigan with that Iowa couldn't. They can't drive on Michigan, but, unlike Iowa, their offense isn't totally reliant it. Problem is without any semblance of a running game, if Indiana can't force Michigan's safeties to come down, those deep routes won't be there either. |