Michigan at Indiana

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the 19th-ranked Michigan Wolverines will go on the road for the second time this season, as they get ready to open up the Big 10 portion of their schedule against the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers. Despite losing star quarterback Denard Robinson in the first quarter last week, the Wolverines cruised to a 65-21 win over Bowling Green. The Hoosiers improved to 3-0 on the season with a nice 35-20 win over Akron at home. Looking at the college football odds, the oddsmakers currently have the Wolverines favored by 10.5 points over the Hoosiers on the road.

Michigan (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten): Everything looked great last week against Bowling Green, until Robinson was forced to leave the game with a bruised knee on just the third possession of the game. Robinson had already completed all four of his pass attempts for 60 yards and had 129 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Michigan’s season looked like it was in big jeopardy when Robinson went down, but it appears as though he is fine and is expected to start this week against Hoosiers.

All backup Tate Forcier did was step in and go 12 of 12 for 110 yards and a touchdown, as the Wolverines had no trouble moving the ball against the Falcons on Saturday. A number of different Wolverines helped out in the rushing game against Bowling Green, as Michigan finished the game with 466 yards on the ground. The defense continues to give up points, but with the way the offense has looked in the first four games, it hasn’t really mattered.

Indiana (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten): The Hoosiers have really taken advantage of an easy non-conference schedule, as their opponents are a combined 1-11 on the season. The Hoosiers have done the majority of their damage in the passing game this season, as they come into this game averaging 304 yards a game. Quarterback Ben Chappell is coming off one of his best games of his career, as he threw for 342 yards and four touchdowns on 23 of 33 passing.

It is a good thing the passing game is clicking right now, as the running game has really struggled to get things going, even though they haven’t really played anyone this season. Darius Willis is the only back with more than 100 yards on the season, but he has just 219 yards and two touchdowns in three games. Last week Darius ran for 87 yards on 19 carries, after rushing for just 30 yards against Western Kentucky in the previous game.

Looking at the Odds: In my opinion this is about as easy as it gets this weekend, as I believe the Wolverines are going to blow out the Hoosiers this Saturday. Indiana has played nobody this season, and their defense has no chance of stopping Robinson in this game. The offense will likely score a few points against the Wolverines defense, but not near enough to keep this game close. My final score prediction is Michigan 45, Indiana 27.

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