No. 13 ranked Indiana pulled off a 38-21 victory over No. 23 Michigan in Bloomington on Saturday afternoon, marking the first time the Hoosiers have beaten the Wolverines since 1987.
That fact isn't lost on Indiana head coach Tom Allen and his players, who discussed the series history all week long. After coming close in three out of the last four years, Allen's crew finally took down the Maize and Blue.
"I told the guys, I was a senior in high school the last time we beat Michigan," Allen said with a smile. "And I’m 50 years old now, so that wasn’t yesterday. That was several years ago.
"It’s been a long, long time, and we’ve only beaten them once in the last 53 years — now twice. This is something that’s been a long time coming. I’ll never forget, I sat in here three years ago when we lost in overtime to Michigan. That one hurt so bad. But man, I was determined that we were going to finally get these guys. Just perseverance, grit — that’s what it is from everybody in this program."
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After gaining just 558 total yards in the first two weeks, Indiana's offense exploded for 460 yards against a reeling Wolverines' defense, and did so behind a stellar outing from redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Penix Jr. The signal caller completed 30-of-50 passes for 342 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, and led an offense that scored on all four red-zone trips and moved the chains on nine of 18 third downs.
"Michael’s just got something special about him," Allen said. "His arm talent is unique.
"He didn’t get sacked, but part of that is him getting the ball out quick, seeing things fast and knowing where to take the football."
What he saw was a U-M defense that mixed up its coverage after being torched in man-to-man coverage by Michigan State the week prior, but Penix was up for the challenge.
"He made quick reads against a complicated situation and them throwing different things at him, both up front, trying to get all the protections right, and also in the different coverages that they were throwing at us," Allen said. "They didn’t just play man all the time like they’ve done in the past. He was able to get it to the guys that were open, and then I thought the guys caught the ball extremely well today for him."
Indiana senior wide receiver Ty Fryfogle did the most damage, grabbing seven balls for 142 yards (20.3 yards per catch) and one touchdown, but Penix spread the ball around to seven different receivers.
On the defensive side of the ball, Allen's group created havoc and confusion, notching five tackles for loss, three sacks and two interceptions. Allen said slowing down U-M's run game, to the tune of 13 yards, was the first key in putting together a winning performance.
"I think it all starts up front," Allen said. "We knew going into this game, we said we’ve got to stop the run. We thought that’s what they were going to try to establish. I think their running backs are extremely talented, which they are. But we eliminated the run from their game at that point, and we started just focusing on defending the pass.
"Really proud of this defense. You stop the run, you create takeaways, you’re going to be tough to beat."
The icing on the cake for Allen and Indiana was the ability to run out the clock at the end — when all 1,304 people inside Memorial Stadium knew the Hoosiers were going to keep the ball on the ground to keep the clock ticking.
"We challenge them about starting fast and finishing strong, and man, that’s exactly what we did," Allen said. "To be able to be in four-minute mode, run the football, know that they had to stop the run but they were not able to do that, it’s just a great statement."
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