Karan Higdon knew he had to make something happen. That something allowed No. 17 Michigan to dodge a road bullet at Indiana.
The junior tailback’s 25-yard overtime cutback touchdown run put the Wolverines over the top at Indiana, 27-20, in an overtime hair-raiser. Higdon capped his 25-carry, 200-yard, three-TD day by running into a brick wall on the right side of Michigan’s line, bolting back left and outrunning all 11 pursuing Hoosiers.
“I got the ball, saw the hole was clogged, and I needed to make something happen. So I bounced it, saw the defense over-pursued, and it was off to the races,” Higdon said.
Fifth-year senior center Pat Kugler admitted going the wrong way on the game-winning play.
“I knew it, but you can’t stop in the middle of a play,” Higdon said with a grin. “It’s football, so you’ve got to make something happen.”
The Wolverines made something happen, following Indiana’s 10-point rally in the final 3:27 to send the game to overtime. Even after Higdon scored, Indiana had a chance to tie it and extend an already nerve-fraying afternoon.
The Hoosiers didn’t, although they came beating on the door. They drove to the Michigan 1-yard line, where they were thrown back twice before harried quarterback Peyton Ramsey heaved a final throw into the end zone that junior safety Tyree Kinnel picked off.
The survival pushed Michigan to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, while dropping Indiana to 3-3, 0-3 in the conference.
“We asked them to find a way,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “We were going to have to dig down deep to do it. The goal-line stand was great — an opportunity to keep them out of the end zone and win the ballgame.”
Sophomore defensive end Rashan Gary stoned Indiana’s top rusher, tailback Morgan Ellison (14 carries for 68 yards, 1 TD), for a two-yard loss when the Hoosiers stood a mere yard away from the end zone. Two plays later, Gary and redshirt junior outside linebacker Noah Furbush blasted Ramsey (20-of-41 passing for 178 yards, one TD, two interceptions) for a one-yard loss, before the crucial pickoff.
“I was just happy we won,” sophomore cornerback Lavert Hill offered. “I just trusted my brothers.”
Indiana placekicker Griffin Oakes’ 46-yard field goal sent the game to overtime, completing a comeback by the Hoosiers from a 20-10 deficit in those waning moments.
The Wolverines, who out-gained the Hoosiers, 329 yards-278, and out-rushed them, 271-80, appeared to have the game in hand. It almost slipped away.
Michigan opened the first-quarter scoring on redshirt freshman placekicker Quinn Nordin’s 40-yard field goal, following a 48-yard drive. Fifth-year senior John O’Korn (10 of 20 for 58 yards passing) fired a potential touchdown pass, but it went off the hands of junior wideout Grant Perry, bringing on Nordin at the 6:35 mark.
Nordin made it 6-0 on the first play of the second quarter, booting a 38-yard field goal after the Wolverines survived more flags than seen on an Independence Day parade in Bloomington. Michigan ended up with 16 penalties for 141 yards, the flags giving IU a huge lift.
Just before Nordin’s second field goal, the Hoosiers drove from their own 13 to the Michigan 33, boosted by three defensive penalties, but fifth-year senior defensive tackle Maurice Hurst Jr. turned that scoring opportunity away. He blocked a Griffin Oakes field goal attempt, Hill scooping it up and returning it 35 yards to the Indiana 27.
A hold and a false start nixed a touchdown opportunity, but Nordin cashed in to make it 6-0.
The Wolverines then put together a touchdown drive that might have seen its genesis in the dirt of O’Korn’s childhood backyard. On third-and-seven from his own 23, O’Korn scrambled to his right under heavy pressure, heaved a looping throw to in-traffic wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones, and saw the freshman come away with the football 17 yards downfield.
Harbaugh called it a “Houdini” play, one of the few successful Michigan aerial strikes.
That sandlot scorcher jump-started a drive that quickly covered the remaining 40 yards. Indiana drilled O’Korn late on another scramble, and after the penalty walkoff, Higdon ripped off runs of 16 and 12 yards for the touchdown.
At 13-0 with 10:19 remaining in the first half, U-M found more first-half breathing room than it had since Big Ten play opened.
Indiana finally got on the board with 1:46 left in the half. Oakes nailed a 32 yard-field goal, after Michigan penalties — including three separate flags on one play — fueled a 61-yard drive.
The Hoosiers then woke up their fans on their first possession of the second half, driving 64 yards for the touchdown to make it 13-10. Ellison ripped off a 31-yard run that jump-started the march, and then finished it off with an eight-yard scamper up the middle.
Suddenly, a game the Wolverines had controlled defensively hung perilously in the balance. The score remained the same into the fourth quarter, Michigan going three-and-out on three of four third-down series.
Like a bolt out of the blue, Higdon changed all that.
He burst through a hole up the middle, leaving Hoosiers scattered in his wake, on a 59-yard touchdown sprint. The desperately needed big play allowed Higdon to cover 74 of Michigan’s 84 yards on the drive and put the Wolverines up 20-10 at 10:25 of the fourth.
“I knew, at some point in time, something was going to bust,” Higdon said. “That was just the time. We weren’t doing anything different than we always do.”
Michigan’s defense got put to the test down the stretch. Hill made a spectacular leaping interception on a Ramsey bomb down the sideline to thwart one potential drive.
But a 57-yard punt return by Indiana’s J-Shun Harris II set the Hoosiers up on the Michigan 20. Six plays later, Ramsey found wideout Whop Philyor on an eight-yard TD toss, pulling the Hoosiers within three, 20-17, with 3:37 remaining.
The scramble got wild from there. In the end, Michigan’s defense wouldn’t give an extra yard.
“You try to punch it in there with running the football a couple of times,” said Indiana head coach Tom Allen. “It’s tough to convert against those guys, for sure. They whipped us up front with those last couple of runs, and as we rolled out on those last couple, trying to create some space, we couldn’t convert.”
Five Best Players Of The Game
1. Junior tailback Karan Higdon: Higdon delivered the best performance of his career for the Wolverines, serving up an even 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 25 tries. On a day when Michigan was determined to run the football, Higdon provided the legs.
2. Sophomore defensive end Rashan Gary: Gary secured seven tackles, among them a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. He proved biggest in the most crucial moments, getting in on a pair of TFLs with the Hoosiers inside Michigan’s 5 in overtime.
3. Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Maurice Hurst Jr.: Hurst totaled six tackles, including a half-sack among 1.5 tackles for loss. He also blocked an Indiana field goal attempt and proved disruptive all day long for the Hoosiers’ offensive line.
4. Junior safety Tyree Kinnel: Another overtime loomed if the right deflection took place on a final throw. It never happened, with Kinnel securing the game-clinching interception. He also made six stops, with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.
5. Indiana wide receiver Luke Timian: The Hoosiers couldn’t run the ball much, but Timian helped keep them in the game. His seven catches for 95 yards proved a thorn in Michigan’s side, right down to the last drive in regulation, when his 24-yard breakout reception got Indiana going.
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