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The Indiana Hoosiers have lost 20 straight games to the Michigan Wolverines when playing in The Big House and the maize and blue will look to continue that streak on Saturday night.
Michigan is coming off of a tough loss to rival Michigan State this past week and will need to re-focus when they play the 2-6 Hoosiers this week.
The Hoosiers have now lost four-straight games and the only two wins that Indiana has are to Idaho and Western Kentucky — not exactly powerhouse wins. Indiana has been pretty beaten up all year with the injury bug though, as it has now used three different quarterbacks in seven games due to injuries.
Head coach Tom Allen talked about his quarterbacks on Monday when previewing the Wolverines. He says that freshman Donaven McCulley, who started last week against Maryland, is the guy they are planning on using against Michigan.
“I think they both continue to be week-to-week (Jack Tuttle and Michael Penix Jr.) and we will see how they progress this week,” said Allen. “Little unknown with Jack’s injury to see how quickly he will bounce back, and Michael is throwing and moving around, and doing things – better rate than we thought. At the same time, Donaven is the healthiest right now and he is the guy we are getting ready to play. To me, he has shown a lot of positive signs of things that I expected him to do. I know not everyone saw that against Ohio State so that was kind of frustrating – I know he was a better quarterback than he showed. It was what it was and that’s how he played – he responded. Donaven is the guy and got to keep getting him ready to play every week.”
With Indiana being 2-6 this season, it must win out to make a bowl game. Tom Allen said that it’s not really something that needs discussed being his captains know what is at stake for the Hoosiers. Allen talked about the opportunity that is ahead of his team and this would be an important win against Michigan.
“Got a great opportunity this week to head to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines,” said Allen. “Very talented football team that is going to be a tough test for us as we progress through the season and seek getting a very important win.”
Michigan has been known for its running attack this season led by Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum. The Wolverines could only muster 146 yards as a team on the ground against the Spartans this past Saturday, but Cade McNamara was able to throw for a career-high 383 yards. Tom Allen talked about the Wolverines run game, along with the quarterback play.
“Yeah, there is no question they run the ball very, very well – very big and physical offensive line,” said Allen. “Two really talented running backs that have been really, really effective. They do have talented receivers and a good quarterback (Cade McNamara) that seems to have a lot of moxie and toughness – moves the chains and makes a lot of plays, more with his arm than his legs. They have a second quarterback (J.J. McCarthy) they use a little bit and have some packages for him. Bottom line is they’ve established – you could tell from the beginning of the season – the run game. They’ve done a really good job at that. Even the game this weekend, they scored a lot of points and yards, Michigan State just scored more points than they did – it’s not like they stopped them.
“Big challenge for our guys, they do a good job at blocking up front. They got some big tight ends that can block and catch the ball and run well. It’s a very different-looking offense than it has been the last couple of years. It’s kind of like being back to what it was before – especially with the multiple formations and personnel grouping and emphasis on running the football. Less of a spread mindset and more of two tight ends and multiple looks like before.”
The Wolverines and Hoosiers are set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on Fox this Saturday.
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