3 Things I Want to See From Indiana Saturday Against Michigan

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The date is etched in history, and has hung over the Indiana football program like a black cloud for more than 33 years now.

Oct. 24, 1987, the day Indiana beat Michigan. The last day.

Since then, 12,066 days have passed. Indiana has had seven football coaches since then, Bill Mallory on that day and Tom Allen now. We've had six presidents, from Ronald Reagan then to Donald Trump now.

And on Oct. 24, Indiana had been the basketball national champion for a grand total of 209 days. (Sadly, we're still counting there, too.)

But it any case, it's been a long time since Indiana's beaten Michigan. And even though they've played them closely, this is the Hoosiers' best chance to beat Michigan in a long time. They have closed the gap on the talent level, and they are 2-0 and playing with a lot of confidence right now.

It's a shame this game can't be played in front of a sell-out crowd at Memorial Stadium, and it should be a great game. Indiana can certainly win, and here are three things that I think need to happen for the Hoosiers to pull of the mild upset. As of Thursday morning, the Hoosiers are 3-point underdogs.

Here's what I need to see:

1. Attack Michigan's corners with crossing routes

When you watch games where Michigan gets beat in the past few years, teams have done it by attacking the Wolverines' man-to-man defense with crossing routes. Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown gets all sorts of praise for being one of the best in the game, but he's also very stubborn. I can still remember 2018, when the undefeated Wolverines lost the Big Ten by giving up 62 to Ohio State, running one crossing route after another.

Indiana can do more of that on Saturday, too, because they've got receivers who can run and aren't afraid to catch the ball in the middle of the field. To me, senior Whop Philyor is one of the best slot receivers in the country. He can have a huge game, especially if quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is sharp. That's certainly expected.

And when you start to have success horizontally, you can get vertical, too. Michigan's cornerbacks got burned badly by Michigan State last week, giving up a lot of big plays and letting true freshman Ricky White run wild with eight catches for 196 yards. Indiana can do that kind of damage too, in a lot of ways.

2. Stuff the run on early downs

Indiana's defensive front has been very good thus far, especially in the interior. Michigan likes to run the ball north-south, and they haven't had a lot of success doing that thus far. Defensively, this is the key to the game in my book, forcing Michigan into third-and long situations.

Against Michigan State, running backs Zach Carbonnet, Chris Evans and Blake Corum combined for 13 carries and just 31 yards. Quarterback Joe Milton (59 yards) was their leading rusher.

If Indiana can control the run game, they'll increase their odds of winning dramatically. They only allowed 3.0 yards a carry last year, but let Shea Patterson pick them apart in a 39-15 loss. Milton is no Patterson. Stop the run, and take your chances.

3. Coordinators stay aggressive on play-calling

Speaking of taking chances, Indiana defensive coordinator Kane Wommack is all about dialing up the pressure from a variety of directions, and you can count of him to do more of the same against Michigan. The Hoosiers' pressure has forced six turnovers over the first two games, and Wommack definitely would love to win that turnover margin again, too.

Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan needs to take that aggressive approach. When north-south makes sense, go east-west. In short yardage, let's see some play-action passes, especially downfield for big days. Let's see some jet sweeps, which we haven't seen yet the first few weeks, and get that Michigan defense moving left to right.

Indiana has scored points in the red zone on every trip so far during the first two weeks, but against Michigan, a few of those field goals need to be turned into touchdowns. It's nice that Charles Campbell has been perfect as a kicker, but inside the 20-yard line, the Hoosiers will need him kicking extra points, not field goals. Those aggressive play-calls need to come into play in the red zone, too.

Attack, attack, attack.

1. Attack Michigan's corners with crossing routes

2. Stuff the run on early downs

3. Coordinators stay aggressive on play-calling

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