With slush falling from the sky, sophomore running back Stevie Scott III took his arm from around the athletic trainer’s shoulder and started to limp towards the locker room following an apparent knee injury.
As the Hoosier faithful applauded the Syracuse, New York, native, Scott raised his head and waved before disappearing into the tunnel.
Scott was just one of the many wheels that seemed to fall off the IU bus as the Hoosiers got run off their own field 39-14 against No. 13 Michigan.
“Disappointed in both sides of the football,” IU head coach Tom Allen said. “We didn’t play well, didn’t play like I expected us to.”
The Hoosiers entered the game with excitement and high expectations for themselves after winning four of their last five games and losing to No. 9 Penn State by just a touchdown the previous week.
Allen and his team understood that this matchup against the Wolverines was their last chance to capture that elusive signature win that has dangled in front of them throughout the season.
“This is our day!” Allen yelled as IU entered Memorial Stadium. “Mindset and expectation. You got to believe it!”
Both IU and Michigan got off to fast starts as each team scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions, but after that the Wolverines got onto the fast lane while the Hoosiers broke down.
After IU jumped out to a 14-7 lead with 14:09 remaining in the second quarter, Michigan figured it out and started to expose some of IU’s shortcomings on both sides of the ball.
The Hoosiers’ streak of scoring 30 points or more in seven straight games came to an end as IU wouldn’t score again — going three-and-out on three of their next eight drives — while the Wolverines rattled off 32 unanswered points.
A large reason for the Hoosiers’ struggles on offense was the numerous injuries that piled up.
IU’s main offensive weapon junior wide receiver Whop Philyor didn’t suit up for the game after suffering a concussion against Penn State, forcing other players to play a much larger role than they have been used to so far this season.
Scott also got banged up early — playing sparingly in the second and third quarters — before being forced out of the game for good following the knee injury — forcing the Hoosiers to abandon the run — and junior wide receiver Ty Fryfogle took a big hit along Michigan’s sideline on IU’s second drive and would return in limited capacity only catching one pass for the rest of the game.
“There's no question that it does take its toll,” Allen said. “We're not where we need to be depth-wise. We're getting closer, absolutely, but we're not there yet. So I think there's no question that it gets exposed this time of the year, it gets exposed in these types of games, against this type of talent and the caliber of a team that we're playing.”
On defense, the talent gap between the two sides and a lack of execution was just too much for IU to compete against for 60 minutes.
IU had no answer to Michigan’s offense as the Wolverines were able to move the ball at will, scoring on six of their 11 drives.
The Wolverines were able to strike with ruthless efficiency as they either conducted long and methodical drives — taking the excitement out of Memorial Stadium — or were able to score on four plays or less, something they did three times in the game.
“Just surprised by the outcome,” fifth year senior Reakwon Jones said. “It’s nothing that they did, we just didn’t execute our technique, our fundamentals, we didn’t win enough one-on-one matchups. I’m just surprised, you know, just wasn’t what I was expecting.”
IU’s lack of execution on defense allowed Michigan’s senior quarterback Shea Patterson to have a field day throwing the ball downfield. Patterson finished the evening completing 20-of-32 passes for 366 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes.
For the Hoosiers, this blowout was a reminder that even though they have come close to knocking off a top team and earning that signature win, there is still a hierarchy they must climb to compete with the best of the Big Ten.
“This was not what we wanted, but how are you going to respond?” Allen said. “The reality is we can't do anything to change what just happened, so we're going to focus completely on the task at hand and we all understand what's next.”
