The famed author Michael Crichton once remarked, “I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.” It’s a virtual uncertainty that he was referring to the Indiana-Michigan series on the gridiron when uttering these words, but the quote does a pretty good job at encapsulating the probability of a victory for the Maize and Blue over the Cream and Crimson. There are few match ups between two teams over the course of a century in any sport that have been as historically dominated by one team over another as Indiana-Michigan in football has been in favor of the Wolverines at the Hoosiers expense.
These two programs first got together to contest a football game way back in 1900. Sure enough, Michigan triumphed by the score of 12-0. They’ve played each other 61 more times since that initial tussle in Ann Arbor and the ratio of wins to losses reads like a house of horrors if you’re a supporter of Indiana athletics. In total, the Wolverines have a 53-9 record over the Hoosiers all-time.
Nine Wins And Counting
You read that right. Indiana has been playing Michigan in football for 115 years, more or less, and in the 62 times they’ve met the Hoosiers have only been able to register a measly nine victories…NINE. It’s a number so small I have to write it out as a word in keeping with our style guidelines on the site. In a time period that has extended well over a century, Indiana’s win total in this series doesn’t even span a decade.
If you follow Big Ten football, you’re well aware of the fact the Michigan is a college football blue blood. They’re the oldest program in the conference, having played since 1879, and have the most wins in the history of the sport with 913. Though they’ve clearly hit some adversity in recent years, it cannot be doubted that few programs in the country are able to match Wolverine football in terms of tradition, prestige, and a consistent track record of success.
Indiana is pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from that perspective. In a basketball-crazed state, the Hoosier hoops program has always been its crown jewel. On the gridiron it’s been a much different story. In fact, in the 130-year history of the IU football program, they’ve only managed 34 winning seasons. Though there have been stretches of success and venerable coaches who’ve made it possible, it must be said that Bo McMillan and John Pont aren’t exactly the household names in college football that Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr are to the average fan.
If you think nine wins out of 62 is bad, I haven’t even gotten to the modern era of this series, and by “modern” I’m inclined to include the last 54 years. Since dropping a 29-7 decision to the Wolverines way back in 1960, the Hoosiers’ record against the Maize and Blue is 2-34. That’s two…as in one, two. I hear the number roughly translates to “dos” in Spanish. Somewhere, Glass Joe from Mike Tyson’s Punch Out is smiling. Our nation has elected 11 presidents over the course of this time period.
The first of these two triumphs for IU came during the 1967 season, a special year in the success-starved history of Hoosier football. On October 21st, they traveled to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines and came away with a 27-20 win, moving to 5-0 on the season. They would be ranked 10th in the AP poll the following week, would eventually finish the season 9-1 and come away with only their second Big Ten championship in school history. On New Year’s Day of 1968 they would make their first and, to this day, only appearance in the Rose Bowl against O.J. Simpson and top-ranked USC where they would lose 14-3.
Nearly 20 years to the day of their 1967 meeting on October 24th, 1987, the Hoosiers would do battle with the Wolverines once again in Memorial Stadium. For the first time since that magical Rose Bowl run, Indiana was back in Big Ten title contention with a 3-0 mark in the conference. Coming into the game, they were ranked 15th in the AP poll and two weeks earlier walloped Ohio State in Columbus 31-10. When the day was over, IU would hold the Buckeyes big time rival to that same point total in a 14-10 win that vaulted them into the outright lead in the Big Ten at the time. The Sunday edition of the New York Times the following morning even gave them some love.
Though their Rose Bowl dreams would inevitably be dashed when they finished 2nd to Michigan State that year, 1987 is positively unique in the annals of IU football for a different reason. It remains the only year where the Hoosiers defeated both Big Ten behemoths Ohio State and Michigan in the same season. I guess the stock market crashing that month was a sign something really weird was going to happen.
Other than that, the Hoosiers have been 0 for the last half century in the Indiana-Michigan series. It’s a classic tale of haves vs. have-nots in college football. Michigan, for the most part, has always been that high-flying, nationally recognized program while Indiana has played the role of conference also-ran for a good portion of its existence.
Just look in the stands on a given Saturday and compare the home crowd you see in Ann Arbor to the one in Bloomington. Indiana’s average attendance in 2013 was 44,353, while Michigan Stadium’s average crowd last year was 111,592, including an NCAA record 115,000+ that saw the Wolverines 41-30 win over Notre Dame. To be honest, that’s not really a fair comparison considering Michigan leads the nation in attendance, but I think you catch my drift.
What About This Year’s Indiana-Michigan Match Up?
What can we expect to see in this year’s iteration of the series when the Hoosiers and Wolverines clash in Ann Arbor on what should be a cold, blustery November afternoon? Much has been written and talked about regarding the state of turmoil the Michigan program is currently engulfed in. Head coach Brady Hoke appears to be sinking deeper into lame duck status with every passing week, made even more apparent after the 35-11 drubbing they received at the hands of “little brother” Michigan State. It appears the fans and alumni are also hoping athletic director Dave Brandon joins Hoke in a package deal straight out of town.
You would think that this is as good a year as any for Indiana to upend Michigan and finally get win number ten in this series. In fact, given the Wolverines 3-5 record it would be difficult to classify an IU victory as an upset. However, the Hoosiers have serious issues of their own particularly at the quarterback position. True freshman Zander Diamont took over as starter after Nate Sudfeld was ruled out for the season after injuring his shoulder at Iowa. Needless to say his first outing could have been…well, better.
Against Michigan State, Diamont didn’t throw a single interception and scored a nine-yard rushing touchdown that gave the Hoosiers a brief 17-14 lead. That’s where the niceties end though. On the day he was 5-15 for 11 yards, was sacked four times and finished with -12 rushing yards. You do the math, folks. In the end, he accounted for -1 total yards in the 56-17 MSU rout on homecoming in Bloomington. I don’t care how good Tevin Coleman plays on Saturday, if they don’t get better production through the air they’re in trouble.
If Indiana is going to have any chance at the win, they’re going to have to take advantage of Michigan’s most glaring weakness and that is turning the ball over. The Wolverines have the nation’s worst turnover margin (-14) and are fourth from bottom nationally in total turnovers (19). It will be crucial for the IU defensive front to get at quarterback Devin Gardner and force him into the bad decisions fans of the Maize and Blue have grown accustomed to seeing him make. They simply can’t afford to let Gardner throw it all over the field and use his mobility to his advantage like he did in last year’s 63-47 IU loss where he threw for a school record 503 yards, ran for 103 and accounted for five total touchdowns.
For Hoosier fans hoping this team can get over the hump in a somewhat shorthanded state on offense and collect that elusive tenth win in this massively lopsided series, the struggle is real. Oh, by the way, if they’re still doing that free ticket with a soda thing at the stadium to make sure they keep the 100,000+ streak alive, hopefully someone will be courteous enough to share a Coke with Brady.
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