There’s barely been any reason to smile about for the Indiana Hoosiers, who haven’t won since Week 4 against Wake Forest. They’ve lost their next five games since then and are desperately searching for a taste of victory. Up next on their schedule is a Week 11 showdown with the No. 16 Michigan Wolverines at Memorial Stadium. Can the Hoosiers get the win this time around? Or will the Wolverines’ hand them another loss?
Betting on the Michigan Wolverines (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten)
After two-straight wild endings in their past two games, the No. 16 Michigan Wolverines coasted towards a 33-point triumph Saturday night at the expense of the Rutgers. From the very beginning, they started strong to get the lead and never looked back.
[sc:NCAA240banner ]It was the Jake Rudock show in this game. Rudock threw for a career-best 337 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran for a score and executed a spectacular 2-point conversion during the third quarter even when his team held a huge lead. They really showed no mercy here at all.
Joining the party was wide receiver, Jake Butt, who had his own stellar night. Butt had a game-high and career-high of 102 yards on just four receptions in helping the Wolverines improve to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in their conference. Now, they’ll be looking to keep this up and strengthen their bid for the Big Ten East title when they clash with the Indiana Hoosiers this weekend.
For them to do so, the Wolverines ought to capitalize on their opponents’ weakness—defense. Indiana ranks dead-last in the Big 10, allowing 504.0 total yards per game and 37.0 points per game this season. That said, the onus is on the trio of De’Veon Smith, Amara Darboh and Butt to leave the opposing defense scratching their heads.
Smith leads the team with 524 rushing yards and five touchdowns thus far, while eclipsing the 100-yard mark twice already. Darboh and Butt, meanwhile, have been very reliable targets for Ruddock. The two have combined for 876 receiving yards and four touchdowns through nine games.
Michigan is 3-7 SU and 4-6 ATS in its previous 10 road games.
Betting on the Indiana Hoosiers (4-5, 0-5 Big Ten)
Another game, another loss for the Indiana Hoosiers. They were handed their fifth-consecutive loss Saturday night against the tenth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, 35-27. The Hoosiers kept things competitive for the most part but were outlasted eventually due to the solid efforts of C.J Beathard, who converted 19 of his 31 passes for 233 yards and threw the game-sealing 10-yard touchdown pass to George Kittles in the fourth period.
Despite the loss, the Hoosiers should be pretty happy about how their running back, Jordan Howard, kept them in striking distance throughout game. Howard led their team’s ground attack with a game-high of 174 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns across his name. That was the fifth time this season that he’s gone beyond the 100-yard line.
Week 11, though, is going to be another uphill climb for the Hoosiers, as they’ll be squaring off another ranked team in the form of the Michigan Wolverines, who have beaten them in their previous 10 meetings. Indiana’s definitely going to need all the offense it can muster to pull off a huge upset.
That’s not going to be much of problem since the Hoosiers’ are currently the best team right in the Big Ten with 460.9 total yards per contest. A big reason for that has been their quarterback, Nate Sudfield, Sudfield has accumulated 2229 yards along with 15 scores and a QBR of 146.3, which is the second-best in their conference.
Meanwhile, Howard and Rickie Jones have also deserves some of the credit to their offensive success. Howard holds a team-best 961 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in over seven games while Jones leads the way on the air with 708 receiving yards and five touchdowns in nine outings this season.
But they’re going to have work extra-hard for the points against a Michigan defense that only yields a conference-low 240.0 total yards per games.
Indiana is 5-5 SU and 6-4 ATS in its last 10 home games.
