BLOOMINGTON — In a game between the Big Ten’s best pass offense and the nation’s second-best rush offense, one had to expect to see a show between Indiana and Michigan on Saturday afternoon.
The outcome satisfied the foretold “shootout,” with Michigan winning its conference opener 42-35 thanks to a fast start and a clutch finish on the part of the Wolverine offense.
The struggle was characterized by a Michigan offense that scored on quick, exciting plays and a slow methodical Hoosier offense that dinked and dunked its way down the field.
The Wolverines (5-0) scored touchdowns of 72, 70, 56 and 32 yards. Robinson led the offense on the ground and through the air with an average of 17.3 yards-per-pass and 11.9 yards-per-rush. He finished with 218 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Robinson also threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns on 10-of-16 passing.
With that, he became the first quarterback in FBS history to both run and throw for more than 200 yards twice in his career. Robinson, widely acknowledged as the Heisman Trophy front-runner before today’s performance, did it in the first half of his first season as a starter.
When Chappell and the Hoosiers (4-1) had the ball, they ended long drives with touchdowns. Perhaps the most crucial of these came when Indiana coach Bill Lynch decided to go for the touchdown — instead of kicking a field goal — with a few seconds remaining in the first half.
Chappell was distributing the ball all over the field. And though he wasn’t hitting the deep long passes, he finished the game having completed 44-of-62 passes for 472 yards and three touchdowns. He set an all-time record for pass yards against Michigan.
Indiana struck first with a long 77-yard drive to start the game, led by fifth-year senior quarterback Ben Chappell. On that drive, the Hoosier receivers found openings in the Michigan secondary and created holes for redshirt sophomore Darius Willis to run through.
Sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson retaliated with a 72-yard touchdown play of his own.
Indiana did have a few hiccups early on after its first drive and it seemed as if Michigan would be able to build a lead. But Robinson fumbled a snap near the goal line — when a touchdown would have given Michigan a 21-7 lead — and the Hoosiers had new life. Indiana outscored Michigan 14-7 to end the half with score tied at 21.
In the second half, the Wolverines got back to their big-play-offense and broke two of those long touchdowns to take a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter. Michigan did go three-and-out, twice in the third quarter though. On one of those drives, Robinson exited the game for two plays with what appeared to be a minor injury to his already problematic knee.
The Michigan defense bent, but didn’t break in the second half as much as it did in the first. The Wolverines forced two punts and one turnover on downs as the Hoosiers tried to catch up.
What started as a shootout ended with both offenses seemingly running out of gas.
But Chappell and Indiana had enough left to score a game-tying touchdown with 1:15 remaining in the game, on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Willis.
Robinson and the Wolverines responded once again. With little time left on the clock, Robinson led the Wolverines on a five-play, 73-yard drive to secure the win, capped off with a Robinson touchdown run set up by a 42-yard pass to redshirt junior wide receiver Junior Hemingway inside the five-yard line.