Indiana's Offense Struggles Again in 29-7 Loss to No. 7 Michigan

Indiana remained winless in the Big Ten after a 29-7 loss to No. 7 Michigan when the Hoosiers' offense only had one good drive all night. The Hoosiers are now 2-7 on the season, and won't be playing in a bowl game this year.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Indiana continued its primetime struggles on Saturday night, getting ripped by No. 7-ranked Michigan in front of a national TV audience. The Hoosiers struggled offensively all night outside of one drive, and got thumped 29-7 at Michigan Stadium.

True freshman Donaven McCulley made his second career start at quarterback for Indiana, and he did it in front of more than 109,000 fans at the Big House. He had one impressive 10-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter, but the Hoosiers were shut out otherwise.

Indiana had just 195 yards of total offense all night, with McCulley completing just 10-of-24 passes for 88 yards. Eight of his 10 completions were to his tight ends and running backs, and there was no downfield over middle-of-the-field passing threats at all. 

Wide receivers Jacolby Hewitt and Miles Marshall each had one catch for 8 yards. Senior Ty Fryfogle, the team leader (38) in receptions who has caught 150 balls in his career, didn't have a single catch. 

Indiana's offense has been brutal all year in this primetime games against the Big Ten's best. They scored only six points at Iowa, were shut out at Penn State, scored only seven points against Ohio State — on the first drive of the game, no less, — and had just seven against Michigan.

That's a total of 20 points in four games. And that's also now 21 straight losses to Michigan here in Ann Arbor, dating all the way back to 1967.

Scoring points was always going to a challenge against a good Michigan defense, especially with a true freshman starting in a hostile environment. But it just kept getting worse too, from an injury standpoint. 

Left tackle Luke Haggard was hurt on the first play of the game and didn't return. And starting running back Stephen Carr injured an ankle on his third carry of the game. He didn't return either, and walk-on running backs Chris Childers and Davion Ervin-Poindexter got the rest of the carries. Childers had 34 yards on 11 carries and the team's only touchdown. Poindexter had 23 yards on six carries. 

It was incumbent on the defense to carry the load, and that was asking a lot from a proud group that gave up six straight touchdowns to Ohio State in the first half and then 38 points to Maryland last week.

The vow was to play better, and they did. Just not good enough. Not even close.

"This one really stung, but I see the look in their eyes and we're going to continue to fight,'' Indiana defensive back Bryant Fitzgerald said. "We really had to slow it down this week, simplify the game plan, and go back to basics.

"We did a lot of things well, but we gave up some big plays, too, We need to be better.''

The big play that hurt the most came late in the second half. Indiana had just scored its lone touchdown to make it 10-7 Michigan with 8:18 to go in the second quarter. On Michigan's second play of the ensuing drive, running back Hassan Haskins burst through a seam and took off, dashing for 62 yards before being knocked out of bounds by Indiana's Marcelino McCreary-Ball. Two plays later, Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara hit tight end Luke Schoonmaker for a 12-yard score to make it 17-7.

It changed the entire complexion of the game,

"Yeah, that was a crucial series right there,'' Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden said. 

"Maybe we're not bowl eligible, but we're going to keep fighting until the very end. I'll do it for the guys in that room. I'm never giving up on them. I'll fight for this team, and for the love of the game.''

Indiana plays Rutgers and Minnesota at home the following two weeks, and wraps up the season on Nov. 27 at Purdue. Rutgers lost 52-3 to Wisconsin on Saturday and Minnesota only scored six points in an ugly loss to Illinois.