Todd’s Take: Fear Not, Indiana’s Defense Refuses To Let Adversity Drag The Hoosiers Down

Indiana’s offense wasn’t at its best against Michigan, but the defense might have had its best performance in the Hoosiers’ 20-15 victory.

Indiana's CJ West (8) tackles Michigan's Donovan Edwards (7) during the Indiana versus Michigan football game at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 9, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For a while Saturday, Indiana’s football team had its fans feeling something they hadn’t felt the entire  2024 season.

Fear.

When Michigan quickly forced No. 8 Indiana to punt with 7:09 left in the game after the Wolverines had just cut their deficit to 17-15, it was the first time this season that the heretofore bullet-proof Hoosiers were truly vulnerable.

Given that nothing encouraging was going on when Indiana had the ball in the second half, the dread was that much more palpable.

In the second half, Michigan clamped down on the Hoosiers’ offense in a way no team has been able to do. Indiana only had 18 total yards and four first downs after half time. There were dropped passes, inaccurate throws, multiple sacks. Indiana’s offense was shackled and couldn’t be trusted to make a big play to get the Hoosiers out of trouble.

It was scary, wasn’t it?

But all you need to do to snap yourself out of that rare feeling of Indiana football anxiety was to think about what was going on when Michigan had the ball.

The Indiana defense was on the field – and they’ve got this.

Make no mistake, when the 20-15 victory over Michigan is remembered, it should be the defense that gets the flowers.

It’s a unit that has brought high-quality stopping power each week, but Saturday’s performance might have been the best of all because the Hoosiers had to have those stops. They weren’t just complimentary to all-around team excellence.

Indiana delivered one stop after another. After Michigan had a 64-yard initial series, the Hoosiers did not allow the Wolverines to move the ball more than 44 yards on any of its subsequent 10 drives. Only one of those series was more than six plays long.

“It’s going to be a really gritty game. It’s going to be a run-stopping game. It’s going to be a physical, tough fight. When you get that mentality, you’ve got to go out there and do it. Kind of handle business,” Indiana defensive tackle CJ West said.

While Indiana didn’t have the gaudy defensive stats it had in the 47-10 victory at Michigan State on Nov. 2, it kept Michigan from taking over a much-closer game.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti isn’t one to wax poetic about his players, but he’ll make an exception to praise an entire unit. They earned it by holding Michigan to 206 total yards. Cignetti praised their “great competitive character.”

“You've got guys like (Mikail) Kamara and (James) Carpenter and CJ West and Lanell Carr and (Aiden) Fisher and (Jailin) Walker and (D’Angelo) Ponds and now (Amare) Ferrell and on and on,” said Cignetti who kept rolling.

"Jamier Johnson, and you've got guys coming in the rotation. They've got a lot of pride about the way we play,” Cignetti said.

It’s a unit that refuses to give an inch – even when it has little more than inches to protect.

That was never clearer than when Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw an interception inside the Indiana 10-yard line on the Hoosiers’ first offensive series of the second half.

Though Indiana led 17-3 at the time, it was the kind of unforced error that has been foreign for the Hoosiers in 2024. The defense was put in what would typically be an untenable position.

Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Peyton O'Leary (81) dives for a first down but Indiana Hoosiers linebacker Aiden Fisher (4) stops him second half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Memorial Stadium. / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Wait … untenable position? This is the Indiana defense. It thrives on these scenarios.

“You’ve got to kind of have a warrior mentality,” West said. “It's just a mentality that the defense has. We can stop anybody whenever at whatever time.”

On Michigan’s first play from the Indiana 7, Benjamin Hall was stuffed by Carpenter and West for no gain. Michigan rushed again on second down, and Donovan Edwards was halted by Tyrique Tucker after a 4-yard carry.

On third down, Michigan ran power left on a short field, a strange decision given that their previous runs crashed on the rocks of Indiana’s defenders. Predictably, quarterback Alex Orji was stuffed for no gain by Carr and Kamara.

Michigan was forced to kick a field goal. The Hoosiers had withstood the worst situation that could be thrown at them and came away with the Wolverines stopped and their heads held high.

“It's huge. That's great momentum, especially like giving the ball back to our offense, letting them score three points out of that,” West said.

The goal line stand was a spectacular stop, but Indiana’s defense covers itself in glory even in the mundane moments.

On a 9-yard catch by Michigan tight end Colston Loveland later in the third quarter, three tacklers met Loveland two yards shy of the first down yardage. Terry Jones got credited with the tackle, but those gang-tackling moments happen repeatedly with Indiana’s defense.

Somehow, Indiana’s defense was only credited with three quarterback hurries and had no sacks, but Michigan quarterback Davis Warren will be running away from Hoosier pass rushers in his nightmares.

Warren was constantly forced out of the pocket and had to throw on the run, which is not his forte. Warren did not have a completion of more than nine yards in the second half.

The defense only failed one test after halftime – when Michigan scored a touchdown on a short, 34-yard field after a rare bad punt by James Evans. Even then, the Wolverines needed to convert 4th-and-goal at the 1 to pull it off.

Still, on an evening when a little bit of fear was struck into the hearts of Indiana fans, the defense was a suffocating security blanket.

“When you put the game in our hands, I want to make sure the defense is taking care of business,” Fisher said.

The defense takes care of business by refusing to allow adversity to affect their stopping power. That refusal to give in is a big reason why Indiana’s 10-0 record doesn’t reflect any adversity, either.

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• WHAT CIGNETTI SAID: Here's everything Cignetti said to the media after the Michigan win. CLICK HERE

• ROLES REVERSED FOR MICHIGAN: Indiana rarely loses to Michigan, but the roles are reversed as Indiana improved to 10-0 at the expense of the Wolverines. CLICK HERE.

• LIVE BLOG: Follow along as Hoosiers On SI writes about the events of the game as they happened. Re-live Indiana's thrilling 20-15 victory over Michigan. CLICK HERE.

• DREW EVANS OUT FOR SEASON: Indiana has lost guard Drew Evans for the season according to the availability report for the Indiana-Michigan game on Saturday. CLICK HERE.

• IT'S STILL A BIG DEAL TO BEAT ONE OF THE BIG TWO: Todd Golden opines that beating Michigan, regardless of the state of the programs, is still a big deal. CLICK HERE.