Rudock connected on two of his scoring passes in overtime as MI improved to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten.
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The Hoosiers saw their record fall from 4-0 – the best start in 25 years – to 4-6 after six Big Ten losses, four of which finished within an 8-point deficit. On the game’s final play, fourth down on the MI 2-yard line, quarterback Nate Sudfeld’s pass hit Paige in the hands a fraction of a second before MI cornerback Delano Hill ripped at his arms. Entering the IN game, Chesson had 23 catches for 259 yards and three touchdowns.
“We’ve seen it a few times in earlier games”, Harbaugh said. He threw a dart between two IN defenders with two seconds left IN regulation for a 5-yard TD pass to Jehu Chesson that set up the tying extra point and silenced a frenzied IN crowd that was anticipating its first victory against MI since 1987.
The MI defense has been as good as any unit, offense or defense, in the country.
While he did shoot down the IN reporter IN flames during his press conference Saturday, this was the closest thing to an appropriate time to try to extract an answer from Harbaugh for three reasons: Saturday’s game between MI and IN was IN Bloomington, only 50 miles away from Indianapolis.
Sudfeld was 20 of 34 for 220 yards with one TD in his home finale, and Simmie Cobbs Jr. caught four passes for 86 yards. Michigan’s defense was giving up more yards than normal, but it was making IN work for those yards (just 5.5 yards per play). He threw for a career-high 440 yards and a school-record six touchdown passes, and added another 64 rushing yards. The running game has always been pretty solid but the passing attack was extremely limited for the majority of the first part of the season.
“I’m sure TV loves us”, OSU coach Mike Gundy said.
MI celebrates after IN fails to convert on fourth down.
Interestingly, there have been reports of strife between the Colts’ coaching staff and front office, similar to those that followed Harbaugh’s 49ers before his departure after last season.
MI State QB Connor Cook appeared to injure his right shoulder in the first half against Maryland. “All those attributes – talk about his accuracy, talk about his arm strength, talk about his durability, his toughness, he’s intelligent – but I still go back to that one, he is just unflappable”. The Hoosiers must win their final two games to be bowl eligible.
The St. Louis, Missouri, native’s 207 yards receiving rank third on U-M’s all-time single-game list, behind Roy Roundtree’s 246-yard effort against IL (Nov. 6, 2010) and Jeremy Gallon’s 369-yard game against IN (Oct 19, 2013).
The Indiana Hoosiers just couldn’t seem to get out of their own way Saturday afternoon, as they played host to the 14th ranked MI Wolverines.
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It was fun and all to watch Rudock torch the Hoosiers’ defense, but we can’t realistically expect that kind of performance again and again; there needs to be a re-establishment of what got MI on the map to begin with. Those 4 scores tied a school record for most in one game. Howard now has 1,199 yards and nine rushing touchdowns despite missing two games with an ankle injury.
