Saturday, Nov. 9
3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 p.m. Pacific
CBS
The Indiana Hoosiers are 9-0 and ranked in the top 10 in November. They are centrally immersed in the College Football Playoff hunt. It is remarkable enough that Indiana – one of the historically downtrodden programs in college football over a long period of time – is in playoff contention. What makes the story even more remarkable is that the Hoosiers are doing this in a Big Ten Conference which brought in four schools from the Pac-12, with one of them – Oregon – being No. 1 in the country. There shouldn’t be room for Indiana at the table in the 18-team Big Ten. Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC, Washington, and Iowa are all there, but Indiana has elbowed its way to the top tier of the conference. The Hoosiers are tied with Oregon and are currently in position to go to the Big Ten Championship Game in December. If Indiana is playing in Indianapolis one month from now, it would rate as one of the most remarkable single-season accomplishments in college football history… and yet that’s not the full story.
The final detail which makes the Indiana saga truly mind-blowing on every possible level is that all of this is happening under a first-year head coach. Curt Cignetti came from James Madison and didn’t need three years to remake Indiana in his image. He didn’t even need two years. He needed only one. It would be one thing if a coach instantly took over Michigan or USC and restored order right away; that wouldn’t shock anyone’s sense of expectations. Doing this at Indiana? It’s unheard of at a program which hasn’t won the Big Ten title since 1967 and hasn’t played in a top-tier bowl game since that very same 1967 season. Can Indiana now finish the job and make both the Big Ten title game and the playoff? History is squarely on the line when IU hosts Michigan on national television.
Michigan Wolverines-Indiana Hoosiers Odds
Spread: Michigan +13.5 (+100), Indiana -13.5 (-122)
Total: 49.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: Michigan +450
Hear T.J. and Kevin Rogers go over this match-up with the Wolverines as a 2 touchdown underdog on the “3 Dog Thursday Podcast” by clicking play below,
Michigan a Significant Dog?
Did you ever think you would live long enough for Indiana to be a favorite of nearly two touchdowns against Michigan? This is what happens when Indiana turns into a juggernaut overnight and scores 47 points on the road at Michigan State after falling behind by 10 points in the first quarter. This is what happens when Michigan limps through an average season, hounded by bad quarterback play and the lack of a downfield passing game.
However, for all of Michigan’s pervasive offensive limitations, there are signs that the Wolverines might be putting the pieces together at this late stage of the season. Davis Warren, who looked terrible in early September and was then benched, has come back into the lineup. He actually looked decent against Oregon last week. If he plays well, Michigan is in position to cover the spread, but it’s really hard to say if Warren is a quarterback who will be there every week from now on, or if that Oregon game was a tease and an exception.
The lean here should be to Indiana, but Michigan as a huge underdog might be tempting for a lot of people. Our advice: Enjoy this Indiana story, but don’t bet on IU games as the pressure rises for this team. We don’t know how the Hoosiers are going to handle these high-stress tests late in the year.