Michigan 42, Indiana 35: Your comprehensive guide to Saturday's coverage
Indiana fans give Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson a little ribbing at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. While it may, indeed, be easy to tie a shoelace, it was quite difficult for the Hoosiers to stop Shoelace. His 494 total yards are the second-most in Michigan history, trailing only his own school record of 502 yards at Notre Dame earlier this season.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Everyone expected a shootout between two capable offenses. Heck, even the formations used by Michigan and Indiana -- the shotgun vs. the pistol -- made that analogy almost impossible to ignore.
Two suspect defenses made it a certainty on Saturday.
Indiana quarterback Ben Chappell threw for 480 yards, the most Michigan has ever allowed. But with Denard Robinson pulling the trigger for the Wolverines, they were able to escape Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind., with a 42-35 Big Ten-opening win on Saturday.
Robinson finished the day with 494 total yards. That's the second most in school history, one spot behind Denard Robinson (502 vs. Notre Dame) and one spot ahead of Denard Robinson (383 vs. UConn).
None of those yards were more important than a 42-yard pass to Junior Hemingway with 21 seconds left in the game ... except maybe the 4-yard, game-winning touchdown run on the next play.
AnnArbor.com sports writers Pete Bigelow and Mike Rothstein were in the press box -- and photographer Lon Horwedel was prowling the sidelines -- to bring you complete coverage. Here's everything you'll find on our site, wrapped into one neat little package (complete with a humorous bow at the end):
Post-Game Coverage • Scoring summary and boxscore.
• Bigelow's main game story focuses on Robinson's big day, and the game-winning drive in particular.
• Michigan's win -- along with Michigan State's win over Wisconsin -- set the stage for a big intrastate rivalry game in Ann Arbor next weekend.
• Indiana gained 568 yards against a struggling Michigan defense. That's 102 more yards than it has gained all season. The Hoosiers' previous opponents: Towson, Western Kentucky and Akron.
• The biggest beneficiary of that struggling defense may have been Indiana receiver Tandon Doss, who had a career day in the Hoosiers' loss.
• Michigan's Roy Roundtree had his own good day of receiving. Our notebook touches on his performance, Vincent Smith's big run and more.
• Robinson and Doss each earn four game balls from Bigelow.
• Our post-game reader poll, which can also be found here, asks:
In-Game Updates • Photographer Lon Horwedel has a full day's worth of images in his slideshow.
• Jim Knight compiled live updates throughout the game.
• Rich Rezler and Mike Rothstein hosted a live chat during the game. The transcript is still available here.
Around the Big Ten (click on score for full game recap)
• Michigan State 34, Wisconsin 24: The Spartans, stopped earlier in the game at the goal line, scored on a 1-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins to wide receiver B.J. Cunningham to seal the win. Offensive coordinator Don Treadwell, making the offensive calls and head coaching calls for a second consecutive game, had the Spartans go for the score while leading 27-24 with 2:49 remaining in the game. The flip pass to Cunningham, who slipped behind Wisconsin defenders near the goal post, completed an 84-yard drive that took 15 plays in 7 minutes and 57 seconds.
• Iowa 24, Penn State 3: Ricky Stanzi completed 16 of 22 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for a score as the Hawkeyes beat Penn State for the fourth straight time and eighth time in the last nine meetings. Adam Robinson carried 28 times for 95 yards for Iowa (4-1, 1-0).
• Ohio State 24, Illinois 13: Terrelle Pryor threw a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for 104 yards, leading the No. 2 Buckeyes to a road win in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Pryor had touchdown runs of 66 and 35 yards among his 11 carries and completed 9 of 16 passes for 76 yards. He left one series and sat out another in the third quarter after suffering a quadriceps injury. Dan Herron added 95 yards on the ground and scored late in the fourth quarter to seal it for Ohio State (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten).
• Northwestern 29, Minnesota 28: Stefan Demos made up for a botched extra point by connecting on a game-winning, 27-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter for Northwestern (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten). Dan Persa threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns on 23 of 30 passing for the Wildcats and also ran for 99 yards on 18 carries. Eric Lair caught three passes for 75 yards and two for touchdowns for Minnesota (1-4, 0-1).
AROUND THE NATION • Check out our Top 25 scoreboard, with links to game stories and boxscores.
AND, FINALLY ... It's officially Michigan vs. Michigan State week. Are you ready? Sparty is:
Comments
flyerpride01
Sun, Oct 3, 2010 : 11:20 a.m.
That sign was hilarious..!!!! go blue..
Richard
Sun, Oct 3, 2010 : 5:54 a.m.
Congratulations to Denard and the Wolverines for a comeback victory, however, and I mean however, if this defense doesn't straighten out, how can they expect to beat Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State? I don't mean to be the wet towel, but come on boys, smarten up. If I were the Defense Coordinator, I would have the whole defense watching those films time after time and asking what is going on, can't you block, can't you tackle, what are you afraid of? There is no way you are going to win if you don't start acting like college players and not like junior high school players. Give the Offense some breathing room, I can't imagine how that offense must feel. I love and I mean I love Michigan football, and I truly feel this team can go all the way, but start acting like a team, don't rely on the quarterback to do it all and that's what they are doing. Let's Go Blue and kick Michigan State back to Lansing. I know Jordan Kovacs is more than capable so come on defense rally around him.