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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

Column: IU must stop Gardner to have a chance against Michigan

The last time IU won at Michigan, the Hoosiers went to the Rose Bowl.

I’m not saying that if IU wins on Saturday it is going to the Rose Bowl this season, but it would be quite an accomplishment.

This season has already seen IU defeat Penn State for the first time in school history, so who’s to say the Hoosiers can’t win in the Big House for the first time since 1967?

Well, Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner will probably have something to say about that.

IU has not done well against dual-threat quarterbacks this year. Everyone knows that.

First, there was the Navy’s Keenan Reynolds. He rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 71 yards to help the Midshipmen to a 41-35 win at Memorial Stadium.

Then there was Missouri’s James Franklin, who shredded the IU defense.

Franklin finished Missouri’s 45-28 thrashing of IU with 343 passing yards and two passing touchdowns and 61 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

At times, he made the defense look flat out silly.

Gardner is better than both Reynolds and Franklin. That spells trouble for the IU defense.

The defense isn’t going to be able to stop him. He’s going to get his yards. He’s going to make his big plays.

What the IU defense has to do to stay in this game is force him into turnovers.

It doesn’t matter if the defense lets Gardner throw for 275 and rush for 150 if he throws three interceptions and fumbles once.

But to do that, the defense has to get some major players to step up.

Junior cornerback Tim Bennett, who leads the nation in pass breakups, has to actually catch some balls and make an interception.

Junior linebacker Flo Hardin, who has two forced fumbles, needs to deliver some knockout hits.

Freshman linebacker T.J. Simmons needs to make his presence felt rushing Gardner and forcing some bad decisions.

IU hasn’t defeated Michigan since 1987. Beating the Wolverines is a rare feat. Heck, IU’s only done it nine times.

The two teams have met 61 times.

I’m a journalism major, so I’m naturally not good at math, but I don’t even need a finite professor to tell me that’s not a very good winning percentage.

Even more so than the other games so far this year, IU is going to need a complete team effort to win.

Not winning there since 1967 should tell you that.

Rarely have both the offense and defense played well this season. It happened against Bowling Green and Penn State — both easy victories for IU.

If both the offense and defense play to the level they are capable of, IU has a shot in this game. But that’s a big if.

Thus far, IU has gone win-loss-win-loss-win-loss. If this pattern holds true, IU should win Saturday.

Fortunately for me, math patterns don't rule the world.

It’s not going to happen.

Gardner is too much for IU. There’s no other way around it. He’s the definition of IU’s kryptonite.

IU’s not going to the Rose Bowl, and it’s not going to win in Ann Arbor. The ‘67 team will keep its glory.

My prediction: I haven’t done very well in this department lately. I’m 0-3 the last three weeks, so I’m basically just doing this for public humiliation at this point. I’ve got Michigan 38, IU 24. The Wolverines are really, really good at home, and IU is a little too beat up on the offensive line right now to go head-to-head in a shootout.

­— robhowar@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Robby Howard on Twitter @robbyhoward1.

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