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Published Oct 7, 2022
Staff Picks: Indiana vs Michigan
TheHoosier.com Staff  •  TheHoosier
Staff
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Indiana stays home and welcomes the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines into Memorial Stadium for its Homecoming game.

The Hoosiers sit at 3-2 on the season after back-to-back losses, both in poor fashion. Now, they look to turn it around with a respectable performance against the Wolverines.

Michigan is 5-0 and have outscored opponents 227-58 this season. Despite two closer games in Big Ten play, Michigan still won by a touchdown or more in both.

Kick is set for Noon ET on Saturday.

Here are our TheHoosier.com staff picks for the game.

Jim Coyle

It's probably a great weekend to have Hoosier Hysteria. It will give Indiana fans something fun to watch. I expect Saturday's game to be painful. Michigan runs the ball very, very well and Indiana has not shown the tools to stop that yet. Michigan has Big Ten talent. Las Vegas thanks Indiana will score because Michigan is a 22. 5 point favorite and the over and under is at 59. I just do not think that Indiana will be able to stop Michigan's offensive or defensive lines.

Prediction: Michigan 47, Indiana 10

Alec Lasley

After two poor performances, Indiana is staring three-straight losses right in the face. Despite it being Homecoming weekend, facing a Michigan program is not the 'get right' game needed. Indiana hasn't shown any ability to consistently score or stop the opponent -- a recipe for disaster.

Tom Allen seems to always play Michigan tough and I expect Indiana to hang around a bit for the majority of the game. Michigan hasn't been blowing teams away the past few weeks, and going back on the road with a Noon start may hold Michigan to a bit of a slower start. In the end, however, Michigan is just too good, too talented and too deep to lose this one.

Prediction: Michigan 38, Indiana 14

Keegan Nickoson

Indiana actually doesn’t have a horrible matchup in Michigan. In talking to the guys at Maize and Blue review it’s clear Michigan’s defensive strategy requires a lot of subbing which they’ll not be able to do as efficiently as usual. Maybe Walt Bell can take advantage of this and hit the ground running.

However, the Wolverine offense has too much firepower. Blake Corum is a legit Heisman candidate and mixed with such a dynamic athlete like JJ McCarthy, the Hoosier defense will face their toughest test yet. Like Nebraska, like Cincinnati, look for Michigan to take advantage of holes and lack of communication throughout the Indiana defense.

Prediction: Michigan 40, Indiana 16

Mason Williams

I have a feeling this one won't be pretty. I'll keep it short and bittersweet here. A reeling defense vs. Michigan's well-oiled machine is a recipe for a long afternoon at Memorial on Saturday. Pair that with Indiana's offensive struggles and not knowing the status of some of the Hoosiers' injuries, I feel as if the Wolverines might have their way with Indiana this weekend. If Indiana covers, I'd call it a success.

Prediction: Michigan 44, Indiana 13

Kevin Vera

It’s going to be tough for the Hoosiers to stop one of the top teams in all of college football. Indiana has shown so far this season that they don’t do anything particularly well and last weeks showing against Nebraska didn’t help their case. Indiana has struggled protecting Connor Bazelak and Michigan currently is 2nd in the Big Ten with 15 sacks. Michigan has also been able to put up some great offensive numbers with two potential Heisman winners so things could get ugly pretty fast. The only way that Indiana can win is if their high tempo offense can outlast Michigan’s defense but I don’t see that happening.

Prediction: Michigan 38, Indiana 13

Kyler Staley

Let's face it, there is not much hope for Indiana here is there? Yes it may be homecoming weekend which is always exciting, but arguably the best team in the Big Ten, 4th best team in the country at the moment, comes into Bloomington and the Wolverines have looked very dominant for the majority of this season. Last week's road loss to Nebraska was flat out embarrassing as that was one of the games on Indiana's schedule that was very winnable. Now looking ahead to the rest of the season, you can arguably say there is not a game where you can feel confident that Indiana will come out as the winner going from a team that was well on their way to bowl eligibility to a team that may not win another game. Simple enough, if Indiana wants to shock the college football world, they are going to have to play perfect. The offense is going to have to play consistent and make very little mistakes while Bazelak will also have to find his playmakers and let them work. The secondary still remains a huge issue and could yet again be exposed very easily here by an incredible Michigan team.

Indiana may give Michigan a worthy fight for a half here, but expecting this to be a beatdown if I am being honest here.

Prediction: Michigan 52, Indiana 20

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