The Wolverine Now

OCT. 16, 2013 Game Facts A TaleIs Of At An Impressive Clip, Two Teams Indiana's Offense Scoring But Its Defense Continues To Struggle What: Michigan vs. Indiana. When: Oct. 19 • 3:30 p.m. Radio-TV: Big Ten Network will televise the game nationally. The game can be heard on the Michigan Sports Network (950 AM in the Detroit area and on SiriusXM Channel 85) with longtime partners Frank Beckmann and Jim Brandstatter, and sideline reporter Doug Karsch. Coaches: Michigan: Brady Hoke (24-8, third season). Indiana: Kevin Wilson (822, third season). History: Michigan leads Indiana 52-9, last beating the Hoosiers 42-35 in 2010. Indiana Notes: The Hoosiers were 0-16 all time against Penn State before beating the Nittany Lions 44-24 Oct. 5 … In five home games this season, IU has filled Memorial Stadium to only 83.7 percent capacity, ranking Indiana 10th in the Big Ten ahead of only Northwestern (80.2 percent) and Illinois (70.0 percent) … Indiana defensive coordinator Doug Mallory played his college days at Michigan (1984-87), and his younger brother, Curt, is the current defensive backs coach at U-M … Indiana will play eight home games for only the second time in school history (2008). F By Michael Spath or the better part of two decades, Indiana has been the Big Ten's worst team. From 1995-2012, the Hoosiers went 64-143, posting just a single winning season (7-6 in 2007) over those 18 campaigns. IU was only 5-19 in Kevin Wilson's first two years in Bloomington, but at least Indiana was finally having some fun, averaging 30.8 points per game and 442.0 yards of total offense in 2012. Now in his third year, Wilson, the former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, has helped create an offensive juggernaut that is scoring 41.7 points per game and accumulating 504.3 yards per contest. And to prove they're not feasting solely on weak competition, the Hoosiers scored 28 points, in a 42-28 loss last weekend, against a Michigan State team that had been allowing only 13.4 points per game. In fact, against the three best teams on their schedule so far — No. 14 Missouri, Penn State and MSU — the Crimson and Cream produced an average of 437.3 yards and 33.3 points per game. Indiana went 1-2 in those three contests and is 3-3 on the season because IU ranks among the nation's worst in scoring defense (101st, 32.8 points allowed per game), rush defense (110th, 216.5 yards allowed per game) and total defense (106th, 456.0 yards allowed per game) among a slew of Kevin Wilson, who was offensive coordinator at Oklahoma before coming to Indiana, has compiled an 8-22 record in three seasons as the head coach of the Hoosiers. photo courtesy indiana university athletics categories that create the need for Indiana to put points on the board; in the Hoosiers' victories, opponents have averaged 23 points. "You're always going to be upset if you give up as many points as we did this past week," defensive coordinator Doug Mallory said. "You're never going to play great defense if you give up as many explosion plays as we did. We gave up three runs and two passes [of 20 yards or more]. You can't play at a championship level if you're giving up big plays. "And then third-down efficiency, you have to get off the field. Whether it's our fits, our tackling, a poor call, when you give up that many plays [MSU converted 10 of 14 third-down opportunities] you can't be successful defensively. You eliminate the big plays and get off the field, and then the lack of points will be in your favor." After playing Michigan Saturday, Indiana has winnable games against Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue, but if the Hoosiers want to dream bigger than a 6-6 record, and desire upsets over the Wolverines, Badgers and Buckeyes — IU plays Wisconsin and Ohio State back-toback Nov. 16 and Nov. 23 — the defense has to improve. "I want some seniors to selfishly find a way to get these wins, and these wins aren't easy," Wilson said. "A couple weeks ago, when we had some success, a message from someone said, 'Hey, Big Ten wins are hard. Enjoy.' And it was from

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