ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Seinfeld-famed “holiday” of Festivus features a multitude of traditions. Most notably are The Airing of Grievances and The Feats of Strength.
One must identify, and consequently, voice the problems they have with the offending party to them directly. They must also display their strength, pinning the head of the household in a wrestling match.
In a 13-6 overtime win against Michigan at The Big House on Saturday, Indiana football did both.
Indiana’s abysmal offensive performance allowed for numerous problems to be identified, and consequently, voiced via displaying a suboptimal product. Indiana’s defense, however, showed its feats of strength, playing at a national championship level and pinning Michigan’s offensive unit to the ground all afternoon.
All Indiana cares about is the win. Were their grievances to air? Absolutely. Were the feats of strength more valuable? Yes.
There were some Festivus miracles along the way to make it happen, but Indiana got the job done. That is all that matters.
“We’ve been in some close games,” IU head coach Curt Cignetti said. “Would I rather not be? Yeah. Would I rather be winning by five touchdowns? Sure. But this is where we’re at right now. And the bottom line is we found a way to get the win.”
Let’s air some grievances first.
Indiana’s offense played perhaps its worst game in the Cignetti era. In 11 offensive drives in regulation, the Hoosiers managed only 187 yards. They had 10 first downs and were 4-for-14 on third downs. Indiana’s longest drive by yardage was only 32 yards and by time was only 3:25.
Quarterback Josh Hoover played his worst game as a Hoosier. In regulation, he finished 7-for-17 for 60 yards with no touchdowns and his first interception of the season. He did not complete a pass in the second half. His only second-half passing attempt was the interception.
Hoover did not play well. There is no way to dance around it, no matter how injured he may be.
Grievances are aired and in the past. Now it is time to appreciate the feat of strength that was Indiana’s defense.
It recognized that the offense was struggling. It did not care. It knew it could win the game.
“It don’t matter,” safety Amare Ferrell said. “If they don’t score, they don’t win. Regardless of what the offense has to do, we focus on defense.”
Michigan had 13 offensive possessions. On 10 of those 13, the Wolverines didn’t move the ball more than 18 yards downfield. The Wolverines ran 72 plays, had 20 third downs and four trips to the red zone. They averaged 5.6 plays per drive, went 6-for-20 on third down and did not score a touchdown in the red zone.
Michigan ran for 57 yards on 41 attempts, 1.1 yards per carry. Indiana’s defense also tallied 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.
Indiana linebacker Rolijah Hardy and edge rusher Tobi Osunsanmi both had third-down sacks of 10-plus yards losses to push Michigan back in field goal range and prevent touchdowns. Both led to missed kicks that loomed large.
True freshman quarterback Tommy Carr threw an interception and fumbled. Both turnovers gave Indiana possession in plus territory. Both led to Indiana field goals. One field-goal drive was seven plays for 24 yards. The other was four plays for five yards.
“If your offense, you know, can’t get it going and their offense couldn’t get going, the defenses are going to clash and we take pride in that,” linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “Who’s defense is better, theirs or ours? And that’s what’s going to end up, showing at the end of the game. We take pride in that. We take pride in that the defense might have to win this game, make turnovers, make points and then eventually give the offense the ball in the red zone so they can go score. We take pride in that.”
It was not until overtime that the offense and defense finally played complementary football. Indiana had the ball first. Hoover completed his first pass attempt since his third interception, a 21-yard strike to Brock Schott. The next play, he ran and dove into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.
The defense, then with its biggest lead of the game, came out and did what it had done all day.
It pinned Michigan to the ground in its own house. It prevented a touchdown for the 13th time.
“Josh might have been banged up, might not have had his best game,” Jones said. “Who cares? He knows we got his back and he’s got ours. Risk his body, dive in the end zone. We just have a philosophy: no matter what it takes. No matter what it takes, we’re going to walk out of here with the win. I think that’s what you saw today.”
Air your grievances, respect the feats of strength. This game had both. At the end of the day, Indiana football won its first game in Ann Arbor since 1967.
Some would call it an (early) Festivus miracle. Others would call it finding a way to win.
