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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com

‘M’ ready for new-look Indiana team

Though the Michigan football 

team hasn’t lost to Indiana (3-4 
Big Ten, 5-5 overall) since 1987, 
a win over the 
third-ranked 
Wolverines 
would 
mean 

more 
to 
the 

Hoosiers 
this 

week.

Michigan 

(6-1, 
9-1) 
is 

in 
College 

Football Playoff 
contention, 
and 
Indiana 

will try to take 
advantage 
of 

the Wolverines while they’re still 
reeling from their first loss of the 
season.

On top of rebounding from 

last 
Saturday, 
Michigan 
also 

likely faces a major change on 
its offense. Redshirt sophomore 
quarterback Wilton Speight has 
grown leaps and bounds over the 
last nine games, but now reports 
say he may not play for the rest 
of the regular season. Harbaugh 
said the injury is day-to-day, and 
if Speight doesn’t take the field 
on Saturday, redshirt junior John 
O’Korn should do so instead.

Though O’Korn hasn’t started 

a game this season, he has played 
plenty in garbage time. He also has 
over a year of starter experience 
from his time at Houston, so there 
may not be as much of a decline as 
some fans are bracing for. 

Running backs coach Tyrone 

Wheatley hasn’t noticed much of 
a change in practice this week, 
with O’Korn and redshirt junior 
quarterback Shane 
Morris 
taking 

most of the reps. 

“We don’t look 

at it as a drop-off,” 
Wheatley 
said. 

“We 
don’t 
look 

at it as anything 
different. It’s the 
next guy in. Game 
normal. We don’t 
look at it as, ‘Hey, 
now it falls on us.’ 
To be honest with 
you, hell, it always falls on us. 
That’s the way I always like to look 
at it. It’s nothing different.”

Senior running back De’Veon 

Smith told some of his teammates 
that they needed the loss and 
could grow from it after the 
group rushed for just 98 yards and 
averaged 2.8 yards per run in their 
loss to Iowa.

If the defense is as effective as 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh 
has praised it to be, then the 
Wolverines may see a replay of last 
week’s rushing game.

“(Indiana coach Kevin Wilson 

is doing) well, really coaching a 
good football team,” Harbaugh 
said. “Doing a very good job. 
The defense is an aggressive, 
athletic, fast (group). They create 

turnovers, 
they 

tackle 
extremely 

well, they cover 
a lot of the field 
physically. Really 
good 
defensive 

linemen. 
Active, 

athletic 
backers 

that cause a lot of 
the havoc and very 
good players in the 
secondary.”

But 
Indiana 

ranks 
55th 
in 

overall team defense, allowing 
156.2 yards per game on the 
ground, so the Wolverines will 

still have plenty of opportunity to 
create space.

On the offensive side of the 

ball, the Hoosiers are just one 
slot 
behind 
the 
Wolverines 

in total offense. This can be 
mostly attributed to quarterback 
Richard Lagow, who has thrown 
for 2,866 yards already this 
season. Though he has thrown 
13 
interceptions, 
he 
has 
a 

completion rate of 61 percent.

“They’ve got a good offense,” 

said defensive backs coach Brian 
Smith. “They have one of the best 
receiving corps that we’ve faced so 
far. The quarterback’s got a strong 
arm. He can throw it deep. He can 
make all the throws. Just know 
that their tempo and different 
things that they do schematically 
can pose different problems for 
you, so we’ve got our hands full 
this week.”

Indiana has its work cut out, 

but its fast pace can throw off 
opponents. It worked against 
Michigan 
State, 
Rutgers 
and 

Maryland, but it wasn’t sufficient 
against Big Ten powerhouses 
Penn State and Ohio State.

The Wolverines will certainly 

be occupied on Saturday, but they 
should easily be able to escape the 
scrappy Hoosiers.

Wolverines may start O’Korn on Saturday against Hoosiers, who also feature new starting quarterback

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Jim Harbaugh’s (top) team prepares to bounce back from its first loss, and it may 
start John O’Korn (bottom) at quarterback in place of the injured Wilton Speight.

KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Editor

“They have 

one of the best 

receiving corps 

that we’ve faced.”

Indiana at 
Michigan

Matchup: 
Indiana 5-5; 
Michigan 9-1

When: Saturday 
3:30 P.M.

Where: 
Michigan 
Stadium

TV/Radio: ESPN