BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For a while Saturday, the Indiana football team made its fans feel something they hadn’t felt during the entire 2024 season.

Fear.

When Michigan quickly forced No. 8 Indiana to punt with 7:09 left after the Wolverines had just cut their deficit to 17-15, it was the first time this season that the Hoosiers, until then bulletproof, were really vulnerable.

Given that nothing encouraging happened when Indiana had the ball in the second half, the fear was all the more palpable.

In the second half, Michigan suppressed the Hoosiers’ offense like no team has been able to do. Indiana had just 18 total yards and four first downs after halftime. There were dropped passes, inaccurate throws, several sacks. Indiana’s offense was chained and couldn’t be trusted to make a big play to get the Hoosiers out of trouble.

It was scary, wasn’t it?

But all you had to do to snap yourself out of that rare feeling of Indiana football anxiety was think about what was happening when Michigan had the ball.

Indiana’s defense was on the field – and they got it.

Make no mistake, when we remember the 20-15 win over Michigan, it should be the defense that gets the flowers.

This is a unit that has brought high-quality stopping power every week, but Saturday’s performance might have been the best of all as the Hoosiers had to have these stops. They were not only complementary to the overall excellence of the team.

Indiana delivered one stop after another. After Michigan had an opening drive of 64 yards, the Hoosiers did not allow the Wolverines to move the ball more than 44 yards on its next 10 drives. Only one of these series had more than six pieces.

“It’s going to be a really tough match. It will be a non-stop match. It will be a tough, physical fight. When you have that mentality, you have to go out there and do it. It’s kind of a management thing,” Indiana defensive tackle CJ West said.

Even though Indiana didn’t have the gaudy defensive numbers it had in the 47-10 win over Michigan State on Nov. 2, it kept Michigan from winning a much closer game.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti isn’t one to wax poetic about his players, but he’ll make an exception to praise an entire unit. They earned it by holding Michigan to 206 total yards. Cignetti praised their “great competitive character.”

“You have guys like (Mikail) Kamara and (James) Carpenter and CJ West and Lanell Carr and (Aiden) Fisher and (Jailin) ​​Walker and (D’Angelo) Ponds and now (Amare) Ferrell and so on. , ” said Cignetti who continued to ride.

“Jamier Johnson, and you have guys coming into the rotation. They take a lot of pride in the way we play,” Cignetti said.

This is a unit that refuses to give an inch, even when it only has a few inches to protect.

That was never more clear than when Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw an interception inside the Indiana 10-yard line on the Hoosiers’ first offensive series of the second period.

Even though Indiana led 17-3 at the time, it was the kind of unforced error that was foreign to the Hoosiers in 2024. The defense was put in what would typically be an untenable position.

Wait…untenable position? This is Indiana’s defense. It thrives on these scenarios.

“You kind of have to have a warrior mentality,” West said. “It’s just a defensive mentality. We can arrest anyone at any time at any time.

On Michigan’s first play against the Indiana 7, Benjamin Hall was stuffed by Carpenter and West for no gain. Michigan rushed again on second down and Donovan Edwards was stopped by Tyrique Tucker after a 4-yard run.

On third down, Michigan ran left on a short field, an odd decision considering their previous runs crashed into the rocks of Indiana defenders. As expected, quarterback Alex Orji was stuffed for no gain by Carr and Kamara.

Michigan was forced to score a field goal. The Hoosiers had withstood the worst situation that could be thrown at them and came away with the Wolverines stopped and their heads held high.

“It’s huge. It’s a great momentum boost, especially like giving the ball back to our offense, allowing them to score three points on that,” West said.

The goal-line stand was a spectacular save, but Indiana’s defense covers itself in glory even in mundane moments.

On a 9-yard catch by Michigan tight end Colston Loveland later in the third quarter, three tacklers met Loveland two yards short of the first down. Terry Jones was credited with the tackle, but these gang-tackle moments happen repeatedly with Indiana’s defense.

Somehow, Indiana’s defense was only credited with three quarterback hurries and had no sacks, but Michigan quarterback Davis Warren will run away from Hoosier passers in his nightmares.

Warren was constantly forced out of the pocket and had to throw on the run, which is not his strong point. Warren failed to rush for more than nine yards in the second half.

The defense failed just one test after halftime – when Michigan scored a touchdown on a 34-yard short field after a rare bad punt by James Evans. Even then, the Wolverines had to convert 4th and goal at the 1 to succeed.

Yet on a night when a little fear filled the hearts of Indiana fans, the defense was a suffocating security blanket.

“When you hand the game over to us, I want to make sure the defense takes care of business,” Fisher said.

The defense takes care of business by refusing to allow adversity to affect its stopping power. That refusal to give in is a big reason why Indiana’s 10-0 record doesn’t reflect any adversity either.