– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN — Given the tortured history that Indiana football has had in a certain corner of the Wolverine State, any sort of win by the Hoosiers in that area would be a welcomed sight, no matter how pretty or ugly it looked.
Josh Hoover and the Hoosiers really put that theory to the test on Saturday afternoon before coming away with the beautiful aftertaste of victory.
The Hoosiers’ quarterback ran the ball into the end zone from four yards out in overtime, the only touchdown of the game, as No. 6 Indiana eked out a 13-6 victory over Michigan inside Michigan Stadium, the first win for the Crimson and Cream in Ann Arbor since 1967. Indiana kept the Wolverines out of the end zone, including when Michigan marched to the Hoosiers’ 3-yard line in the final minute before a sack forced Michigan to settle for the game-tying field goal as regulation time expired.
Hoover suffered an apparent injury to his right (throwing) arm during last weekend’s 19-15 loss to Ohio State, and struggled mightily against Michigan’s defense as he went just 8-for-18 with 81 yards and threw a third-quarter interception that set up Michigan’s first field goal and points of the game.
“I had to battle through some things this week to get out here,” Hoover said. “I knew I was going to find a way to get out here and find a way to win this game for this team regardless of how I felt. There’s guys on this team that are banged up every week. It’s no different for me.”
Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti seriously thought of sitting Hoover before deciding to ride things out with the fifth-year transfer from TCU.
“There were a lot of discussions about Grant Wilson and Josh Hoover in the second half because Grant had a good week of practice and is really capable,” Cignetti said. “At the end of the day, it’s been Josh’s season and even though he’s not 100%, we’ve got to finish it out with him and he responded.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Aaron J. Thornton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 21 pictures in total.
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