Revisiting the recent history between Michigan and Indiana

The Michigan Wolverines have won 27-straight games against the Indiana Hoosiers dating back to the 1987 football season, but rarely does this game ever come without its fair share of stress. You can multiple that several times over now that Michigan is coming off of a bad loss to its rival over the weekend while Indiana remains undefeated.

The Hoosiers have been one of the best stories in college football thus far after the first week’s late-game heroics, leading some to believe that they could emerge as the biggest threat to Ohio State in the Big Ten East. We are still far away from finding that out, but answers could come as soon as Saturday.

Michigan and Indiana play this weekend for the right to have the other school’s game against OSU be the one that matters in the grand scheme of things. Michigan wants to prove last week was a blip on the radar, while the Hoosiers are out to prove they are for real.

The Wolverines have a 59-9 advantage in the all-time series, but where and when did those nine wins come? I decided to go back and take a look because they are obviously very easy to spot.

• 1928 — Indiana 6, Michigan 0 (Ann Arbor)
• 1936 — Indiana 14, Michigan 3 (Ann Arbor)
• 1944 — Indiana 20, Michigan 0 (Ann Arbor)
• 1945 — Indiana 13, Michigan 6 (Ann Arbor)
• 1954 — Indiana 13, Michigan 9 (Ann Arbor)
• 1958 — Indiana 8, Michigan 6 (Ann Arbor)
• 1959 — Indiana 26, Michigan 7 (Bloomington)
• 1967 — Indiana 27, Michigan 20 (Ann Arbor)
• 1987 — Indiana 14, Michigan 10 (Bloomington)

For those of you that did the math, that’s one win for Indiana since 1987 and two victories since 1967.

In terms of one-score games in the series, here’s a look at the recent history there, as well:

• 1999 — Michigan 34, Indiana 31 (Bloomington)
• 2009 — Michigan 36, Indiana 33 (Ann Arbor)
• 2010 — Michigan 42, Indiana 35 (Bloomington)
• 2015 — Michigan 48, Indiana 41 (Bloomington)
• 2017 — Michigan 27, Indiana 20 (Bloomington)

What’s there to be gleaned from all of this? Probably nothing. I don’t have a stat to share this week, nor do I want to make sweeping generalizations about the series after getting burned in my column on MSU last week.

It stands to reason that this will be a close and chaotic game this weekend, as they seem to be In Bloomington when the two teams are comparable talent-wise. The Wolverines come into the game as a slight favorite, but the past is not giving a ton of fans solace coming into this game.

Michigan has dominated, but Indiana is due. And that is where the biggest plot thread of the week lies.