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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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Indiana survived a close one on Saturday, grinding out a 13-6 overtime win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. The No. 6 Hoosiers improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big Ten play with the win, bouncing back from their narrow 19-15 loss to Ohio State last weekend. It also marked Indiana's first win at Michigan Stadium since 1967.
A win is a win, but Indiana struggled to move the ball all game, while the Wolverines' defense forced a key interception and kept the Hoosiers out of the end zone until overtime. Then, with the score tied 6-6, Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover connected with Brock Schott for 21 yards on their first play of extra time, then ran it in four yards for the winning touchdown.
After the game, head coach Curt Cignetti made a surprising admission about Hoover, saying that he considered benching him during the second half in favor of backup quarterback Grant Wilson.
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"I was involved, but I wasn't loving what I was seeing either," Cignetti said. "There were a lot of discussions about Grant Wilson and Josh Hoover in the second half, because Grant had a good week of practice. He's very capable. He's big, strong, and can run. And I think at the end of the day, we felt like it's been Josh's season, and even though he's not 100%, we got to finish it out with him, and he responded."
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Hoover is a 6-foot-2 senior transfer from TCU who arrived at Indiana after a strong couple of seasons leading the Horned Frogs. He threw for 3,949 yards and 27 touchdowns with 11 interceptions in 2024, and produced 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns with 13 interceptions last season, completing over 65% of his passes both seasons.
Coming into the Michigan game on Saturday, Hoover was already on pace for his best season yet, with 1,660 passing yards and 18 touchdowns without an interception, along with a career-high 45 rushing yards and one rushing score. With the Hoosiers off to a hot start and Hoover playing efficiently, it's hard to justify going away from that.
However, Hoover came into the game dealing with an arm and wrist injury that he'd suffered last week against Ohio State, and it clearly had an effect on him. He finished Saturday with just 81 passing yards and his first interception of the season, going 8 of 18 for the game.
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Wilson, meanwhile, is a seventh-year senior who previously started 14 games at Old Dominion before transferring to Indiana in 2025 and backing up Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza during the Hoosiers' national championship run. Wilson has more experience than a typical backup, but Cignetti clearly felt confident enough to keep Hoover in the game Saturday, and the results paid off.
With the win over Michigan, Indiana has put themselves in a good position to get back to the College Football Playoff. They'll likely rank inside the top 5 when the AP poll drops on Sunday, and they've got a friendly schedule remaining, including at home against Minnesota next week, followed by a bye week and then USC on Nov. 14. After that, they'll go to Washington before closing out their regular season at home against rival Purdue.
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