Indiana Football: UM’s Shea Patterson overlooking Hoosiers
By Alec Lasley
The Michigan Wolverines QB had some interesting comments about the final two weeks of the season, including one about the Indiana football program.
The Indiana football program and the Michigan Wolverines come into Saturday’s matchup off of two different results last week. The Hoosiers lost a close one to Penn State following a week in which they showed up in the top-25 for the first time since 1994, and the Wolverines put a beat down on their in-state rival Michigan State. One thing is the same, however. Both programs look ahead to its biggest rival in Purdue and Ohio State the following week.
For the Hoosiers, a 7-3 record is tied to them with hopes of getting their first eight win season since 1993, and winning their first bowl game since 1991. With the Wolverines, it is another season in which they won’t win the Big Ten or be in the College Football Playoff, but still look to get their third 10-win season since Jim Harbaugh took over in 2015, and their first 11-win season since 2011.
While this matchup has a lot at stake for both programs, it will be another chapter to a new rivalry that looks to be in store for the near future.
After its win over Michigan State however, Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson had some interesting comments to make about the Hoosiers and the remaining games that await the Wolverines.
"“We’re gonna enjoy this win, but in the back of our minds we know we got one more big one to go… We gotta go on the road to Indiana, but our eyes are still set on the last one.”"
That ‘big one’ that he is referring to is the game against Ohio State, which will be his senior game.
For an Indiana program that got high praise from Harbaugh at the start of the year at Big Ten Media Day, Patterson may want to take a page out of his coaches book, especially considering the Hoosiers, once again, nearly pulled off the upset last season as they were ahead by two at the half, and trailed by just one possession late in the fourth before a late field goal by Jake Moody.
It will be interesting to see how the Indiana defense plays, especially considering last season it was unable to come up with any sacks against Patterson and the Wolverines.
Something tells me when the Hoosiers get pressure on the senior QB on Saturday, they will surely take advantage of it and make sure Patterson focuses on the game at hand, and not that ‘big one’ the following week.