Indiana players confront tough realities after Michigan loss

ANN ARBOR — Indiana football linebacker Lanell Carr had one of the best games of his career on Saturday.

He burst out of the tunnel at Michigan Stadium with the kind of energy the Hoosiers have been missing in recent weeks early in the game. Carr sacked quarterback J.J. McCarthy on each of Michigan’s first two drives, both of which ended in three-and-outs.

Indiana closed out the first quarter up 7-0 with Michigan’s offense only putting up 17 total yards and two first downs (both coming in the final minute).

That was all but forgotten by the time Carr walked into the visiting media room and fielded questions about another crushing defeat after Michigan reeled off 52 unanswered points in a 52-7 win.

“It is hard right now,” Carr said, quietly.

The Indiana players that met with reporters were at a loss for words to describe the recent struggles, struggles

Michigan tight end Colston Loveland, left, runs through the tackle of Indiana linebacker Aaron Casey in the first half on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. that predate Carr’s arrival during the offseason as a transfer from Texas Tech.

Indiana is 2-19 in the Big Ten since 2020 and have gone 0-3 in the conference this year while losing by an average of 30.7 points per game.

Linebacker Aaron Casey, who has been Bloomington for that entire stretch, didn’t have any answers either.

He continues to see “flashes” of what this team could be — they were there against Ohio State, during a near comeback against Louisville and there again on Saturday when Michigan was struggling to even get back to the line of scrimmage in the early going.

Then they vanish, leaving blown coverages and explosive plays in their wake.

“I just thought we let up too many explosive plays,” Casey said. “The eyes sometimes weren’t in the right spot. The eye candy got to us sometimes. Guys were out of the gaps or letting their guys go. Just cleaning that thing up and being disciplined, we got to stick to that.”

But potential isn’t going to get Indiana to a bowl game.

Casey knows he’s running out of road as a sixth-year senior, and the same can be said for an Indiana team that now needs to win four of its last sixth games to make the postseason.

Does this group have the fight left to accomplish that goal? Casey believes so and got emotional talking about it.

“We really do love each other,” Casey said. “That’s a real thing in the locker room. The guys like to play for those around them. We say all the time look to the man to your left and to your right and play for them. This is the thing we have to do, continue to play for our guys.”