Michigan's Robinson puts on a show in thrilling 42-35 Wolverine win

BLOOMINGTON | Arm-weary and defeated, Ben Chappell walked slowly toward his lockerroom Saturday when a young man asked him to stop. Chappell paused, and the man, three academic years his junior, spoke briefly, then shook Indiana's fifth-year senior quarterback's hand, and gave him a brief, respectful hug. And that was how Chappell and Denard Robinson ended the afternoon -- their afternoon.

No. 19 Michigan (5-0) defeated Indiana (3-1) 42-35 Saturday in a shootout. By day's end, the two teams had combined for 1,142 total yards. Between them, Chappell and Robinson had 969 of those yards.

Robinson averaged better than 14 yards per play, and 11.4 per rush. Chappell set IU single-game records for completions (45), attempts (64), total yards (475) and passing yards (480). The 45 completions tied Chappell for third-most in Big Ten history.

"He's just a great athlete," IU coach Bill Lynch said first, of Robinson. "He's one of those guys that's just different."

Then, about Chappell: "I think he's one of those guys too. Stand back there and throw it that many times against a good Michigan team -- he put it on the money and made some huge plays in some critical situations."

Indiana's offense used a methodical passing game to control the clock, while Michigan scored on plays of 72, 32, 3, 70, 56 and 4 yards. The last score was set up by a 42-yard pass on the play prior.

The Hoosiers held the ball for nearly 42 minutes, registered 35 first downs to Michigan's 15 and went 11-of-19 on third down.

"We're proud of the way we played, a lot of the things we did. We had the ball for a long time, and we had 98 offensive plays," Indiana offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. "We just came up short."

Of his record-setting quarterback, Canada was proud.

"He played amazing, and played his heart out, took a bunch of shots," he said.

Standing in front of the gaggle of reporters, Chappell wore a disappointed smile.

"That's all great," Chappell said, when asked about his performance, "but we didn't get the win. I'd gladly throw 1-for-2 for zero yards if we get the win. ... We've just got to keep fighting."