Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, top, evades a tackle by Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher in the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday in Ann Arbor. (AP photo)

Carter Smith and C.J. West aren’t interested in any history lessons about Indiana football.

Sure, they understand why everyone around Bloomington is so excited as the No. 8 Hoosiers take the field — even with basketball ramping up.

They’re 9-0 for the first time in school history and one win away from producing the program’s first 10-win season. Yes, at 6-0 in conference play, they share the Big Ten lead with No. 1 Oregon. They’re even in position to make the expanded 12-team playoff, a position that seemed unthinkable even as first-year coach Curt Cignetti touted his past successes as an indication of what was possible in 2024.

And now they’re preparing to host Michigan, a team that has made life miserable for Indiana for more than a century. Yet Smith and West are unfazed by what’s happening around them.

“There’s nothing (different), we prepare the same we do every week, every single week,” West, a defensive lineman, said after the first set of CFP rankings had Indiana listed No. 8. “This is the biggest game because it’s the next game, and that’s how it is every week.”

But that hasn’t always been the case at Indiana, especially when Michigan (5-4, 3-3) is in town.

The Wolverines have won 27 of the last 28 games in this series with their only stumble coming courtesy of a 17-point loss in front of a tiny crowd during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season. Since then, the series has reverted to its more customary fashion with the Wolverines winning the last three by a combined score of 112-24, including 52-7 as the Wolverines were rolling toward last season’s national championship run.

Now, though, the tables may be turned.

While the Hoosiers are ranked, Michigan is not. Indiana also has the nation’s second-highest scoring offense (46.6 points per game) and third-stingiest defense (261.0 yards), while the Wolverines have relied heavily on a strong defense to carry a team that ranks 116th in scoring (21.0 points).

Indiana’s turnaround certainly has impressed Michigan coach Sherrone Moore.

“He’s done an unbelievable job,” Moore said. “They did a really good job of bringing in the right guy.”

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Low stakes

Last season, the Wolverines completed a perfect season. Now they’re just trying to become bowl eligible after losing three of their last four. College football’s winningest program already has lost more games this season than it did in the last three seasons combined.

Moore has made it clear Michigan wants that sixth win.

“We’ve got to get it,” the first-year coach said. “The record is not where we want to be, but I love watching the fight. In the second half of that (Oregon) game, a lot of teams would’ve laid down.”

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High road

Moore defended offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, who called a trick play on fourth-and-5 from the Oregon 10 with Michigan in position to pull within a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

Receiver Semaj Morgan didn’t come close to completing the pass to backup quarterback Alex Orji and the Wolverines went on to lose 38-17.

“We’ve got to be better as a whole group,” Moore said. “It’s not just him.”

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