Michigan will get another crack at Indiana, Rutgers and Michigan State in 2026, and the Wolverines have already authored some wild chapters against each of them.
Start with Indiana, because the 2015 trip to Bloomington was anything but routine. Jim Harbaugh’s first Michigan team was rolling along with just two blemishes on the résumé - the opening loss at Utah and the infamous “trouble with the snap” game - when it ran into a Hoosiers team that refused to go quietly.
Michigan’s defense opened shakily, giving up 153 yards in the first quarter while holding Indiana to just 6 points, but the game quickly turned into a track meet. The two sides traded blows all the way through regulation, and Michigan needed a fourth-down touchdown at the end just to force overtime tied at 34.
From there, the Wolverines finally made the stop they needed, denying Indiana at the goal line in the second overtime and escaping with a 48-41 win. The numbers tell the story: 1128 yards of offense, 89 points, and a hard-earned road victory that kept Harbaugh’s debut season moving in the right direction.
Rutgers produced a different kind of chaos in 2020, and for a while it looked like Michigan was headed for a disaster in Piscataway. The first five Wolverine drives went nowhere in a hurry: fumble, turnover on downs, three and out, missed field goal, three and out.
The offense was stuck, the coaching looked shaky, and Rutgers had already pushed the lead to 17-0 before the game even had a chance to settle in. Then Cade McNamara entered for Joe Milton, and everything changed.
Six of Michigan’s next seven drives ended in touchdowns, and suddenly the Wolverines had dragged themselves into overtime against a Scarlet Knights team that would not disappear. Both teams missed field goals in the first overtime, Michigan survived, and then two more Wolverine touchdowns set up a final Rutgers push in triple overtime.
The defense held, the prayer didn’t connect, and Michigan walked away with a 48-42 win. Afterward, McNamara spoke to a fired-up locker room and promised big things for a program that was down on its luck.
A year later, those promises had come true.
Michigan State brings the rivalry angle, and the greatest game in this stretch came before 2021, when the Wolverines and Spartans met in a top-ten matchup for the most recent time in the Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan had been stuck in a rough run against its in-state rival, having lost the previous eight meetings, and the setting in East Lansing was a tough one.
Seventh-ranked Michigan was walking into a place where the Spartans were still riding the force of their Duffy Daugherty golden era, a time when they claimed six national championships in under two decades. This one played out like a grind.
Neither team reached double figures until the fourth quarter, when a host field goal made it 10-3 with a little more than seven minutes left. Michigan answered by tying it at 10, then found the shot of separation it needed on a 31-yard double pass from quarterback Bob Timberlake to fullback Rick Sygar and then to receiver John Henderson.
That play gave the Wolverines the cushion they were chasing, and they left East Lansing with a major win, snapped the skid against Sparty, and kept rolling toward a season that ended with a Rose Bowl victory.
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Rutgers Adds Another International Piece To Steve Pikiells Bigger Plan
Rutgers has added another piece to the international pipeline Steve Pikiell has been building, landing Italian forward Diego Garavaglia for the 2026-27 roster. The 6-foot-6 wing arrives with professional experience in Germanys top division and a reputation as a strong two-way prospect in European youth basketball, the kind of addition that fits the Scarlet Knights recent emphasis on finding talent beyond the usual recruiting lanes.
For Rutgers, the appeal is obvious: Garavaglia brings defensive value, size on the wing and room to grow once he gets on campus. The broader question is how quickly that upside translates in Piscataway, especially as the program keeps leaning into a roster strategy that mixes development with international experience and asks new arrivals to fit into Pikiells demanding style. [Read more 🡒]
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Peyton Bonds rise has become another point of pride for Rutgers baseball, the kind of development that keeps changing the conversation around the program. After a strong junior season in 2026, the outfielder added to a growing line of Scarlet Knights who have turned themselves into pro prospects, even while dealing with an injury that cost him time in the middle of the year.
Bonds was taken in the third round of the 2026 MLB Draft, and his path now leads into a Giants organization that has already shown plenty of interest in Rutgers talent. He also will be joining teammate Trevor Cohen in that system, giving the Scarlet Knights another reminder that the pipeline from Piscataway to pro baseball is not slowing down anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]