BLOOMINGTON – It was double-overtime. Indiana trailed No. 15 Michigan by seven points and the Hoosiers faced 4^th-and-goal from the 2-yard line with upset within reach.

Senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld gathered the snap out of the shotgun. He had time to set his feet, looking toward his right the whole play. He watched as redshirt junior receiver Mitchell Paige made his break on a whip route along the goal line, faking to the inside for only a moment before finding space to his right as he bolted toward the sideline.

Sudfeld saw him. He fired a pass to one of his most reliable targets just as he’d done in practice hundreds of times before for the potential game-preserving score. But the ball bounced off Paige’s hands as Michigan safety Delano Hill defended at the last possible moment.

The ball hung in the air for a fraction of a second before falling to the turf. The Wolverines stormed onto the field to celebrate their 48-41 victory while the Hoosiers were left trying to digest a fourth single-score loss in the last six games.

“We played well but not good enough,” head coach Kevin Wilson said. “We went with a max pro and a route over here and two routes over here and see if some guy could win. And they defended it.”

Michigan (8-2, 5-1) defended it only after junior running back Jordan Howard carried the ball 35 times for 238 yards and two scores to nearly lead the Hoosiers to their first victory against a top-15 team since 2006. He scored on a 24-yard run with 2:52 left in regulation before diving into the end zone on a 2-point conversion to give Indiana a 34-27 lead.

But that was just enough time for Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock and his Wolverines offense. Rudock connected with receiver Jehu Chesson on a 41-yard pass to get Michigan to the IU 2-yard line with 1:11 left in regulation. On fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Rudock found Chesson for a score to force overtime.

“I think we had a few mistaken coverages of miscommunication,” sophomore linebacker Tegray Scales said of the late drive.

Howard drew first blood in the overtime, scoring on fourth-and-goal from just inches outside of the end zone before Rudock tied the game on a 21-yard touchdown pass to force the second overtime.

He then found receiver Amara Darboh for a 25-yard score on the first play of the second overtime to give Michigan its seven point lead before Hill knocked the final pass out of Paige’s hands to preserve the win on the final play.

“He just made a really good play,” Paige said. “Just a competitive play. He got his hand in. He made a really great play.”

Rudock finished with 440 yards and a Michigan-record six touchdowns on 33-of-46 passing. Chesson, Rudock’s favorite target of the day, caught 10 passes for 207 yards and four scores.

Howard led Indiana’s rushing attack, which paced the Hoosier offense late. Indiana ran the ball 18 times in its final 19 plays.

The final play was Indiana’s lone pass in the final 14 minutes of the game.

“I feel like we’ve just got to make the play,” Howard said. “I’d take the same play call again.”

The loss was Indiana’s sixth in a row after starting the season 4-0. Four of IU’s six losses have come down to one possession only to see the Hoosiers come up short. Saturday’s 7-point loss to Michigan was just the latest example.

“We were in it, you know?” fifth-year senior bandit Zack Shaw said. “We’ve just got to finish ballgames.”

All season, Indiana (4-6, 0-6) has been on the brink of getting passed the proverbial hump.

The Hoosiers led No. 1 Ohio State in the third quarter before losing. Then they let a 25-point third-quarter lead against Rutgers slip away. They were within one point of handing Iowa its first loss of the season just a week before the double-overtime loss to Michigan.

Wilson keeps saying his team is capable of winning those types of games, but the results haven’t come.

So what will it take?

“Plays like the one I didn’t make,” Paige said.