BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- Michigan continued its mastery of the Indiana Hoosiers -- barely.

Hayden Epstein kicked a 20-yard field goal with 18 seconds to play as Michigan (No. 14, ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) withstood the upset bid of Indiana 34-31 Saturday.

	Anthony Thomas' big game Saturday helped the Wolverines avert disaster on the road.

Michigan (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) had to bat down a desperation pass in the end zone on the game's final play to avoid losing a third consecutive regular-season game for the first time since 1967.

"I'm very proud of the character we showed in the fourth quarter," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said after his Wolverines brought their record over Indiana to 8-0 this decade with its 10th consecutive triumph over the Hoosiers.

Indiana (4-5, 3-3) battled from a 17-0 second-quarter deficit to lead 24-17 on a 9-yard pass from Antwaan Randle El to Jerry Dorsey with 12:06 to play.

"The seniors had an opportunity to do something they haven't been able to do -- that's beat Michigan," Indiana coach Cam Cameron said. "We put ourselves in a position to continue to work forward toward the things that we had to do this year in terms of our goals."

One of those goals was to produce the school's first winning season since it went 7-4 in 1994.

"It will be a little more difficult," said Cameron, who finishes his third season at Indiana with a road game at Minnesota on Nov. 13 and a home game with archrival Purdue Nov. 20.

"When you give up a lead like that and then they took the lead, I thought we showed a lot of stuff," Carr said. "It wasn't for sure the kind of game I like, the kind of game that was full of a lot of mistakes, but it is the kind of game where we found a way to win. That's what we needed to do."

The Wolverines responded quickly, moving 65 yards in four plays to tie the score again on Tom Brady's 7-yard pass to Bennie Joppru. Brady set up the score with a 46-yard completion to David Terrell. Michigan then moved 66 yards in eight plays to regain the lead on a 4-yard run by Anthony Thomas, who had career highs of 42 carries and 197 yards.

Randle El, who threw for four touchdowns to set a school record of 16 for the season, kept the upset bid alive by hooking up with Dorsey for a 70-yard TD pass with 4:59 to play.

Michigan took over on its 25 and moved downfield with the help of Brady's completions of 13 yards to Terrell, 14 to Marcus Knight and 23 to Thomas. A 15-yard face mask penalty on an incomplete pass by Brady and a holding penalty by O.J. Spencer against Terrell also helped set up the winning score.

Randle El wasn't finished. He gained 14 on a pass to Versie Gaddis, rushed for 12 and then threw the final pass to Dorsey, which was broken up by DeWayne Patmon and James Whitley.

Thomas, who moved from 18th to 14th on Michigan's career rushing list, ran for three TDs while going over the century mark for the 10th time. His previous high was 183 at Hawaii in 1998. He has 2,289 career yards.

"Anything to get that taste out of our mouth was good for us after losing two in a row," said Thomas. who played with a broken pinky on his right hand suffered in his last game. "I'm not exhausted. I never want to come out of a game in a tiring situation. That's why I try to get myself in shape during the week."

Michigan moved 77 yards in 11 plays following the opening kickoff to score on a 1-yard run by Thomas. The drive's big play was a 36-yard completion from Brady to Knight on a third-and-12 near midfield.

The Wolverines got the ball back when Craig Osika fumbled on Indiana's second play from scrimmage. The Wolverines recovered at Indiana's 35. A 7-yard run by Thomas gave Michigan a first-and-goal at the 4, but Michigan had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Epstein.

Limited to 34 yards in the first quarter, Indiana had Michigan's Cato June block Drew Hagan's punt and the Wolverines took over on the Hoosiers' 15. Thomas, who had 113 yards rushing in the first half, made it 17-0 with a 15-yard run on Michigan's next play.

Indiana began its comeback by driving 80 yards in eight plays, scoring on Randle El's 7-yard pass to Kris Dielman in the end zone.

The Hoosiers trailed 17-10 when Andy Payne kicked a 23-yard field goal at the end of the first half and neither team scored again until Randle El hit fullback Jeremi Johnson on fourth down play from the 1 with 13:20 to play. Thomas fumbled the following kickoff and the Hoosiers moved ahead for its only lead of the game after taking over on the Michigan nine.

Randle El was 18-of-34 for 290 yards. Dorsey had five catches for 154 yards. Brady, who played the entire game for the first time this season, was 17-of-29 for 226 yards. Terrell had 100 yards on six receptions for the Wolverines.

"One of my goals from the beginning was to play two quarterbacks because I felt if something happened in the latter part of the season, I wanted a guy who had enough snaps to be ready," said Carr, who has had reserve Drew Henson pass for 527 yards and three TDs this year while completing 57 percent of his attempts. "Drew is ready to do that. He's played well. He's learned a lot of things, yet today the situation dictated that I make a decision of what's best for our team."

"It was just a decision coach made, and I'm glad we won," said Brady, who had thrown for 200 yards in five straight games. "If I play, or I don't play, I'm glad we won."