ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Time will tell if No. 3 Michigan needs its starting quarterback to win a national championship from here on out, but the Wolverines managed to survive just fine on Saturday without him to stay in the title hunt.

With regular starting quarterback Wilton Speight sidelined because of a shoulder injury suffered in last week's loss to Iowa, running back De'Veon Smith and Michigan's dominant defense carried the load in Speight's absence, helping Michigan to a 20-10 win over Indiana in its home finale at Michigan Stadium that ended in a blizzard.

The win officially set up next week's showdown at No. 2 Ohio State, which will likely serve as an elimination game in the College Football Playoff race.

"We don't have to add anything extra to the game," Michigan junior cornerback Jabrill Peppers said. "The game is big enough in itself. It's us and them. Winner probably earns their spot in the College Football Playoff. They are going to come ready and they better know what we are going to come ready."

Playing in his final home game, Smith picked a great time to have his best game, finishing with a career-high 158 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries to help Michigan overcome a 10-6 deficit in the third quarter.

"Every one of our running backs knew we were an arm-tackle away from breaking it," Smith said. "(Running backs coach Tyrone) Wheatley talked to us about breaking those arm tackles and that we needed to take the game over. That's what we did."

Michigan (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) took a 13-10 lead with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter on a 34-yard touchdown run by Smith, which came one play after quarterback John O'Korn, filling in for Speight, scrambled for a 30-yard gain to the Indiana 34-yard line on third-and-9.

"That's what sparked us," Smith said.

As uplifting of a play as it was for Michigan, it turned equally devastating for Indiana, which had O'Korn in the backfield for a third-down sack before he eluded a couple of defenders and ran away.

"We just lost some rush lanes and integrity and he got out," Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. "They've got good football players and they made a play. That would have been a huge one to get. It kind of let them off of the hook and gave them some momentum. Great credit to that kid. He made a heck of a play."

After a three-and-out by Michigan's defense deep in Indiana territory that ultimately gave the Wolverines the ball at the Hoosiers' 39 after a punt, Smith scored on a 39-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left in the third quarter to give Michigan a 20-10 lead.

"He was grinding out first downs and grinding out meat," Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said of Smith. "De'Veon, he played with great motivation and it was great play by the offensive line."

Indiana (5-6, 3-5) couldn't put together much else against Michigan's stout defense, which continued a terrific season by holding the Hoosiers to 226 yards of total offense.

The Hoosiers will have one more chance to become bowl-eligible next week when they host rival Purdue in their regular-season finale.

"I think the difference in the game was the running game," Wilson said. "Our kicking game and punting also got us today a little bit.

"In the fourth quarter, we couldn't get a stop. We had a great defensive effort and the offense did some things they had to do against a great Michigan defense. It just wasn't good enough today."

O'Korn went 7-of-16 passing for 59 yards in his first career start at Michigan. Richard Lagow finished 14-of-29 passing for 191 yards for Indiana.

After Michigan took a 3-0 lead with 8:48 remaining in the first half on a 28-yard field goal by Kenny Allen, Indiana drove the field on its next possession and took a 7-3 lead on a 2-yard by Camion Patrick with 4:19 left until halftime. The touchdown capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive.

The teams traded field goals to start the third quarter before O'Korn's and Smith's runs gave Michigan the spark it needed.

NOTES: The win was the 21st consecutive for the Wolverines over Indiana. Michigan's last loss to Indiana overall came in 1987 in Bloomington. The Hoosiers' last win over Michigan in Ann Arbor was in 1967. ... Indiana played its fourth top-10 opponent of the season, which is the first time the Hoosiers have done that in a season. Indiana lost to Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State this season when all three were ranked in the top-10 at the time the Hoosiers played them. ... Michigan completed its first unbeaten season at home since 2012. ... With his performance, Smith surpassed 2,000 rushing yards for his career at Michigan. ...Going into next Saturday's game at Ohio State, Michigan will look to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Buckeyes in Columbus. The last time Michigan won at Ohio State was in 2000, when the Wolverines prevailed, 38-26. Michigan has also lost 11 of its last 12 meetings overall against Ohio State. ... Indiana will head into its rivalry game against Purdue next week looking for its fourth straight win over the Boilermakers. The last time Indiana beat Purdue four times in a row was from 1944-47.