Bowl Drought Continues as IU Falls 26-24

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

It has been 25 years since the Indiana Hoosiers won their last bowl game. Despite a valiant effort against the #19 Utah Utes from the PAC-12, that bowl victory drought will continue for at least one more season. In the first game of the Tom Allen era, the Indiana Hoosiers were bested by a late Andy Phillips field goal as Utah hung on to knock off IU 26-24 in the Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, California. 

The contest started out as well as possible for the Indiana Hoosiers as Greg Gooch hammered the Utah kick returner and popped the ball loose. Donovan Hale fell on the fumble at the 11 yard line and on third down and nine, Richard Lagow connected with a wide open Mitchell Paige for the opening score. The Utes answered with a nice drive that stalled in the red zone and Andy Phillips hit a 30 yard field goal to put Utah on the board. Utah's ferocious pass rush showed up on the next drive as they sacked Richard Lagow and forced a fumble that was recovered at the IU 16 yard line. Just one play later, Joe Williams scampered into the end zone to put Utah ahead 10-7. IU punted on their next possession but Rashard Fant intercepted a Troy Williams deep pass to keep the deficit at three. The two sides traded punts before Indiana moved the ball well and marched inside of the Utah ten-yard line. However, Devine Redding coughed it up and it was recovered by the Utes. Utah ate up huge chunks of yards on back to back plays and got it down to the one yard line before eventually scoring on a sneak by freshman backup quarterback Tyler Huntley. The game appeared to be on the verge of getting away from the Hoosiers when Ricky Jones took a quick slant 53 yards and IU ultimately settled for a field goal from Griffin Oakes to make it 17-10. IU forced a quick three and out and then Zander Diamont lofted a deep touchdown pass to Nick Westbrook to tie the game at 17 before halftime.

Both teams struggled to gain any offensive traction in the second half but Utah eventually broke through with an odd 48 yard field goal from Andy Phillips that somehow snuck inside the upright to put the Utes back ahead, 20-17. Phillips added a 41 yard field goal before the end of the third quarter and Utah was driving in the fourth quarter with a chance to ice the game. However, Tyler Green forced a fumble that was recovered by Dawson Fletcher at the 40 yard line. The Hoosiers took advantage of the good field position and Devine Redding pounded the ball in for a three yard touchdown that gave Indiana the lead with 10:10 to play. Joe Williams had the ball ripped out by Jonathan Crawford and Tyler Green and the Hoosiers had a chance to bring home IU's first bowl victory since 1991. Unfortunately, Griffin Oakes missed a 40 yard field goal with 5:34 to go. The Utes drove the field and took advantage of the fact that they only needed a field goal as Andy Phillips connected on another one, this one from 23 yards, to give Utah the lead 26-24 with under two minutes to play. The Hoosiers moved the ball past the 50 but they were unable to launch a desperation attempt as Richard Lagow was hit from behind as time expired, ending IU's upset bid and dropping the Hoosiers to 6-7 in Tom Allen's first game as head coach.

Joe Williams had a Foster Farms Bowl record with 222 rushing yards on 26 carries to lead Utah's offense as the Utes amassed 470 total yards to IU's 341. Richard Lagow and the IU passing game struggled mightily as Lagow only completed 14 of 39 passes and had two turnovers. IU's defense applied ample pressure to Utah's Troy Williams and performed admirably for large stretches but they were ultimately unable to get the one final stop to win this game over the #19 Utes.