Decisive Targeting Penalty Cost Indiana Crucial game

Image: Zach Greene Hoosier Huddle

Written by Evan Orris

The Indiana defense was holding Desmond Ridder and the No. 8 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats to just seven points heading into the half. All it took was one costly penalty to allow Cincinnati to find its groove in the Hoosiers 38-24 defeat.

The Hoosiers were up 14-0 when they forced a punt after a third-down stop, or so they thought. After the play, the flag was thrown after the 2020 third-team All-American linebacker Micah McFadden lunged himself into Ridder and made helmet-to-helmet contact. McFadden was then ejected for targeting.

Cincinnati also proceeded to drive downfield to kick a field goal to make it 14-10 heading into halftime.

“Yeah, it was massive, without question. Changed everything,” Head coach Tom Allen said of the momentum-shifting penalty. 

Before the ejection, McFadden had one tackle for loss and recovered a fumble that set up a touchdown to put Indiana up 7-0. The senior has appeared in 32 games in his IU career. It was a tough blow to lose a veteran in arguably one of the program’s biggest games in their history.

“He's our leader. He's a huge part of our pressures. He's a huge part of everything we do. Makes a ton of tackles. He's a great football player,” Allen said of McFadden. ”When you lose your captain, that's tough. The other guys got to step up, though. Definitely the other guys got to step up, though. That's how you're going to respond when things like that happen.”

Senior and co-starter Cam Jones handled McFadden’s duties in his absence. Jones had a solid game—six total tackles and a pass deflection—but overall the wheels fell off on the defense as Cincinnati scored 28 second-half points.

In total, the defense surrendered 210 passing and 118 rushing yards for a total of 328, most of the brunt coming in the second half following the pivotal penalty.

“He's a ball player and I hate he couldn't finish the game with us He played with tremendous effort; I think that play was an effort play,” Jones said. “But at the end of the day, we still have to do our job as a defense. All eleven players out there on the field and as a team.”