Game Wrap and Reaction: Nebraska 27 Indiana 22

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Opponent: Nebraska Cornhuskers
Location: Saturday October 15th, Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, IN)
Why They Played:  The Hoosiers and Huskers met for the first time as conference foes since Nebraska joined the Big Ten

What The Game Meant:

Indiana had a chance to get to 4-2 (2-1) before embarking on a three game stretch that features trips to Northwestern and Rutgers with a home date with Maryland sandwiched in between. 

Top Offensive Performers:

Mitchell Paige, WR, Indiana- Paige was the Hoosiers leading receiver catching nine passes for 103 yards, he also provided a spark with a 39-yard punt return. 

Terrell Newby, RB, Nebraska- Newby was a huge reason why Nebraska was able to melt away the clock in the final eight-plus minutes in the fourth quarter. He finished with 102 yards rushing on 22 carries and a touchdown. 

Top Defensive Performers:

Marcus Oliver, LB, Indiana- Oliver probably played his best game of the season with eight tackles, a sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Combined with Tegray Scales, Indiana has two very good linebackers.

Indiana’s Starting Safeties- The Hoosiers’ two starting safeties, Jonathan Crawford and Tony Fields were great today. Each recorded seven tackles and an interception. They were a major reason why Indiana was able to climb back in the game.

Chris Jones, CB, Nebraska- Jones picked off Indiana quarterback Richard Lagow once, returning it for a touchdown and broke up two passes, and added two tackles.

Special Team Performance

Well, we may have gotten an answer as to why Griffin Oakes has been struggling this season. After the Hoosiers’ 27-22 loss in a game where there were a couple of occasions where Wilson may have trotted out his field goal kicker if this were 2015, Wilson announced that Oakes “had a slight quad pull, and so like he tells me, like here's my range.” Oakes kicked well enough Saturday to warrant putting out on 45+-yard field goals, especially with a stiff breeze at his back. The punting game was solid as Joseph Gedeon has been a weapon that Wilson leans on too much, outside of one shank. Mitchell Paige ignited a touchdown drive with a great 39-yard punt return, even though there was an uncalled block in the back. The lone down side has been the lack of a kick return game yet again. Devonte Williams did little to nothing back there, averaging less than 20 yards a return, and for a team dying for points and field position they have not gotten any spark here. 

Key Stat(s):
2.9

This will be the key stat until IU starts running the ball better. The Hoosiers averaged an anemic 2.9 yards per carry against Nebraska. The eked out 88 yards on 30 carries including a 33-yard touchdown run by Devine Redding and a seven-yard run by Paige on a reverse. Indiana will struggle to put up points if the ground game continues like this.

Turning Point

The turning point was crystal clear. After narrowing a 17-0 deficit to just two points, the Hoosiers’ safety Tony Fields came up with a huge interception to give the Hoosiers the ball at the IU 42 yard line. The stadium was up for grabs and the crowd was electric. Instead of taking a shot down field or even a few yards in front of them, IU took all of the air out of the balloon when they ran a screen pass and two runs that netted five yards that led to a punt. Nebraska was on the ropes and even in the process of going down for the count and IU let them up off the mat and Nebraska scored the next drive.

I Knew it Was Over When…

Richard Lagow’s second down pass was picked off with 30 seconds to go. 

Players of the Game

Tony Fields and Jonathan Crawford, Indiana- As mentioned above the safety duo recorded 14 total tackles and two interceptions in a heroic effort for IU.

Terrell Newby, Nebraska-His running late in the game, chewing both yards and clock was nearly stripped when he apparently fumbled. However, the play was not called a fumble and the ruling stood after a review.

What I took away from the game

Indiana let Nebraska off the hook. The Huskers had nearly blown an early 17-0 lead and Memorial Stadium was rocking after Tony Fields picked off Tommy Armstrong. IU was set to get over the hill and knock-off the 10th ranked Huskers. Instead, the Hoosiers ran three head scratching, playing not to lose plays and punted. Those are drives that define college football programs. A touchdown there and the crowd of 48,000-plus, many of them IU fans or alumni in for homecoming, explode into a frenzy and are re-hooked on Hoosier football. Yet, Indiana played it safe and ran the ball on third and eight on a day where they couldn’t run out of a wet paper bag. If you want to create a football culture, that’s a drive that HAS to result in points.

Now, Indiana did not do a lot right early in the game as they quickly fell behind 17-0 on a combination of a field goal, a crazy catch that led to a touchdown, and a pick-six on an awful throw and route. Give credit to Indiana and the defense as they held Nebraska scoreless through the second and third quarters and make a17-0 game into 17-15. However, the offense was just abysmal and couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities they were presented

Indiana was the victim of some self-inflicted wounds that led to a bounce that didn’t go their way and helped seal their fate. On Nebraska’s final drive of the game Terrell Newby appeared to have fumbled after gaining a first down. Two officials signaled that Indiana had indeed recovered the ball with 1:45 left. However, the line judge had ruled Newby down by contact and the play was reviewed and stood as called. Overall, the officiating was dreadful, there were a handful of calls missed on both sides, a play nullified because an official could not get back into position as the Hoosiers tried to go up-tempo that ultimately resulted in Wilson having to burn a time out, and the aforementioned fumble fiasco.

Indiana desperately needs All-American Dan Feeney back on the line to open up the rushing attack, which saw a small spark when quarterback Zander Diamont came in. The Diamont wrinkle in the offense was a nice lift on his first series, when he came in mid-drive. However, it become awfully predictable in terms of the plays called out of the package. IU let him throw downfield once and stuck mostly to option keepers and screen passes. He played well, and it seems like this may become a thing if the offense continues to struggle with the run with Lagow at quarterback.

The play calling in general has become a concern of Hoosier Nation and has been oddly unadventurous. The three plays after the Fields interception stick out the most, but for much of the game IU went back to the well on the outside run with Redding. The play calling is both conservative and too aggressive at the same time. IU was 0-2 on fourth downs on Saturday that came with the ball in range of trying an Oakes field goal, especially in a game where a team just needed to put up points. IU is 1-11 on fourth downs this season and the risk just hasn’t been worth the potential reward so far this year. 

With the loss the Hoosiers now stand at 3-3 with a huge four game stretch coming up. IU needs three more wins for a bowl game, next up is Northwester who put up 54 points on Michigan State on Saturday. They need to win at least two of the next four games in order to keep this season alive and should have a realistic shot at going 3-1 or 4-0.