‘Key Play Ke’Shawn’ Sparks Stagnant Offense in 20-15 Win Over Michigan

Written By: Ben Gillard (@benjgillard)

The Hoosiers needed a big play. With 5:33 left in the 4th quarter, Indiana was nursing a 17-15 lead over the Michigan Wolverines. The usually red-hot Hoosier offense had fallen stagnant in the second half, allowing the Wolverines to score 12 unanswered points, cutting the IU lead to just two. To make matters worse, starting punt returner Myles Price had left the game with an injury and did not return. The Hoosiers were in need of a spark. Enter Ke’Shawn Williams.

After the Indiana defense was able to force a critical 3 and out, the Wake Forest transfer found himself standing at his own 30 yard line, waiting for the Tommy Doman punt. After fielding the punt at the Indiana 39-yard line, Williams made a great cut, forcing the first two men to miss before turning upfield. Williams refused to go down, breaking three more tackles before finally being taken down at the Michigan 39-yard line. This 22-yard return flipped the field and became the spark that the IU offense needed to get in gear. On the ensuing drive, Williams again came up big with an 11-yard catch that put the Hoosiers into field goal range. Radicic drilled the 41 yarder, putting Indiana up 20-15, a deficit from which the Wolverines were not able to come back.

“You know I was not going to let that opportunity slip away again. I peeked down and saw that the ball was short, and saw that I had space—the rest is just catch the ball and go make something happen.” Williams said on the return after the game.

While Williams makes the play sound easy, it was anything but. When asked about the return after the game, Head Coach Curt Cignetti said, “The punt return was a huge play…that was a hard punt, really to judge and catch, cause the nose was spiraling down and to the left—it was dying. And he [Williams] was full-throttle, man, to catch that punt and [make] it happen. It was a tremendous effort and really was very uplifting for everybody in the stadium. It was about the first great thing that happened offensively, and it gave us a real shot.”

Cignetti also made sure to highlight just how critical Williams was throughout the game; Williams ended the game with a perfect 6 catches on 6 targets for 70 yards. “[Williams] is a veteran; he’d catch 35-40 a year at Wake Forest; he’s made plays for us—he made a nice catch earlier in the game on our sideline.”

One thing is for sure: when Indiana needed a key play tonight, there was one man for the job: Key Play Ke’Shawn.