Numbers That Mattered in Indiana's Win Over Rutgers

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Saturday marked the fifth win for the Indiana Hoosiers in 2016. It may have been an ugly win, but it counts just the same. Let’s take a look back at some numbers that mattered from that win against Rutgers on Saturday.

20-0- After falling behind 24-13 just a couple minutes into the third quarter, the Hoosiers went on a 20-to-nothing run that put the Scarlet Knights away. Between the six-and-a-half minute mark of the third quarter and the five-minute mark of the fourth IU scored three touchdowns to gain a 33-24 advantage.

1-16- The Indiana defense was near dominant for most of the game as they held Rutgers to just 1-for-16 on third down conversions, including a run of 0-for-8 to end the game. The defense was the major reason as to why the Hoosiers won on Saturday.

113.4- Kevin Wilson likes to cite the stats of yards per offensive touchdown. While the Hoosiers offense moved the ball with relative ease up and down the field Saturday for 567 yards, they only reached pay dirt five times. That means the Hoosiers had to gain 113.4 yards for to get six points.

4- The Hoosiers turned the ball over four times on Saturday with two interceptions and two fumbles. Rutgers turned those into 14 points. Usually a team loses a road game when they give away the football four times.

5 and 11- The Hoosiers failed to covert on five kicks on Saturday that cost them 11 points. Two field goals were blocked, another missed, and an extra point was missed, while another was lost on a botched hold. Add in the turnovers, which took at least six and as many as 14 points off the board and you can see why Hoosier faithful were a little uneasy after the win.

33-27- The only number that really matters is the score. IU won 33-27 in a game that shouldn’t have been close.