Throwback Thursday: Wake Forest 33 Indiana 28

Wake Forest safety Jesse Bates takes an interception back for a touchdown. Image: Cam Koenig HoosierHuddle.com

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Probably the most frustrating game for Indiana in the 2016 season was this five-point loss to Wake Forest at home. The Demon Deacons would go on to make a bowl game, but this game left a bad taste in the mouths of Hoosier Nation. The most obvious reason why the Hoosiers dropped this one was the five interceptions thrown by Richard Lagow, but there were also some other factors that may have been over looked. IU was a dreadful two-for-five in the red zone leaving 21 points on the field and failed to find a consistent running game. The Hoosiers also had a field goal blocked and while the defense played pretty well, they were not good enough in stopping the run on first and second downs leading to Wake Forest converting eight of their 20 third down tries that averaged a distance of just 5.9 yards per attempt and that did include some third and very longs. Thankfully, this game did not haunt the Hoosiers like some other bad losses have in the past. IU rallied to beat Michigan State the next week and made a bowl game.

Opponent: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Location: Saturday September 24th, Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, IN)

Why They Played:  This was the home game end of a two-game home-and-home series with Wake Forest.  

What The Game Meant

Indiana was looking to start 3-0 for the second year in a row. With only three non-conference games now, the Hoosiers need all the wins they can get before heading into play in the brutal Big Ten East.

Top Offensive Performers

Nick Westbrook, WR, Indiana- Indiana’s day started with a bang as Westbrook took the first play of the game to the house on a crossing route that covered 75 yards. He made six catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns. He is quickly becoming the go-to guy for Lagow.

Ricky Jones, WR, Indiana- After seeing his production slip as a result of bad luck, the fifth year season had his breakout game of 2016. Jones reemerged to catch eight passes for 208 yards. The 208 yards are good enough to put him fifth on the IU all-time list for receiving yards in a game.

John Wolford, QB, Wake Forest- Just a week removed from losing the starting quarterback job to Kendall Hinton, Wolford was named the starter after Hinton was ruled out with an injury. Wolford played a terrific game Saturday, doing everything the Demon Deacons needed him to. He was efficient passing completing 16-of-29 passes for 172 yards and a score and ran the read option well running for an additional 61 yards and two scores. Most importantly Wolford took care of the ball.

Matt Colburn, RB, Wake Forest- Another fill-in starter had a great day for the Deacs. Colburn subbing for Cade Carney rushed for a bruising 103 yards. He did just enough all day to get the tough yards for first downs. He also caught three passes for 28 yards.

Top Defensive Performers

Tegray Scales, LB, Indiana- The junior looked like the player Hoosier fans expected him to be. Scales led the team in tackles with 13 including two sacks, and three tackles for loss.

Jessie Bates, Strong Safety, Wake Forest- The Fort Wayne native had himself a monster day in his home state. Bates was a thorn in the side of Indiana all day making the biggest plays on defense. Bates had eight total tackles to go along with two interceptions. His first interception changed the tenure of the game when he grabbed a deflected pass in the end zone. His second pick was returned 55 yards for a touchdown. He also put the final nail in the coffin of the Hoosiers by recovering the onside kick.

Special Team Performance

One of our keys to victory for this game was Indiana’s ability to clean up the special teams performance. While most of the unit was good on Saturday, a blocked field goal was the issue as a Wake Forest defender came unblocked to stuff the try. A less obvious play was Rashard Fant fielding a punt inside the five-yard line. However, he did make up for it with a terrific return. These are the types of plays that IU needs to make in order to win games against good teams. They cannot continue to leave points on the field and expect to beat teams like Michigan State and Nebraska.

Outside of those issues, there were sound performances from both Griffin Oakes and punter Joseph Gedeon (41.3 net average). 

Key Stat(s)

Five for 17

The story of this game was the five interceptions thrown by quarterback Richard Lagow that turned into 17 Wake Forest points.

Turning Point

Once again the turning point of the game came early on in the contest. Indiana had already scored one touchdown and had driven all the way down to the Wake Forest eight yard line on a 10-play 63-drive when Lagow fired one high off the hands of Luke Timian. The pass was intercepted and returned out to the 39-yard line. Instead of having a two-score lead the Hoosiers found themselves tied at seven after a 12-play drive ended in a touchdown. The air had been sucked out of Memorial Stadium and IU really could not recover.

I Knew it Was Over When…

Indiana turned it over on downs with 3:14 left in the game down 33-21. Indiana would cut it to 33-28 and attempted an onside kick with 11 seconds left, but it was all but over after that fourth down failed.

Players of the Game

Ricky Jones, Indiana- Ricky Jones had an amazing day and got the Hoosiers back in the game with several big time long catches. After not having his number called often in the first two games, Jones finished with eight catches for 208 yards.

Jessie Bates, Wake Forest- He changed the game, plain and simple. Bates’s first interception set the tone for the defense after a rocky start, while his second pick gave the Deacs the lead for good.

What I took away from the game

This was a truly weird game. On one hand Indiana quarterback threw five interceptions that cost his team a shot at a third-straight win. On the other hand he threw for a program record 496 yards and somehow kept Indiana in this game enough that there was an onside kick attempt in the final seconds with IU down five points. Lagow almost simultaneously kept Indiana in and out of this game. But a loss is a loss and this one will sting, especially with Indiana heading into a three-game span of playing Michigan State, Ohio State, and Nebraska. The Hoosiers were without lineman Dan Feeney, who will be reevaluated heading into next week and Dimitric Camiel, who was dealing with a back issue, which clearly impacted the game, as they were never able to establish a running game with just 115 yards on the ground. Indiana will need these two players back in the lineup if they want to even begin to think about upsetting Michigan State next week.

There were many things to dislike in this loss. The interceptions were a major concern and brought calls for the back-up quarterback. Side note: If Wilson is not playing Austin King or Zander Diamont Saturday, then he probably won’t be replacing Lagow any time soon barring an injury or another five interception performance. Indiana’s offensive line was dominated at the line of scrimmage and could not keep holes open long enough to establish a running game. Devine Redding struggled to hit holes with authority and by the time Indiana started using Cole Gest and Devonte Williams it was too late.

The play calling at the end of both halves was not great. Indiana had a chance to put up points at the end of the first half as they got the ball back with 58 seconds left and three time outs. Instead of trying to push the field, they ran the ball twice before calling timeout with three seconds left. They may not have scored, but 58 seconds is a long time in college football and stealing three points was not out of the question. At the end of the game is was clear that Wake Forest was just keeping everything in front of them and Indiana was content to take what they could get, but down two scores you need to have a back who has a shot to take it all the way if you choose to run it, especially with no time outs.

This game is not a season killer, although it comes at an inopportune time. As we said in the pregame show, a loss would erase any margin of error the Hoosiers had this season. They now need four Big Ten wins to get to the postseason. It was just a weird game. If I told you to guess the score if Lagow throws for 496 yards, you probably answer that Indiana ran away with it. However, if I told you that Lagow threw five interception, the response would be IU lost by at least three scores. Instead both happened and Indiana lost by five. It’s weird, but if we have learned anything about Kevin Wilson’s Indiana teams, is that they usually play their best football after a bad game. This was a bad game.