Undaunted: Hoosiers Hammer Spartans 47-10 to Secure Historic 9-0 Start and Brass Spittoon

Written by: TJ Inman

There were questions about whether or not IU could win in a hostile atmosphere. Questions about Kurtis Rourke’s surgically-repaired thumb. Questions about how IU would handle Aidan Chiles. The national analysts continue to wonder whether or not IU is for real. The Indiana Hoosiers fell behind 10-0, trailing for the first time all season, before roaring to life and hammering the Michigan State Spartans in a 47-10 route. The victory gives IU the Old Brass Spittoon and the 37-point win is the largest in series history for the Hoosiers (beating the 31-0 win in Bloomington in 1991). More importantly, Indiana has a nine-game winning and is 9-0, both firsts in the long history of IU’s program.

Indiana had the ball first and Kurtis Rourke zipped his first pass to Elijah Sarratt for nine yards but a loss on second down and an incompletion on third down forced IU to go three and out and give the ball to Michigan State. The Spartans converted a third down with a terrific catch by Nick Marsh before IU’s defense buckled down and forced a 46-yard field goal. The Spartans nailed the attempt and gave Michigan State a 3-0 lead. The points were the first IU had surrendered in any first quarter and it was the first time the Hoosiers had trailed all season. Indiana was unable to respond right away as Miles Cross dropped a pass and IU went three and out again. Aidan Chiles got into a rhythm and caused issues for the Hoosiers as he escaped the pocket and evaded pressure to connect with Marsh to give the Spartans a 10-0 advantage. For the first time all season, IU had been punched in the mouth. The Hoosiers had all kinds of answers. On IU’s next drive, the offense got into a groove and went seven plays for 75 yards, ending the drive with a touchdown pass to a wide-open Zach Horton for an 18-yard touchdown. Aidan Chiles had a pass tipped by Aiden Fisher and then intercepted by Amare Ferrell and the Hoosiers then pinned the Spartans on the seven-yard line. MSU had to punt and IU took advantage of solid field position, got a big gain from Myles Price on a sweep and TySon Lawton hammered it in for a short touchdown to give the lead to Indiana at 14-10. On the next third down for MSU, Amare Ferrell jumped in front of a receiver and snared his second interception to give IU the ball in Michigan State territory. Indiana wasted no time capitalizing and Kurtis Rourke found Elijah Sarratt for a short score to put IU ahead 21-10 before the half. The Hoosiers had eight tackles for loss in the first 30 minutes and completely shut down MSU’s running game.

The Spartans had the ball to begin the second half but they still had no solution for IU’s defense. Chiles was sacked by James Carpenter and the resulting punt was blocked by D’Angelo Ponds in the end zone. The punter smartly swatted the ball out of bounds to give the Hoosiers a safety. Indiana then got the ball at the 35-yard line, converted a 3rd and 14 to Omar Cooper on a slant over the middle and then finished the drive with a beautiful play to Myles Price for an 18-yard touchdown to give IU a commanding 30-10 lead. The Spartans got a couple of first downs but Aidan Chiles was knocked out of the game on another hit by Mikail Kamara and the Hoosiers forced a turnover on downs against backup quarterback Tommy Schuster. Nicolas Radicic connected on a 29-yard field goal to make it 33-10 and IU’s defense continued to dominate the Michigan State offensive line, pressuring Schuster on every drop back. Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan was in his bag, keeping MSU off-balance on defense and racking up points for the Hoosiers. Omar Cooper added another touchdown with a 16-yard touchdown and Elijah Sarratt got his second receiving touchdown to make it 47-10.

After falling behind 10-0, the Indiana Hoosiers were completely and utterly dominant. IU racked up 15 tackles for loss, seven sacks and held the Spartans to -.8 yards per carry in the blowout win. Kurtis Rourke, despite wearing a modified glove to protect his thumb, was comfortable all afternoon. He threw for 263 yards on 19 completions with four touchdowns. IU had 385 total yards, outgaining MSU by 180 yards and again scoring more than 40 points. The Hoosiers will find out on Tuesday where they rank in the initial College Football Playoff rankings but they know for sure that they are 9-0 for the first time in program history and they are tied with Oregon at 6-0 at the top of the Big Ten. IU hosts Michigan this coming Saturday at sold-out Memorial Stadium.