Indiana football took a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, on a hot and windy October afternoon to face the undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers. Indiana was able to claw out a 20-17 victory, but not without a whole bunch of offensive struggles. Indiana football would have been handed its first loss in 21 games if it wasn’t for Nick Marsh‘s heroics.
Indiana only scored six points through three quarters of play. 28 mile per hour gusts of wind played a major factor in this, as did the 85,653 fans packed into the stadium. The wind made it difficult to throw or kick the ball, but this wasn’t the weakest part of Indiana’s game today.
Indiana had 65 yards on the ground, and 24 of those were Josh Hoover scrambles. Indiana had three yards per carry, and was never able to sustain drives because of it. In the first drive of the game Indiana had a 43 yard deep ball completion to Charlie Becker, but then Indiana had to settle for a field goal afterwards. In the next drive Indiana had a 37 yard completion over the middle to Marsh, but Indiana then failed to sustain that drive, which led to a punt.
Indiana’s lack of running ability put them in bad spots consistently throughout the game, but when they needed it the most, the passing attack came through.
Nebraska had just taken a 17-6 lead over Indiana, and the 85,653 were roaring. Indiana then took one play, threw the ball over the middle to Nick Marsh who was on a deep slant. He then took the ball, and exploded for a 75 yard touchdown to silence Memorial stadium.
“once I beat the safety, you know, I was like, I’m gone,” Marsh said. “But just right before that happened, we we’re kind of going back and forth on offense and defense. Defense was going out there making stops. Offense going out there coming up short. So the talk on the sideline was just belief. That was one of the biggest things we talked about I was just going up to guys like we got to believe”.
This is what separates Indiana from other teams. Under the Curt Cignetti era, Indiana has consistently been able to win these ugly games. Just this year Indiana has taken down Northwestern, but thinking to last years Iowa and Penn State games, Indiana is always able to come up in the clutch moments.
It is the championship DNA, and this game IU called on Nick Marsh.
Now IU was still down 17-13, and needed one ore touchdown. Cignetti knew just the playcall on fourth and one, and it worked perfectly as Marsh streaked wide open over the middle of the field and Hoover found him for the easy 44 yard touchdown.
“Kansas made that one famous… They covered the guy we thought would get the ball and Nick flashed open Josh found him and Nick made some big plays for us,” Cignetti said.
The play call was perfect, and the execution was down, as Indiana found Marsh again. He ended up with six catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns on the game.
Indiana looked dead throughout most of the game, but Nebraska let them hang in, and IU never lost faith. They stayed confident, even when things were bleak.
“I think it’s just grit and mental toughness, right?” Hoover said. “And never once did I ever feel any kind of panic like on the on the sideline or the locker room at all. And our coaches never felt that way, so you don’t feel it from the coaches”.
This confidence comes from the coaches and trickles down to the players, and it is why Indiana is now 6-0 on the year, with 22 wins in a row as a program. The game was far from perfect, but Indiana still was able to come through in big time moments. Another question has been answered for Indiana this season, as they trailed for most of this game, but still were able to find a way due to the two massive touchdowns from Marsh.
Indiana now will have a major clash against Ohio State, at home next Saturday.
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