Drive For the Ages Gives Hoosiers 23-20 Victory

Image: IU Athletics

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

For the first time since 1995, the Indiana Hoosiers played a Friday night game at Memorial Stadium. IU (1-0) opened the 2022 season with an extremely important contest against Illinois (1-1) and despite a woeful rushing attack and an offense that sputtered for nearly all of the second half, the Hoosiers engineered a memorable drive to stage a comeback 23-20 win .

Chase Brown led the way for the Illini, rushing for 204 yards on 36 carries. Connor Bazelak got the nod at quarterback for Indiana and connected on some big plays to net 330 yards through the air despite only completing 28 of 52 passes. Cam Camper had 147 receiving yards and D.J. Matthews had 118 to lead the Hoosiers attack.

The Fighting Illini took the ball first and advanced with a pair of first downs for star running back Chase Brown. Cam Jones put a stop to the drive with a sack of Tommy DeVito on third down that forced a punt. The Hoosiers showed their new up-tempo attack on third down with a quick snap that Connor Bazelak rifled to Cam Camper for forty yards. That set Indiana up for a 39-yard field goal from Charles Campbell that split the uprights to open the scoring. Illinois responded with a strong drive. Starting the 17-yard line, Illinois marched 83 yards on ten plays, capping the drive with jet sweep touchdown for Isaiah Williams to make it 7-3. Indiana picked up a couple of first downs but were unable to move into scoring territory, pinning Illinois at the eight-yard line with a punt from James Evans. Illinois targeted tight end Luke Ford but he had the ball dislodged by Alfred Bryant and IU’s Cam Jones pounced on it for a fumble recovery at the Illinois 43-yard line. The Hoosiers offense was unable to capitalize on the takeaway, quickly going three and out and giving the ball back to Illinois. The Fighting Illini continued to run the ball well, picking up a pair of first downs before being stymied on third down by a Bradley Jennings Jr. sack. A poor punt gave IU the ball at the 48-yard line and the Hoosiers took one play to strike. Connor Bazelak lofted a perfect ball behind the Illinois defense and D.J. Matthews caught it in stride and sprinted into the end zone for a 52-yard score to make it 10-7. Illinois took to the air and got two long pass plays that set them up in IU territory before settling for a 29-yard field goal to tie the game at ten. Connor Bazelak again connected with Cam Camper to help get IU into scoring territory but the lack of running game limited what the offense could do and they were held to another field goal, this one from 43 yards. With the score at 13-10, the Hoosiers forced a quick punt from the Illini and took the ball back with 3:59 left in the first half. A nice completion to Emory Simmons got IU to the Illinois 31-yard line and another Charles Campbell from 43 yards out made it 16-10 at the half.

IU got the ball to begin the second half but things went very badly, very quickly. On just the second play of the half, Bazelak threw a pass that went off Andison Coby’s hands and fell into the mitts of an Illinois defender. The Illini ran it back to the Indiana 41-yard line. Two plays later, star linebacker Cam Jones hurt his lower leg and had to exit the game. Brian Hightower dove into the end zone to cap a five-play drive that gave Illinois a 17-16 lead. The Indiana offense, which had some explosive plays in the first half, struggled to do anything positive after the break. Bazelak picked up a first down on the ground but the drive stalled and IU had to punt it back. The Hoosiers had Illinois facing a third and long but a pass interference penalty on Tiawan Mullen gave the Illini a first and goal chance. The Hoosiers stiffened and forced a fourth down which Illinois went for. JH Tevis led a group that burst into the backfield and stuffed Chase Brown to give IU the ball back. Again though, the offense could not seize momentum and went three and out. Illinois had another chance to go up by more than a point but again turned it over, this time Tommy DeVito overthrew a pass that was intercepted inside the ten-yard line by Josh Sanguinetti. Indiana took over with just less than six minutes remaining inside of the five-yard line. Indiana finally got a couple of first downs but Cam Camper had the ball stripped on his way down and Illinois recovered the fumble to take over at the IU 45-yard line. Illinois converted a third and six on a slant to Isaiah Williams to keep possession and bleed the clock. On third and 12 with 2:34 remaining, IU stopped Illinois short and forced a 48-yard field goal by Caleb Griffin. The kicker split the uprights and made it 20-16 with 2:16 left in the contest. Indiana took over at the 25-yard line with no timeouts. Matthews had three short catches to open the drive and picked up one first down. Cam Camper picked up another first down with a 17-yard completion to move it across midfield. Matthews had another first down on a tunnel screen and Camper caught a nine-yard pass to get inside the 15. Matthews had another catch to get inside the five-yard line as Illinois called a timeout with 49 seconds remaining. Bazelak threw it away on first and goal as Illinois pressured. Bazelak scrambled to the one on second down and Shaun Shivers plunged into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown with 23 seconds remaining. Charles Campbell hit the extra point to make it 23-20. Illinois took possession at the 25-yard line. Isaiah Williams had a 19-yard catch to move it to the 44-yard line but Beau Robbins sacked DeVito with seven seconds left to put Illinois in an even tighter bind. On the final play of the game, a lateral was recovered by Jaylin Williams and the Hoosiers escaped with a monumental 23-20 victory.

IU surrendered 221 yards on the ground and only gained 32 themselves. They were outgained 453-362 and Illinois had the ball for more than 36 minutes of the contest. However, the defense had four takeaways and Connor Bazelak, with the aid of D.J. Matthews and Cam Camper, led a drive for the ages to give Indiana the 23-20 win. The Hoosiers will stay at home to host Idaho next Saturday night.