Hoosiers’ Secondary Answers the Bell After Shaky First Half, but Not Satisfied

Written by Ethan Roberts

Absent playmaking defensive back Nic Toomer, the Hoosiers strolled into Indianapolis, Indiana for their third game of the season against the Louisville Cardinals.

The first half saw multiple miscues in the Hoosiers’ secondary. Philip Dunnam allowed a 43-yard completion to Jamari Thrash in the first quarter, which began a sequence of missed coverages by the Hoosiers. 

Thrash had an 85-yard touchdown on the next drive for the Cardinals to begin the scoring spree. 

The Cardinals went into the halftime break boasting a 21-0 lead and 302 yards of offense. But that giving up wasn’t in the cards for Tom Allen and company.

The talk in the locker room at half was as expected from Coach Tom Allen under his reign.

“It was serious,” linebacker Aaron Casey said. “We knew that we were beating ourselves more than they were beating us, so we just decided to walk in and trust each other to play our responsibilities and really just focus and hone in on what we had to do.”

Casey Noted a few adjustments they made at halftime. 

“We just decided to put more pressures up the middle,” Casey said. "Clog those holes up the middle and hard edges outside. We were able to do that, and it really was able to pay off for us.”

Coming out of half the Hoosiers executed an onside kick that lit a fire under the Hoosiers’ sideline.

“I didn’t know it was coming,” Casey said. “They kept me in the dark about it.”

The onside kick was recovered exactly 10 yards from the kickoff by defensive back Louis Moore, who said after the game that he was in on the play because he has one of the better sets of hands on the team.

“Behavior change, that’s what I was trying to get,” Moore said. "I was glad I was able to change the energy in the second half, but it shouldn’t have to be that for us to go out and play. We only have one opportunity against these boys.”

After allowing 302 yards in the first half, the Hoosiers held Louisville to 120 yards of offense and no points.

Down 14, the Hoosiers received a huge boost from Philip Dunnam who picked off Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer at the 2-yard line. 

The Hoosiers ended up falling to the Cardinals 21-14. The defense was able to mold back into the way they looked against Ohio State in the second half but couldn’t capitalize offensively. 

While they were able to hold a team that came into the weekend averaging 47.5 points per game to 21 points, Dunnam expressed dissatisfaction. When asked if the defense could walk away feeling good about the low number, he was blunt.

“No.”