Hoosiers Survive a Sloppy Performance to Retain Old Oaken Bucket

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Things were rarely pretty and they were never easy but the Indiana Hoosiers relied on a strong defensive performance and did just enough on offense to survive the Purdue Boilermakers and win the Old Oaken Bucket for a fourth straight season. IU's Jonathan Crawford intercepted a David Blough pass in the end zone to keep the Hoosiers ahead by four points with just over a minute remaining to seal a trip back to a bowl game and a 6-6 finish for the Hoosiers. 

The game started off as poorly as possible for the hosts as Richard Lagow threw an interception that Purdue's Markus Bailey returned to the one yard line. Markell Jones ran it in on Purdue's first play to give the Boilermakers the 7-0 lead. Indiana quickly responded as Devine Redding ran the ball well and set up a play-action completion to Mitchell Paige for a 27 yard touchdown to tie the game. Purdue turned the ball on downs on their next possession but the Hoosiers gave the ball back as Lagow threw another interception to Markus Bailey. The Indiana defense stood tall and forced the Boilers to punt. IU had its best drive of the day as Zander Diamont helped lead the offense on a 10 play, 80 yard drive that ended in a one yard score for IU's back-up QB that gave Indiana a 14-7 lead. Purdue answered with a nice drive that stalled inside of the ten yard line. Purdue settled for a short field goal of 23 yards and the score was 14-10. The Hoosiers punted and then forced the first mistake from David Blough as he was intercepted by Jonathan Crawford. IU was unable to convert for a touchdown but they did connect on a 29 yard field goal from Griffin Oakes to make it 17-10. Purdue scored late in the first half as David Blough found Cameron Posey for a touchdown. They failed to tie the game as Nate Hoff blocked the extra point. Richard Lagow threw his third interception on a Hail Mary as the first half clock expired. 

Purdue started the second half with a nice drive that ended in a 31 yard touchdown pass to DeAngelo Yancey. The Boilers elected to go for two but failed to convert. Indiana's offense was in an almighty funk and Zander Diamont compounded the misery as he threw an interception that set Purdue up at the Indiana 31 yard line. Once again, the defense stood tall and kept Purdue from scoring. The game headed to the fourth quarter with Indiana trailing by six and their bowl hopes in serious doubt. Griffin Oakes hit a 46 yard field goal to cut the deficit to two points and the IU defense forced another Purdue punt that gave the Hoosiers the ball at the 39 yard line. Zander Diamont came back into the game and IU leaned on the ground game, moving the ball down the field methodically and finally scoring as Devine Redding bulled his way for the go-ahead score with 4:59 left. Indiana failed the two-point conversion and led 26-22. The Boilermakers advanced inside the IU 30 yard line but on 4th and 14, Blough fired into the end zone and it was intercepted by Crawford for the second time. The Hoosiers ran the clock down to 11 seconds and wisely decided to have Zander Diamont run out clock and take an intentional safety that made the score 26-24 with only one second remaining. Purdue tried to pull off a miracle kick return but the play was quickly broken up by Indiana and Ralph Green hoisted the Old Oaken Bucket and held up four fingers on the sideline. Despite an ugly and incredibly stressful afternoon, the Indiana Hoosiers ensured they will be playing in a bowl game for the second straight season and they matched a program-record with their fourth straight Bucket victory. 

Indiana's offense struggled, particularly after the first quarter, but Devine Redding managed to churn out 99 yards with a touchdown. David Blough, the Big Ten's leading passer, was limited to only 225 yards and two touchdowns in addition to two interceptions. The star of the day was IU's defense as they repeatedly kept the Hoosiers within striking distance despite being put into tough situations by the sputtering offense. The Boilermakers ran the ball 34 times for only 42 yards and IU did not allow a Purdue score after the opening drive of the second half.