Crimson Wins Spring Game in 42-36 Shootout

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Postcard weather and an energetic crowd greeted the Indiana Hoosiers as they took the field at Memorial Stadium for the first Spring Game of the “Tom Allen Era”. Fans and special guest Jon Gruden were treated to a good show as the Hoosiers wrapped up Spring practice with an exhibition that took overtime to decide.

After both teams went three-and-out on their first drives, Richard Lagow and the Cream offense found a rhythm and opened the scoring. Lagow led an 8-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a touchdown catch by Simmie Cobbs. Indiana fans were certainly pleased to see the redshirt junior back on the field and looking dominant. The Crimson team quickly responded. They converted a pair of fourth downs on their way to a touchdown as redshirt freshman Peyton Ramsey scrambled into the end zone for the tying score.

Richard Lagow was pressured on third and long and a familiar problem popped up as he fired the ball to the outside, right into the waiting arms of Rashard Fant. The Crimson team capitalized on the mistake as Ramsey stepped up in the pocket and rifled a laser to tight end Ian Thomas for the go-ahead score.

The two squads competed in a field goal competition in between the first and second quarters and the second quarter began with the Crimson team leading 20-16. Austin King came in to play quarterback for the Crimson team but they were unsuccessful on third down and forced to punt. Lagow led a drive that resulted in a 34-yard field goal for Griffin Oakes and the lead was trimmed to 20-19. The teams struggled on offense for the remainder of the first half and the score was 20-19 in favor of the Crimson.

The second half was played with a running clock and the offenses woke back up a bit. A long run by Marcelino Ball, typically a stud on defense, jumpstarted things and Peyton Ramsey hooked up on a beautiful route to Taysir Mack for a quick score to put the Crimson team up 27-19. The field goal kickers again participated in a kicking competition between quarters and the score was 36-28 Crimson to begin the final quarter.

The Cream squad ran a trick play that resulted in a 68-yard pass from Isaac James to Ricky Brookins. Two plays later, Lagow found Ricky Brookins on a swing pass that resulted in a touchdown. Brookins collided with Rashard Fant and the All-Big Ten corner stayed on the field for a brief period of time before walking off under his own power. Brookins scored the two-point conversion to tie the game at 36 with 3:40 to play. The game went to overtime with the Cream team getting possession first. Ricky Brookins, who had an outstanding game as a receiver out of the backfield, fumbled a potential trick play and the Crimson squad finished things off as Alex Rodriguez ran into the end zone to finalize the 42-36 Crimson victory.

Stay tuned to Hoosier Huddle for more in-depth Spring Game coverage!