Indiana survives road scare at Nebraska to remain unbeaten

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Hoosiers’ 21-game win streak was on the line when they invaded Memorial Stadium Saturday, and the reigning National Champs found themselves in a dogfight inside the Sea of Red.

Indiana trailed Nebraska for most of the afternoon, but made the clutch plays down the stretch when it mattered the most, and won the game 20-17. It was the first time this season that Curt Cignetti’s squad faced adversity, so he had to make halftime adjustments, and eventually a light bulb turned on for his players.

The sold out crowd of 85,000-plus fans didn’t make it easy for the No. 7 team in the nation though, and the noise levels at times were deafening. The Huskers played with a sense of urgency, and Cignetti knew his boys had a slim margin for error on the road in a hostile environment. Nebraska (5-1) marched right down the field on the initial drive of the game, and drew first blood, but Indiana held the opposition to a field goal.

The Hoosiers responded with a scoring drive of their own, and tied the game up with a 42-yard field goal from Nico Radicic. However, the Huskers navigated a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive towards the end of the first quarter, that took over five minutes off the clock, and shifted the momentum back to their side.

A scoreless second quarter resulted in Indiana being down at halftime for the first time this year, but Cignetti never panicked, and kept his players focused.

“I think the biggest thing is we just settled down, we got them settled down at halftime, and I took a deep breath throughout the first half, accepted the corrections, made the adjustments and committed to one play at a time,” Cignetti said. “I told them good teams find a way to win games like this in the end.”

The Hoosiers came out a different team in the second half, and played inspired. Quarterback Josh Hoover finally settled down, the rest of the offense operated with more discipline, and the defense tackled better. That’s when Cignetti knew his halftime speech worked, and everyone gained confidence.

“When we left the locker room at halftime, I wanted to look them all in the eye,” he said. “After all, we didn’t play very well in the first half, and Nebraska played great and dominated us, and then you can see it start to turn.”

Indiana started to chip away, and trimmed Nebraska’s lead to four points after Radicic’s second field goal of the afternoon. Still, the Huskers kept their foot on the gas pedal, and quarterback Anthony Colandrea burned the Hoosiers’ defense for a 39-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, that sent Memorial Stadium into a frenzy.

Despite Indiana’s limited ground attack, Cignetti noticed Nebraska’s secondary had some breakdowns in coverage, and exploited that weakness. Although the Hoosiers trailed by 11 points, they answered the bell with the most explosive play of the game. On the first play of Indiana’s next possession, Hoover threw a frozen rope between two defenders to wideout Nick Marsh, who ran it for an 80-yard touchdown after the catch, and silenced the crowd.

“It was really loud, we had to go silent, and I thought we responded with an immediate touchdown, and had two stops on defense that finally broke through for the offense,” the 65-year old said. “Early on it was obvious that they were committed to stopping the run, and a certain RPO, so we really never got the run game going.”

The game came down to a crucial fourth down for the Hoosiers’ offense midway through the fourth quarter, and they caught the Blackshirts out of position. Hoover found a wide open Marsh downfield, who ran it in for his second touchdown, and the Hoosiers took their first lead of the contest. At that point, all of the momentum had shifted to Indiana’s side, and that’s where it stayed for the remainder of the afternoon.

The Huskers did get another opportunity to tie it up with a field goal, or take back the lead with a touchdown, but the Hoosiers’ defense prevented that from happening. Cignetti dialed up the pressure on Colandrea, and sacked him on fourth down, which sealed the victory.

Once the smoke cleared, Nebraska led Indiana in every major statistical category, which included total offense, plays, third down conversions and time of possession. Regardless of the matter, a fourth quarter of execution by the Hoosiers on both sides of the ball turned out to be the difference.

Hoover completed 12 of his 22 passses for 263 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked twice, but didn’t turn the ball over. Indiana (6-0) struggled to run the ball, and finished with a season-low, 65 yards on the ground. Marsh hauled in six passes for a game-high, 187 yards, in which 107 of those came after the catch, to go along with two scores.

Radicic handled business, and made both of his field goals. Defensively, Isaiah Jones and Amare Ferrell generated nine tackles apiece. Rolijah Hardy, and Jamari Sharpe each added eight stops. Sharpe also had an interception. Stephen Daley posted two sacks. Not to mention Byron Baldwin, and Tobi Osunsanmi made Colandrea eat grass.

Cignetti feels pulling out a close win on the road in conference play is only going to make his team stronger to handle the Big Ten gauntlet ahead. He realizes everyone wants a piece of the reigning National Champs, and expects the best from the opposition each week, but his team is going to keep rolling with the punches.

“You have to overcome the unexpected, and no matter how bad it gets, that you never let anxiety or frustration enter your mindset.”