Despite themselves, Indiana was able to persevere to a win over Rutgers 33-27. Indiana improves to 5-4 on the season, while Rutgers fall to 2-7, still searching for their first conference win.
It is a bittersweet day for Kevin Wilson. He got the win, but his team looked abysmal for the majority of it. Missed assignments on defense, a plethora of turnovers on offense, and a shocking performance by his special teams will make him reevaluate his team going forward.
Richard Lagow, who ended up having a decent finish, was terrible to start. He threw interceptions on two straight possessions, with no one to blame but himself. The problem with Lagow is that he stares down his receivers, making it incredible easy for defenders to predict where he is going with the ball. Lagow now has 14 interceptions on the season.
Following the consecutive interceptions, they put in backup quarterback Zander Diamont to shake things up. He quickly fumbled the ball which was returned for a touchdown. Nothing was working for the Hoosiers, and they were losing the game fast.
The Hoosiers eventually figured it out after Rutgers went ahead 24-13, putting together three straight touchdowns to give them a two score lead at 33-24, and finally put it away.
They lost the turnover battle 4-1. Usually when a team takes the ball away 3 more times than their opponent, they win the game. Luckily for Indiana, Rutgers was failing to capitalize on any of their opportunities.
Other than Rutgers first touchdown, Indiana’s defense wasn’t bad. If they clean up errors that lead to big plays, they will be just fine. The Hoosiers haven’t lost a game this season because of their defense, which is quite reassuring. They just need help from the offense to put them in risky situations.
It is remarkable how terrible these two teams looked on the day. Indiana couldn’t kick a field goal, or even an extra point for that matter, without it being blocked or sliced wide. Former Big Ten kicker of the year, Griffin Oakes, looks void of any confidence. It has gotten to the point where you expect him to miss every time he steps onto the field – distance does not matter. If I were Kevin Wilson and he misses one more field goal, I would start going for it on every 4th down inside the 35.
It is hard to pick out who Indiana’s best players were. Obviously Lagow will get most of the credit because he finished just shy of 400 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. That’s fair. He did orchestrate the comeback and lead his team, so give credit where credit is due. Other than that, Devine Redding turned it on late, scoring a pair of touchdowns, and Mitchell Paige ended with 100 yards. Solid offensive outings for those three.
A great sight for Hoosier fans was Camion Patrick scoring a 40 yard touchdown reception. The player that Kevin Wilson once named, “The best athlete on the team,” has been out due to injury for the majority of the season. Everyone is eager to see what he can do, and while it was the only time he touched the ball all game, it was a big one. Hopefully he will be able to contribute more as Indiana begins a tough stretch of games.
A lot needs to be done to this Hoosier team. If they played any one else in the Big Ten today, they would have lost. Their next two games are #12 Penn State at home, and #3 Michigan away. These two teams will trounce Indiana if they play at the same level.
Sometimes, though, teams just come out flat. The talent on this Indiana team is much better than what they showed today and they know it. They have a bad tendency to play up or down to the competition. I don’t doubt that they will give Penn State and Michigan good contests, but they won’t win them with where they are at the moment.