Indiana Hoosiers: Top 5 games from the 2019-20 seasons
By Adam Childs
5. Football – Indiana 38 Nebraska 31
The Hoosiers traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska on October 26th looking to become bowl eligible before the calendar turned to November. Nebraska was not playing well, but they were still 4-3 with their losses coming to Ohio State, Minnesota, and Colorado.
The Hoosiers were coming off back to back wins against Rutgers and Maryland, but critics were still wondering if Indiana was any good or just knocking off bad teams. They had lost to Ohio State and just came up short against Michigan State.
Indiana needed a prove-it game and while the Cornhuskers weren’t great, it is always tough to win in Lincoln. The Hoosiers had only played Nebraska one other time since they had joined the Big Ten and that was a 27-22 loss in Bloomington in 2016.
The Hoosiers hadn’t beat Nebraska since 1959, but that can be a little deceiving as they had only played five times in that stretch. Coming into the game, though, Indiana held a 9-8 all-time edge in the series.
Indiana, with a win, would become bowl eligible for the first time since 2016 and do it before November. It would also give them their first three-game Big Ten winning streak since 1993. The Hoosiers were looking to do things rarely seen in Bloomington.
It didn’t start off well for the Hoosiers as Nebraska scored a touchdown on their first two possessions and led 14-3 halfway through the first quarter. Peyton Ramsey, who was starting for the injured Michael Penix Jr. would lead the Hoosiers down for a touchdown on the next possession but a missed extra point kept the game at 14-9.
The Hoosiers finally got a stop and went down and scored again for the first lead at 16-14, but the Cornhuskers responded with another touchdown and would go into the half up 21-16. The third quarter belonged to the Hoosiers as they outscored Nebraska 15-3 to take a 31-24 lead going into the final quarter.
Stevie Scott would score to start the fourth quarter to expand the lead to 38-24, but the Cornhuskers again come right back with a touchdown to cut the lead to 38-31. Nebraska forced Indiana to punt on their ensuing possession.
The Cornhuskers would march down all the way to the Hoosiers 34 but the defense stepped up and got the stop and the Hoosiers were able to milk the last 3:23 off the clock for the big win.
It was a career day for Ramsey as he threw for a career-best 351 yards through the air and two touchdowns. Whop Philyor was great also, hauling in 14 catches for 178 yards. It was another dominating performance from Philyor and one that again announced his presence as one of the best receivers in the Big Ten.
It was a huge win for the Hoosiers and one that showed they had turned the corner this year. The would beat Northwestern the next week to extend their winning streak to four games and would get them ranked in the top 25 for the first time in decades.
This was the type of win the Hoosiers would not have gotten in years past and has shown how much they have grown under Tom Allen. Anytime you can get a win at Nebraska is huge and to get to bowl eligibility before November had IU fans thinking big.