Tom Allen and the Indiana football program traveled to East Lansing carrying a 7-game losing streak and took down the Spartans in double overtime on Saturday.
Dexter Williams II and the Hoosiers offense carried the load in their 39-31 double overtime victory against Michigan State on Saturday, despite only attempting SEVEN (!!) passes.
Williams II rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries but surprisingly wasn’t the leading rusher. Shaun Shivers stepped up to the plate and delivered for the Hoosiers, as he totaled 115 rushing yards on 13 carries and added up two touchdown runs in the road win. That wasn’t even it from the rushing attack. Josh Henderson also added 11 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown run as well.
Indiana football outgained Michigan State on the ground, 257-242. The Spartans outgained the Hoosiers in the passing attack, 298-31. Those stats are not skewed. That’s real life.
Shaun Shivers and company combined for the most rushing yards in a game for the Indiana football program since October 12, 2019, when Stevie Scott led the way for the Hoosiers rushing attack in a 260-rushing-yard effort in a rout of Rutgers.
Tom Allen’s defense allowed the Spartans to go for 540 total yards of offense and still somehow pulled out a victory.
The Hoosiers’ 540 total yards of offense allowed is the third-most this season, but Indiana has pulled out victories in two of those three games (Western Kentucky and Michigan State).
If you were to look at all the stats and box scores from this game without looking at the final outcome, you would have little-to-no doubt that Michigan State dominated the Hoosiers. WRONG!
All in all, Tom Allen might have just saved his job by bringing home the Old Brass Spittoon trophy back to Bloomington and carrying some heavy momentum into Saturday’s showdown with Indiana’s arch-rivals, Purdue.
What’s on the line for Hoosier Nation? Purdue could be playing in a high-level bowl game against another power conference team, but with a loss, they could end up playing a non-major conference team in a “not-so-important” bowl game.