Indiana (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) escaped defeated on the road in Iowa City, Iowa as they beat Iowa (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) 20-15 on Saturday afternoon.
Indiana and Curt Cignetti were able to avoid a classic trap game at Kinnick Stadium against a very defensive-minded Iowa squad and veteran head coach Kirk Ferentz.
Iowa finished the game with 284 yards of total offense, including 192 passing yards. Indiana ended with 337 yards of total offense, the lowest number of yards by far this season for the Hoosiers.
Heisman Trophy favorite Fernando Mendoza completed 13-of-23 passes for 233 yards and threw for two touchdowns against one interception against Iowa's stout defense. His leading wide receiver was Elijah Sarratt caught six passes for 132 yards and the score.
Indiana held Iowa's offense to 284 yards and just 13 points. Linebacker Isaiah Jones led the way with eight tackles, while safeties Louis Moore and Amare Ferrell had an interception each. The Hoosiers were shorthanded, as All-American cornerback D’Angelo Ponds missed the game with an injury.
On the other side, Mark Gronowski completed 19-of-25 passes for 144 yards and an interception before suffering a injury late in the fourth quarter. He was replaced by Auburn transfer and sophomore Hank Brown who struggled going went 5 for 13 for 48 yards with an interception.
Indiana survived a trip to Kinnick Stadium after an odd sequence of kneel downs. At the end of the game as time as set to expire, on fourth down quarterback Fernando Mendoza ran backward 40 yards and slid in his own end zone to run out the clock.
Mendoza on what exactly happen late game at Iowa: "I didn't want to ever put our team in jeopardy, maybe if I slide with one second left there might be some quirk where we might have to punt it," Mendoza told the IndyStar. "I just wanted to get out of the safety, and I know I shouldn't be saying this, I probably cooked people's spreads and I really apologize for that. However in that moment, my goal was to win the game."
Redshirt senior offensive lineman Pat Coogan delivered a passionate message to the team heading into the fourth quarter:
“So, I thought it was my job and my responsibility as a leader of this team to kind of just rally the troops a little bit and get everyone refocused,” Coogan said postgame. “And it was also the start of the fourth quarter, we gotta win the fourth quarter. So that was kind of the message, just refocus, and we gotta focus on executing. I told them ‘We're gonna win this game, this is why we train so hard.’”
For the Iowa Hawkeyes they go on a bye week this upcoming Saturday, their next game is in Madison at Wisconsin.
Indiana (5-0) is also on a bye week, next week and then will travel to Eugene, Oregon to play the no. 6 ranked Oregon Ducks who will likely be a top five team with their huge road win over No. 3 Penn State.