Game Recap: IU-Southern Illinois

Game Recap

The Indiana defense was abysmal to say the least during the first half on Saturday, and nowhere near par late in the game, but it got the one stop that mattered.

Indiana beat Southern Illinois 48-47 after stopping a Saluki two-point conversion attempt with 18 seconds to go.

Everyone can agree that this matchup was a lot closer than predicted, and it started with very poor defense on the Indiana side. Southern Illinois University, a Football Championship Subdivision school, ran a Big Ten school down to the final seconds with a chance to win.

A pair of major stops from the Indiana defense in the third quarter made the difference, allowing the Hoosiers to score 17 unanswered points in the third stanza.

On the offensive end, UAB transfer Jordan Howard lived up to the hype, recording 145 total yards and three touchdowns. Nate Sudfeld threw for 349 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions, proving to all the doubters that he was ready to come back to play for the Hoosiers.

Touchdowns and field goals were traded back and forth for almost the entire game, save for the 17-0 run by Indiana in the third.

Indiana finally got the stop they needed in the final seconds of the game on the two-point conversion attempt.

Player of the Game

Howard, the UAB transfer, showed that he was ready to play at a Big Ten school. While Ricky Jones had a great game of 186 receiving yards, Howard found the end zone three times. In his debut for the Hoosiers, Howard averaged 7.3 yards per carry, with a long of 35 yards, leading both squads. He also caught two passes for 25 yards.

Play of the Game

There could be several candidates for the play of the game. The 57-yard deep ball from Nate Sudfeld to Ricky Jones early in the third quarter would have to be in the conversation. Indiana trailed 32-21 coming out of the halftime locker room and had to score on the first series in order to regain some momentum. That happened quickly when Jones faked to the left and made a quick move across the middle and Sudfeld hit him in stride. Even more impressive was that a strong wind had come up to begin the third quarter and it was blowing in Sudfeld's face but it didn't faze him on the TD strike.

Another could be the play by Andre Brown Jr. at the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt.

But perhaps the biggest play of the game came early in the fourth quarter after Southern Illinois threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 38. On the ensuing point after, SIU was called for illegal substitution as it had 12 men on the field. The extra point attempt was moved 5 yards back and Austin Johnson hooked the attempt wide left. That kept the score at 38 all instead of 39-38 Southern Illinois. And its significance at the end is that instead of attempting a two-point conversion to win, the Salukis should have been kicking an extra point for the victory.

Turning Point

Again, there could be several candidates here. How Indiana came out at the half has to be one of them. At halftime, the Hoosiers trailed the Salukis 32-21. Indiana started a rampage in the third quarter. The halftime speech from coach Kevin Wilson must have been the words the Hoosiers needed. Indiana scored seven off a TD from Jones with a Griffin Oakes extra point. IU forced a punt on the next SIU series, and put three more on the board with an Oakes 45-yard field goal. The defense forced another stop and started another touchdown series. Devine Redding scored the final 3-yard touchdown rush and Oakes capped off the 17-point quarter with an extra point.

Best Offensive Unit

The running backs of Indiana were truly putting on a show on Saturday night. Howard and Redding combined for five of the six Hoosier touchdowns. Since the offensive line provided such great opportunities, the running back staff was able to capitalize, putting the Salukis in their place. Indiana ran for 246 yards on 42 carries as a team led by Howard with 145, Redding with 57 and even Sudfeld with 46 yards.

Best Defensive Unit

Let’s be honest here, there is no part of this game where one could say there was great defense. There was a mediocre defensive crew at best in the third quarter, but the majority was simply abysmal. The best of the worst is arguably the linebackers. Marcus Oliver had the two forced fumbles of the game, which was the shining light of the defensive darkness. Nick Mangieri had the only sack of the game from either team in a critical spot in the fourth quarter when he sacked Mark Iannotti for 3 yards on a third-and-nine play. IU was clinging to a 41-38 lead at the time. Aside from those two performances, so many football fans would have trouble finding anything else to praise.

Kicking Game

Griffin Oakes had two field goals in the second half with distances of 45 and 22 yards respectively. The kicking staff had six extra points made after six Hoosier touchdowns, three in each half. There were five punts taken by Erich Toth on Saturday, one of which was blocked. The other four totaled 162 yards, the long reaching 46 yards. The kickoffs averaged 64.1 yards, resulting in seven touchbacks from the Salukis.

Biggest Surprise

It is pretty obvious that the biggest surprise for most who watched this game was how close it really was. Indiana struggled to beat an FCS team, and would have lost
the game if the final two-point conversion had been made. IU was a 21-point favorite at kickoff, but that was quickly thrown out the window when SIU scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to lead the Hoosiers 11-7 in the first quarter. There was no point in the game when somebody could say that IU had it locked up until there were only 18 seconds left.

True Freshman Tracker

Every week there will be a blurb describing which true freshmen are coming into their roles and making plays for the Hoosiers. Below are all the statistics that freshmen recorded.

Jacob Robinson – 1 tackle
Jonathon Crawford – 8 tackles
Devonte Williams – 4 kick returns, 78 yards
Nick Westbrook -- 1 catch, 10 yards

In addition, the following true freshmen were listed in the participation list Saturday but did not accumulate statistics. Donavan Hale, Jameel Cook, Mike Majette and Leon Thornton.

Up Next

The Hoosiers will face Florida International University (1-0) on Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. in Bloomington. The Panthers beat UCF on Thursday 15-14, scoring a touchdown in each the third and fourth quarters after a 14-3 halftime deficit. FIU is located in the greater Miami area and is one of the largest universities in South Florida with more than 55,000 students.