Indiana did what great teams do.
It won.
The Hoosiers’ 20-17 victory against Nebraska on Saturday was far from pretty. It was far from complete. Still, it said more about this team’s character and status than a smooth sail to the finish.
“A win like this has a lot of value,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said.
Indiana came into Saturday’s game on a 21-game winning streak. The Hoosiers haven’t had a single second in the last nine games with a deficit.
The Hoosiers last trailed in the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State in December. In 32 Indiana wins under Cignetti, 1915 minutes of football, Indiana had trailed for just 99:09. In two losses, 120 minutes of football, Indiana had trailed for 78:41.
The Hoosiers trailed for 43:23 against Nebraska.
Indiana hasn’t seen a game like this in the Cignetti era. In the past, when IU wins, it rarely trails. When IU loses, it usually trails for most of the game.
Indiana looked headed to its third loss of the Cignetti era and its first in 22 games. Then, Indiana did what it has done for 22 consecutive games. It found a way to win.
“You want to be in these games,” Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “You want to be down. You want to know what it feels like to touch the stove.”
The stove was hot. It was almost hot enough to burn Indiana’s powerful hand that has gripped college football.
It was almost hot enough to burn that hand. Just not enough.
Nebraska was 8-for-11 on third-down conversions in the first half. It ran 43 plays to Indiana’s 16. It held Indiana to 12 rushing yards. The Cornhuskers dominated the Hoosiers in the first 30 minutes. Despite the uncharacteristic play, Indiana went into the halftime break trailing only 10-3, with the ball coming its way in the third quarter.
Indiana had not trailed at the end of 128 of the 136 quarters of football in the previous 34 games of the Cignetti era. Indiana has only trailed at the end of multiple quarters in the same game now four times. The two losses along with the Big Ten Championship and Saturday’s game against Nebraska.
Indiana trailed at the end of three quarters on Saturday, bumping the total to 11. It did not trail at the end of the only quarter that matters – the fourth.
Indiana was outgained by Nebraska and was held to just 65 rushing yards. Nebraska ran 83 plays to Indiana’s 44 and possessed the ball for over 39 minutes. Indiana was down 17-6 in the fourth quarter. Everything pointed in the direction of a Nebraska win.
Nick Marsh, Josh Hoover, the defense and a will to win pointed the other direction.
“You’ve got to have an indomitable will,” Cignetti said. “A will that cannot be defeated or subdued. And you’ve got to be resilient. You have the ability to overcome the unexpected. And that no matter how bad it gets, that you never let anxiety, frustration enter your mindset, that you’re going to find a way. It’s just a matter of time.”
Indiana outscored Nebraska 17-7 in the second half. Both touchdowns came in the air from Josh Hoover to Nick Marsh.
Hoover finished 12-for-22 passing for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Marsh was responsible for six receptions for 187 yards and both touchdowns.
“Never once did I feel any kind of panic on the sideline,” Hoover said. “Just a great response by our team. Never panic, just keep playing.”
Indiana did not play a perfect game. Indiana did not play its best game. It did, however, do enough to win. The Hoosiers are 6-0 and have won 22 games in a row. It does not matter how.
“There’s going to be a lot of things we don’t like on tape. I’ll tell you that right now, but we did just enough,” Cignetti said.
The biggest road test of the season to this point is now passed and over with. Now comes what is undoubtedly the biggest test of the season as Ohio State comes to Bloomington next Saturday for a battle of top-ten undefeated programs.
