This year’s Indiana Hoosiers football team decided yesterday that it’s time to remind IU fans what it was like to watch IU football in the B.C. era. The B.C. era means “Before Cignetti!” The first 53 minutes of yesterday’s game at Nebraska was as nerve wracking as any game between 1962 and 2023 when the defense couldn’t cover receivers or stop the quarterback, and the offense suddenly was unable to find openings through which we could run the ball. It was so upsetting that midway through the third quarter, for a minute or so I considered turning it off and watching something else, like I have done for IU basketball games the past 25 years!
Nebraska was too much like Northwestern—a persistent, tough, motivated team, with a talented QB that made plays and made the seventh-ranked Hoosiers look overrated. And maybe they are. Former Ohio State coach, Urban Meyer, thinks they are. He says IU has played a soft schedule so far and that IU’s players weren’t ready to play a full four-quarter game. He was the only Fox Sports pregame analyst who picked Nebraska to upset Indiana. Well, he was almost right.
For reasons unknown, Nebraska began to have problems in early parts of the 4th quarter. As Buck Suhr, Don Fischer’s color man on the IU radio broadcast said, “Nebraska is being Nebraska”—A good team that lacks the discipline to win a close game. Suddenly, the QB’s passes were off the mark, they made timely miscues and penalties while IU made two fabulous pass plays, one on 4th and one that put IU ahead. On 4th down, with only one yard needed for a first down, IU went for it. Nebraska’s defense, expecting a run, crowded the line of scrimmage leaving wide receiver, Nick Marsh, wide open behind the defense. QB Josh Hoover hit Marsh with a short pass that led Marsh to a 44-yard touchdown run putting IU ahead 20-17. They never lost the lead thereafter.
IU was the inferior team for 53 minutes yesterday. Then, someone switched the roles and Nebraska became inept, and IU became world beaters. Was it IU being National Champions or Nebraska being Nebraska? I think it was a little of both. I wish the Hoosiers wouldn’t take so long to get engaged and play like they’re capable of. Next week, Ohio State comes to Bloomington, and IU better not have a 53-minute lapse in engaging or they’ll fall into a deep, inescapable hole. IU must have a better run game. Hoover better get rid of the ball quicker, and the defensive secondary has to cover receivers better. This wide open stuff gets us in trouble.
IU won yesterday because we have the best coach in the country who makes gutsy decisions that catch opponents unprepared yet win games—ala Mendoza’s TD run on 4th and 5! in the Miami championship game.
Our luck is running thin, but maybe he and his Hoosiers can be the tough, disciplined team we have been missing for decades.
