Great Games - 87 Ohio State - Indiana University Athletics

July 15, 2005

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Over the month of July, IUHOOSIERS.com shines the spotlight on five unforgettable games in IU football history. This set of five contests came from an incredible interview with long-time radio personality Don Fischer. Each week, we will include not only the game recap from that season, but also thoughts straight from the Fischer interview. The third in our series is the Cream and Crimson's 1987 conquest of Ohio State.

1987 INDIANA 31, OHIO STATE 10
Oct. 10 - Columbus, Ohio
Attendance - 90,032

Indiana broke a 36-year drought and a 31-game winless streak against then-No. 9 Ohio State with a 31-10 win. It was 10-10 at halftime, but the Hoosiers thoroughly dominated the second half, limiting Ohio State to 10 yards rushing, 85 total yards and without a first down in the third quarter. A 40-yard punt return by Tony Buford set up IU's go-ahead touchdown, a 6-yard run by Tom Polce, and Dave Schnell threw for two scores in the final period. IU gained 405 yards to 264 for the Bucks and had the ball for almost 37 minutes. Anthony Thompson gained 126 yards rushing on 34 carries for IU, while Schnell hit on 15 of 23 tosses for 200 yards. Ernie Jones snared five passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.

DON FISCHER'S THOUGHTS
We played in Columbus the year before. We had a chance to beat them and we didn't. They were ninth-ranked in the country. We have a good football team and we know it. We don't know if it is a great football team, though. Dave Schnell is the quarterback, Ernie Jones is the wide receiver and Anthony Thompson is the running back. We had playmaker-type players, finally. This team got beat by Kentucky. We were 3-1 going into this game. We go to Columbus and we haven't beaten Ohio State in 36 years. We hadn't won since I started in 1973.

Thompson gained 126 yards rushing on 34 carries.

We play heads up with them through the first half. We are tied 10-10 at the half. The third quarter starts out. We gave up the ball with a punt. We stopped them and they gave up the ball and punted. With about three-and-a-half minutes to go in the third quarter, they punt to us. Tony Buford returns this punt 40 yards to get it down to around the 20-yard line. To me, this is the biggest play of the game. Buford sets up a go-ahead touchdown for us. From that point on, we dominate the football game. We just dominate them. It is like we had seen the handwriting on the wall, finally. We can get this thing done. Brian Dewitz, who was from Ohio, gets two interceptions in this ballgame. He just played terrific defensively in the last quarter and a half. Tom Polce, who was a journeyman-type fullback, just plowed over people. It was an impressive win. Ohio State's tradition, after every win, is to ring its church bell. At that point in time, they were ringing that bell for every point they scored in a win. Obviously, they didn't ring the bell this day. Not only did they not ring the bell, but (Ohio State head coach Earle) Bruce made the statement that this is the darkest day in the history of Ohio State football. It was 31-10.

Indiana made t-shirts up and put that statement, The Darkest Day in the History of Ohio State Football, on it. I got one. I still have it. On the front section, it has a V over the Ohio part of their logo. It has Indiana 31, Ohio State 10. I still have that. At any rate, that was a huge win for Indiana. They carried (Coach Bill) Mallory off the field on their shoulders.

Indiana University Athletics

Great Games - 87 Ohio State

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