Indiana Defeats Wake Forest, Remains Undefeated

Saturday, September 26

Winston-Salem, N.C.

12:30 p.m.

Indiana University

4-0

Wake Forest

2-2 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Indiana

Wake Forest

Indiana Defeats Wake Forest, Remains Undefeated

9/26/2015 4:37:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | @Sam_Beishuizen

By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com

Winston-Salem, N.C. - For the first time in 25 years, Indiana football improved to 4-0 to start the season.

But it didn't come without excitement.

IU (4-0) defeated Wake Forest 31-24 in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, to cap off an undefeated non-conference season. The Hoosiers never trailed but were forced to fend off a late Demon Deacons fourth-quarter rally that featured 14 unanswered points, an onside kick and a pass breakup in the end zone on 4^th-and-20.

The win was Indiana's first on the road since upsetting Missouri 31-27 on Sept. 20, 2014.

"It was a good win," head coach Kevin Wilson said. "We made it hard at the end. We continued to improve and we finally started to get a better pass balance. We're very fortunate to win. We played pretty good defense until the end, but we got a little rattled. It's good to be 4-0, and we're pleased with the win today."

Indiana never trailed, using a balanced effort between offense and defense to seal the win.

Senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld wasn't perfect in soggy conditions, but was able to completed 19-of-34 passes for 205 yards, including touchdowns to redshirt junior Ricky Jones and sophomore Simmie Cobbs, Jr., in the first half.

Beishuizen: Cobbs Emerging as Potent Threat

Junior running back Jordan Howard and sophomore Devine Redding continued to pound away, combining for 216 yards. Howard scored Indiana's only offensive touchdown in the third quarter on a 2-yard rush that, at the time, put IU up 24-10.

The Hoosiers ended the game with 416 yards of total offense against a Wake Forest defense that entered play ranked No. 9 in the country in allowing 254 yards per game.

"Their offensive line is really good," Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said. "They were picking up all the movements and blitzes and everything we were throwing at them."

Though the offense kept pace, Wilson credited the defense for making the necessary plays to win the game.

Perhaps the most important play, Wilson said, was sophomore safety Tony Fields' 20-yard pick-six with 10:22 left in the fourth quarter. The interception return—IU's second touchdown off an interception this season—proved to be the game-winning score, putting the Hoosiers up 31-10 before the Demon Deacons rattled off 14 unanswered points.

"Defensively, we got a little rattled," Wilson said. "It was nice to keep playing, get a little pressure, and good to close it out. We made it harder than we needed to. Wake played really, really good. They played hard, which I thought they would. We were very fortunate to win, very proud, and very happy."

Fields' interception likely wouldn't have been possible without the Hoosiers' pass rush forcing Wake Forest freshman quarterback Kendall Hinton into making a poor throw. The front seven was as disruptive as its been all season, recording six sacks and eight tackles for loss.

Players like senior Nick Mangieri, junior Darius Latham and sophomore Tegray Scales broke into the backfield often enough to force Wake Forest into enough mistakes to help IU's defense seal the win.

"We game-planned it, and it was just the same stuff we saw all week and we really got after them today," fifth-year senior bandit Zack Shaw said.

To make the season more manageable, redshirt junior wide receiver Mitchell Paige said Indiana breaks the schedule into four-game blocks. The idea being that going .500 or posting a winning record in each block would ultimately lead to a successful season.

One-third of the way in, Indiana is perfect. The Hoosiers battled through adversity throughout September, winning four games by a margin of just 25 points, but that's not what the players, coaches or record books care about.

The numbers that matter to the Hoosiers are four wins and zero losses. It's been that way all season. And it will remain that way when Big Ten competition starts next weekend against No. 1 Ohio State.

"One of our goals this year was to be 4-0 coming into October, and we accomplished that today," Shaw said. "Everyone is excited, and it's a great feeling."