Spartans Rally Late as IU Falls, 17-9

Saturday, October 21

East Lansing, Mich.

3:30 p.m.

Indiana University

3-4 , 0-4

#18/19 Michigan State

6-1 , 4-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Indiana

Michigan State

10/21/2017 9:47:00 PM | Football

By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Old Brass Spittoon is probably not, shall we say, the most aesthetically pleasing trophy in college football.

Some might call it ugly.

And Saturday's 17-9 Indiana loss at Michigan State, which returned the Spittoon to the Spartans, wasn't exactly a thing of beauty much of the way.

Except perhaps in the eyes of defensive-oriented football coaches, which IU's Tom Allen and MSU's Mark Dantonio just happen to be.

The game produced nothing but field goals until 5:54 remained, when MSU got the first of two late and decisive touchdowns (though the second one came when IU's defense deliberately, and intelligently, let the Spartans score. More on that later.)

Allen had to sing a familiar lament post-game. His team, especially its stalwart defense, fought hard against a ranked foe but did not finish.

"Really, really, really frustrating," Allen said post-game on the IU Radio Network. "Didn't finish. Had our chances. Proud of our kids' fight. We got down in there (in the red zone), but you've got to score touchdowns, not kick field goals. That came back to bite us.

"And it's a 60-minute game and we, unfortunately, didn't make some key plays (defensively) at the end. We really shut them down … they didn't have much the whole day, but you've just got to (make plays) in key situations. The bottom line is you've got to finish out. And that's what we were so close to doing but didn't do."

Close. Yet again. No cigar. Yet again.

The tone was set early in a game that produced 17 punts, nine by the Hoosiers. Indiana managed just 2.7 yards per rush, but MSU was even less productive on the ground at 2.0.

The No. 18-ranked Spartans (6-1 overall, 4-0 in Big Ten play) finished with only a modest edge in total yardage, 274-253, but finally got untracked a bit when it counted most.

The first 13 minutes produced little. And the game's first scoring chance came, naturally, via a defensive play.

IU's Tony Fields, continuing to play solidly at the Husky spot in place of the injured Marcelino Ball, forced a fumble from Madre London that Jonathan Crawford pounced upon at the Spartan 15 with 1:40 left in the first.

The Indiana offense didn't come close to capitalizing fully, however.

The Hoosiers tried a quarterback draw with Peyton Ramsey on first down. No gain. The Hoosiers tried a quarterback draw on second down. No gain.

Then after an incompletion that transpired while the Hoosiers were in an illegal formation, Griffin Oakes delivered the game's first points with a 33-yard field goal.

And that set a game-long and ultimately fatal pattern for IU's offense, which never fully solved a MSU defense that entered ranked No. 5 nationally.

A whole lot of the IU offensive issues had to do with the stalwart Spartans, of course, but the Hoosiers also hamstrung themselves often enough.

The same was true on the other side of the ball much of the way. MSU fumbled three times (losing 1), had bad snaps from center, dropped passes, made bad throws.

Michigan State mounted the only sustained drive of the first half midway through the second quarter, methodically moving 68 yards on 10 plays only to settle for a tying 23-yard field goal with 6:46 left before intermission.

Indiana's offense started a couple of subsequent possessions around midfield, thanks to stout Hoosier defensive stands, but went backwards.

Even so, IU entered halftime with more total yards (119-115).

After the second half started with three more punts, IU got a drive going.
On the third snap, Ricky Brookins made a great diving effort to get a first down by inches on a 3^rd-and-12 pass play.

Indiana (3-4, 0-4) had played things very close to the vest. The Hoosiers hadn't attempted a first-down pass till 7:20 remained in the third quarter, but that produced a nice gain for Simmie Cobbs Jr., and Ramsey was suddenly sharp with the short passing game.

J-Shun Harris II, Ryan Watercutter and Cobbs all made key catches before Oakes drilled a 44-yarder to make it 6-3, IU, at 5:31 of the third.

IU's next drive provided the Hoosiers a great chance to really seize control of the game early in the fourth quarter.

One snap after a 12-yard completion to Morgan Ellison gave IU a first down at the MSU 27, the Hoosiers sent Devonte Williams on a wheel route that drew an interference call and set the Hoosiers up at the Spartan 11.

But three straight Ellison runs into the line couldn't create another first down and the Hoosiers settled for the 23-yard Oakes field goal that made it 9-3 with 12:29 to play.

"We moved the football (after halftime) but didn't get touchdowns," Allen said. "Nine points off three opportunities and you'd really like to get a touchdown, especially there toward the end, to put more pressure on them."

IU's defense delivered another 3-and-out but a block-in-the-back call on a punt return bottled IU up at its own 12 on the ensuing possession and when the Hoosiers booted the ball back to MSU, the Spartans started at their own 45 with 9:07 to play.

That drive was jump-started by an interference call on cornerback Rashard Fant, but a subsequent Chris Covington sack still left MSU facing a 3^rd-and-19 at the Hoosier 49.

MSU's Brian Lewerky came up with a 16-yard completion, however, and Allen blamed himself. "The 3^rd-and-19, I didn't like what I called," Allen said. "And it didn't work, obviously, so you hate it more, then. Wish I had that one back. That's on me."

Lewerky then found Hunter Rison for four yards to convert the subsequent 4^th-and-3.

A Felton Davis reverse then netted 16 yards to the IU 13 and, two snaps later, Davis pulled in a 10-yard TD toss that led to the first Spartan lead of the day, 10-9, with 5:54 left.

The IU offense again stalled and MSU, which got the ball back with 5:04 to play at its own 36, then proceeded to eat up most of what remained on the clock.

Rison (son of former Spartan great Andre Rison) only caught two passes in the game but, like his first, his second was huge, converting a 3^rd-and-8. Cody White then converted a 3^rd-and-9 with a catch on a sprint-out option play.

With MSU forging a 1^st-and-10 at the IU 18 and the Hoosiers bereft of timeouts, Allen made the only call he could. He instructed his defense to let L.J. Scott score on the next carry. That put IU down by the final margin, but still kept it a one-score game.

"That was the only chance we had," Allen recalled. "… I've never done that before coaching a football game, but that's exactly what you should do to give yourself a chance in that situation. We were afraid they were going to take a knee (on the play)."

But the Hoosier offense again couldn't move on its last-gasp possession, and Indiana, after having beaten the Spartans in overtime last year in Bloomington, had to hand over the Spittoon.

"We made some mistakes, but we found a way to make some plays on offense and the defense played tremendously all night," Dantonio told ABC afterward. "Indiana played really well. They've got a good football team. I'm proud of the grit we showed. It's all about grit."

Allen, rightly, also used that word in describing his own team's play.

Asked about how some Hoosiers sustained injuries but returned to play Saturday, Allen (whose team was already banged up entering play) said:

"These are tough kids. They have huge hearts. Awesome, awesome kids. Proud of them. Got some kids dinged up, and got some more (Saturday). It's a tough, physical game. I'm so proud of these kids, of their grit and fight.

"Man, this one really hurt. Gosh, just really disappointed. Frustrated. Our kids played so hard, gosh."

But the ability to translate effort into game-winning plays down the stretch again proved elusive.

"Hey," Allen said, "we know what we have to do."

And the Hoosiers' next chance to do it comes Saturday at Maryland, a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.