Hoosiers Fall to No. 24 Michigan State

Saturday, September 22

Bloomington, Ind.

7:30 PM

Indiana University

3-1 , 0-1

#24 Michigan State

2-1 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Michigan State

Indiana

9/22/2018 11:13:00 PM | Football

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By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON – Autumn officially arrived at 9:46 Saturday night.

The fall began a bit earlier for Indiana's football Hoosiers, though.

Michigan State scored two touchdowns in the first 9:25 – the second on a fortuitously tipped 69-yard pick-6 – en route to a mostly methodical 35-21 victory.

A Memorial Stadium crowd of 45,445 entered buzzing because of IU's 3-0 start this season but exited bummed as Indiana missed a chance to affirm and build belief outside its locker room.

"Disappointing performance and outcome tonight," Hoosier head coach Tom Allen acknowledged post-game. "Had a great opportunity, as a program, and didn't take advantage of it.

"Thought we were inconsistent in a lot of different areas. Definitely some positives to build off of, but (we've) got a young football team that didn't respond to some key situations and made some poor choices."

Indeed, the disappointment was not just due to the final score.

Frustrations included two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties a targeting ejection for redshirt sophomore Husky back Marcelino Ball, who now must sit out the first half of next Saturday's game at Rutgers.

And when IU fought back from a 28-7 deficit to get within a single score, 28-21 with 3:28 to play, the Hoosier defense allowed Spartan freshman Jalen Nailor to sail untouched down the west sidelines on a simple jet sweep for a clinching 75-yard TD.

"They had rushed about 50 yards up to that point and our defense had played really, really well against the run," Allen said. "Against a team that prides itself on running the football.

"…But one play, one long run … "

Indiana, meantime, rushed for just 29 yards against a MSU defense that was allowing only 34 yards rushing per game coming in. IU's veteran offensive line, counted upon to carry the team early in the season and beyond,
struggled up front much of the night.

But Indiana nearly struck first, actually. IU's defense negated a good kickoff return by MSU's Darrell Stewart, then the Hoosiers barely missed a wide-open Reese Taylor on a wheel route down the west sideline.

IU's defense then seemed on the verge of stopping a second straight Spartan drive, forging a 3^rd-and-17 only to give up a 16-yard completion to MSU sophomore Cody White right over the middle.

That set up a successful 4^th-down run by Connor Heyward on an option pitch – and, eventually, a 16-yard pass from Brian Lewerke to Nailor that opened the scoring.

Indiana was then moving well in response when a bounce really, really, really didn't go its way.

IU quarterback Peyton Ramsey – who had Spartans routinely in his face but still completed 70 percent of his passes on the night – had to get an outlet aerial over an on-rushing defender while getting hit. It sailed high. Stevie
Scott tried to elevate for the ball in the flat but was only able to tip it, and the ball was snagged by Spartan cornerback Shakur Brown for a 69-yard interception return TD.

A blink of an eye and it was 14-0, Sparty.

The Hoosier defense would have its moments, too, however. It would match MSU's nine tackles for loss by game's end and the first of its four takeaways to set up the first IU scoring drive.

One snap after an interference call negated an apparent Raheem Layne interception, IU got the ball anyhow as Cam Jones forced a fumble and Jonathan Crawford pounced on it at the Indiana 49 with 10:12 left in the half.

Indiana scored 10 plays later on a nifty swing pass from Ramsey to Scott from 8 yards out that cut IU's deficit in half.

But after an exchange of punts, with just 1:23 left in the half and MSU starting on its own 29, the Hoosier secondary suddenly resembled a sieve.

The Spartans moved smartly downfield and scored with 19 seconds left in the half as tight end Matt Dotson separated himself from A'Shon Riggins with what many in the crowd felt was a push-off for the 11-yard catch that sent
Michigan State into intermission up 21-7.

Indiana's offense got the second half kickoff but had a moribund third quarter.

MSU (2-1) increased its advantage to 28-7 with 4:47 left in the third on a typically well-timed trick play call from Spartan coach Mark Dantonio – a fake field goal that resulted in a 6-yard TD pass to kicker Matt Coghlin.

The Hoosiers, to their credit, didn't quit. They scored the first 14 points of the fourth quarter to give themselves a chance.

IU kicker Logan Justus connected on a 35-yard field goal with 14:43 to play before the Hoosier offense came up with its most electrifying play of the night.

Ramsey hit Whop Philyor right in-stride on a deep post for a 65-yard TD pass with 8:19 to play. That, coupled with a two-point conversion throw from Ramsey to Nick Westbrook got Indiana within 28-18.

"It was just a good play call," Philyor, who finished with career-highs on 13 catches for 148 yards, said of the 65-yarder. "Peyton, he changed the play, threw it down the middle … touchdown. Trying to get back in the game."

IU then got within a single score at 28-21 as Justus nailed a 36-yard field goal with 3:28 left.

But then it only took a single play from scrimmage to crush the rally.

The Hoosiers, with all three timeouts left, kicked off deep in hopes of stopping MSU quickly and getting the ball back with adequate time remaining. The Spartans set up at their 25, gave the ball to Nailor on a jet sweep left
and, within scant seconds, the game was essentially over.

"We pulled our safety to try to get an extra hat at the point of attack," Allen recalled, with the Hoosiers correctly assuming MSU would run the ball, "and called a coverage for that, and then he took a bad angle. Therefore, once they got cut off, then there was nobody there.

"So that's disappointing because we work that concept a lot and you got to execute."

The Hoosiers (3-1) must now swallow disappointment and execute better.

They had a chance Saturday night. MSU finished with just one more first down (19-18) and a modest edge in total yardage (350-301, moving ahead in that category on the decisive jet sweep).

The Hoosiers will have more chances.

Autumn has just begun. It is a long season.