Indiana Defeats Nebraska, 38-31, on the Road

Saturday, October 26

Lincoln, Neb.

3:30 p.m.

Indiana University

6-2 , 3-2

Nebraska

4-4 , 2-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Indiana

Nebraska

10/26/2019 7:15:00 PM | Football

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

LINCOLN Neb. - Same old Indiana?

Are you kidding?

Did you see the way the Hoosiers gutted out a 38-31 victory at Nebraska's sold-out Memorial Stadium on Saturday?

Consider these Hoosier highlights:

Quarterback Peyton Ramsey withstood enough shots to stagger an elephant and came back for more.

Running back Stevie Scott III ran through Cornhuskers in the fourth quarter as if they were ghosts.

Receiver Whop Philyor turned Nebraska defensive backs invisible and irrelevant, just as he earlier did with Michigan State and Rutgers.

Defensive end Allen Stallings IV made national TV highlights by returning a fumble recovery 68 yards.

The offensive line continued to find a way despite more injuries. This time senior right guard Simon Stepaniak was out. Mackenzie Nworah replaced him.

A defense that was giving up enough big plays against a shaky offense to ruin everything came up with just enough difference-making stops and takeaways.

And coach Tom Allen, well, when he wasn't running down the sidelines cheering on Stallings' fumble recovery (he joked later that he asked Stallings to lateral him the ball so he could score) or chewing out the defense for first-half transgressions or high-fiving everyone he saw in a celebration run to the post-game locker room, he was getting emotional to see years of effort and heartbreak finally pay off.

"To do it in this venue is unbelievable," Allen told Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer during his post-game radio show. "It's not been the norm around this place. I believe this constitutes a breakthrough."

Does it ever.

IU (6-2) overcame its worst-possible defensive start to make 90,000 Nebraska fans sound like nine. It beat the Cornhuskers (4-4) for the first time since 1959. It has won three-straight Big Ten games for the first time since 1993 (when it won four straight). It is off to its best start since opening 7-1 in that same 1993 season.

Oh, the Hoosiers are bowl eligible for the first time since 2007, and it's still October.

"Our kids are so resilient, so tough, so gritty," Allen told Fischer. "We're living out our one word for 2019, and that's 'Grit.'"

This wasn't the Nebraska of old, but its tradition-rich heritage fueled preseason Big Ten West favorite expectations.

Those expectations are gone, but that mattered little to the Hoosiers.

"It wasn't pretty," Allen said. "We made mistakes. I love what we're doing. The best is yet to come. We'll get a lot better."

Ramsey will help see to that. He was a game-time decision to start while Michael Penix Jr. continues to battle injuries, and personified Hoosier grit.

He took a huge shot to the sternum early in the third quarter, was obviously hurting, then completed a key pass to Philyor for a first down. Nebraska hit him hard and often, but never stopped him. He finished 27-for-40 for 351 yards and two touchdowns.

"He runs; he throws; it's just being tough," Allen told Fischer. We didn't know early in the week what would happen, but he knew he had to be ready, and every time he is.

"I'm so proud of him. You have to have two quarterbacks in this conference. If you don't, you'll be in trouble. I'm thrilled he had another chance to lead our team."

Allen wasn't so proud of the first-half defense, which was burned for 135 yards and 14 points in just over three minutes in Nebraska's first two drives. By halftime the Hoosiers had allowed 313 yards and 21 points against an offense – using its second- and third-string quarterbacks -- that had scored just 27 points in its previous three games.

Still, the defense delivered one of the game's biggest plays in the first half when husky Jamar Johnson knocked the ball from Nebraska quarterback Noah Vedral, and Stallings recovered and ran before Vedral tackled him. It led to a Hoosier touchdown and their first lead, at 16-14.

"That takeaway was huge," Allen said. "Allen was running out of gas. I told him he needed to lateral me the ball. I was running right with him on the sidelines in position to score."

For the record, Allen was joking.

The defense allowed 514 yards, but it also recovered two fumbles and had a crucial stop in the final minutes for the second-straight game.

"I got a headache from yelling at the defense," Allen said, "and then I got a headache from cheering with the defense."

Philyor finished with 14 catches for 178 yards. It's the third time this season he's reached double figures in catches in a game. He had 14 against Michigan State and 10 against Rutgers.

Scott had 68 rushing yards, with most coming in the decisive fourth quarter.

"We had one goal -- that was to come in here and beat Nebraska," Allen told Fischer. "It wasn't about winning six games. We didn't talk about that or playing in a bowl game. All we talked about was being at our best and beating Nebraska."

And so they did, although it didn't look good early.

IU gave up a 75-yard opening drive, capped by Vedral's 4-yard run. Total time of the drive -- 88 seconds.

The Hoosiers responded with key Ramsey completions to receiver Ty Fryfogle and Philyor to set up a Logan Justus field goal to make it 7-3.

Nebraska came back with another fast touchdown drive for a 14-3 lead. Indiana responded with its own TD drive, mostly due to Ramsey and Philyor. Ramsey ran eight yards for a touchdown, but Justus missed the extra point -- his first miss of any kind all season -- to make it 14-9.

Then Johnson and Stallings delivered their huge play to set up a Ramsey-to-Fryfogle TD pass and a 16-14 lead.

A potential Hoosier score was lost when a bobbled Philyor catch attempt was intercepted. Nebraska came back with third-string quarterback Luke McCaffery to score a touchdown and take a 21-16 lead just before halftime.

That might have broken a less focused Indiana team.

This one bounced back in a big way.

IU's second-half touchdowns came from a receiver David Ellis run (plus a 2-point conversion pass to tight end Peyton Hendershot), a pass to tight end Matt Bjorson and a smash-mouth Scott run.

That overcame 10 Nebraska points.

Down 38-31 in the closing minutes, the Cornhuskers had a chance to force overtime, but Indiana got a crucial defensive stop, then went to offensive work. Ramsey ran 11 yards for a first down on third and seven. Scott ripped off first-down-gaining runs.

And then the clock hit zero.

"I said, I don't want the defense to have to go out there again," Allen told Fischer. "Let's win this game (on offense). Stevie came through, and the O-line was leading the way."

In the aftermath Allen told the Big Ten Network that the Hoosiers have to figure out "How far we want to go," that "We can decide the location of the bowl we play in" and that "We are not defined by what others think we can't do."

With Northwestern (1-6), Purdue (2-6) and Michigan (6-2) remaining on the schedule along with Top-10 powerhouse Penn State (8-0), the opportunities are there.

Northwestern comes to IU's Memorial Stadium next Saturday night. It will be the facility's first-ever November night game.

If that seems like looking ahead, well, guess what? The Hoosiers are driven to maximize every opportunity as they haven't since Bill Mallory was coaching up winners.

"We've just got to finish," Allen said.

These are not, if you haven't noticed, the same old Hoosiers.