The Hoosiers managed to beat the Hawkeyes in a rock fight on the road.
Gross!
Indiana found itself in the rock fight that the Hawkeyes wanted this afternoon, tied at 13 in the fourth quarter, when Fernando Mendoza threw his first interception. Deshaun Lee returned said interception well into the range of Zach Lutmer, who was two for two on field goals over 40-yards on the day.
Then he missed. And Indiana answered with one of its least offensive drives of the day to grab a 20-13 lead with under two minutes to play. Kirk Ferentz tried to get petty, spending his timeouts to prolong a game he had lost, but Curt Cignetti allowed his quarterback to run to the end zone to take a safety as time expired and seal the win.
It was absolutely not up to the standard that we’ve come to expect under Cignetti, but Indiana got the win and escapes a dangerous stadium undefeated through five games.
Here are three observations about the game:
The win
There are plenty of things to dislike about how Indiana played today, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. A bad win in college football is better than a good loss.
Still in just his second year at Indiana, this will probably go down as Cignetti’s best road win to date. Last year, he beat a UCLA team that just this year fired its coach midseason, plus a pair of wins against other first-year head coaches at Northwestern and Michigan State.
People will continue to create narratives that will tempt you into bad-faith discussions, but this was a solid win for Indiana. It wasn’t a dominant, four-quarter route like we saw last week, and that shouldn’t matter. Indiana has lost that game before, but it didn’t today. Onward and upward.
The playcalling
The elephant in the room that even the most optimistic Indiana fans would have to acknowledge is that Mike Shanahan called an absolutely brutal game on the offensive end of the field. Even once it was clear that Iowa was prepared to meet and stop Indiana’s rushing game, he let multiple drives end in shotgun handoffs for losses.
Given what Fernando Mendoza has shown this season to make himself the betting favorite for the Heisman trophy (entering this game), it’s indefensible how little Shanahan went to him. Iowa was succeeding against the Hoosier pass protection, but Mendoza isn’t going to have a perfect pocket all season. You just can’t abandon the pass like that.
The most generous way to describe the offensive game plan today would be to say that Indiana was coaching not to lose, something it cannot do against Penn State or Oregon in upcoming road games.
Heismendoza?
Mendoza did not have his best game of the season today, but he threw two touchdown passes in crucial situations that allowed Indiana to survive its questionable play calling. The opening drive touchdown muted the crowd for much of the first half, and the fourth quarter touchdown finally put the Hawkeye faithful to rest.
Despite the occasional miscue, usually a bad read, Mendoza didn’t have an especially bad game. Certainly not the kind that would eliminate one from Heisman contention down the line, especially since Indiana escaped with the win.
At the end of the day though, he wasn’t the hero, his receivers were. Omar Cooper Jr. looked unguardable for the first touchdown drive. Then Elijah Sarrat broke multiple tackles to extend drives and finally give Indiana the game winning score.
Relying on the stars around him was always going to be part of Mendoza’s path to a Heisman finalist, but he’ll probably need to perform better going forward to cement himself as a finalist.
Category: General Sports
