COLUMBIA, Mo. – Junior running back Tevin Coleman has made a habit of putting his team in a position to win.
With IU around midfield trailing 27-24 and time running out, Coleman caught a screen pass from quarterback Nate Sudfeld and ran it to the Missouri 15-yard line.
A face mask penalty gave IU first and goal with less than 30 seconds remaining.
“The receivers blocked well, the O-line blocked well and I just ran behind them,” Coleman said. “They made it happen.”
On second and goal from the 3-yard line, senior running back D’Angelo Roberts jumped over a pack of Tiger defenders for the game-winning touchdown.
The score gave IU (2-1) a 31-27 win against No. 18 Missouri (3-1) on Saturday at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. It’s the Hoosiers’ first win against a ranked opponent since 2006.
“To be honest, I was prepared to run somebody over, and I noticed that a lot of people were on the ground, so at that point in time I just knew that I might as well jump,” Roberts said. “And I got a 40-inch vertical, so why not use it?”
That was the second touchdown of the game for Roberts, who had 15 carries for 65 yards, plus 20 yards ?receiving.
He and freshman running back Devine Redding spent much of the first half taking the bulk of IU’s yards on the ground. Early in the second quarter, Coleman was carted to the locker room with an unknown injury.
Coleman returned at the beginning of the second half and said after the game, “I was just cramping up.”
IU Coach Kevin Wilson said his players need to do a better job staying healthy. Coleman was fine once he had IV’s in him, Wilson said.
Despite missing more than a quarter of the game, Coleman finished with 132 yards rushing, more than half of IU’s 241 total yards. He also had 57 receiving yards.
“I knew there was a chance for me to come back, and I was going to come back for my team,” Coleman said. “(Roberts) stepped up as a senior and helped me out there.”
Coleman now leads the nation with 189.7 rushing yards and 221.33 all-purpose yards per game. He ranks third in the nation in total rushing yards with 569.
His five consecutive 100-yard games tie for the longest streak in the country.
“I really think the big deal is the way (Roberts) and (Redding) kind of got us through that deal,” Wilson said. “And then Tev came back and made a couple plays. Great job by our ?trainers.”
All three IU touchdowns came on the ground, in large part because of the IU offensive line, Coleman said.
Missouri was without starting defensive end Markus Golden due to a hamstring injury. Golden and teammate Shane Ray came into the game with four sacks a piece.
Saturday, Sudfeld was sacked just twice, and the Tiger defense had four tackles for a loss, compared to 11 for IU.
The win is IU’s first on the road since beating Illinois on Oct. 27, 2012.
Coleman and his teammates agreed that, to them, it wasn’t an upset. Wilson said simply that it “beats losing.”
“Our plan was to try to make it a 15-round, fourth quarter, 60-minute game,” Wilson said. “And that’s what we did.”
See the IU upset unfold on social media.
