Heading into the fourth quarter against No. 7 Michigan State, IU was trailing by two points, 28-26, and the Spartans were in the middle of a 15-play drive that ended in a field goal, which pushed the score to 31-26 with 12:44 remaining in the game.
In that 12:44, the Hoosiers were outscored 21-0 and never saw the opposing side of the field as they lost 52-26.
“We got it down to the fourth quarter in another great game, and just let it slip away,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said.
IU kept Michigan State to just seven points in the first quarter after scoring a touchdown of its own when junior running back Jordan Howard scored from five yards out. It was his fifth touchdown of the season and first since returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of the Penn State and Rutgers losses.
Multiple times throughout the game, Howard limped around after the play ended, but the junior finished with 78 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries.
“It felt really good playing football again with the team,” Howard said. “I feel like I’m really close to 100 percent, but you’re playing football, so you’re never 100 percent fully.”
The No. 1 pass offense in the Big Ten couldn’t be stopped, though, as senior quarterback Connor Cook had 260 yards passing and two touchdowns by halftime, on his way to a career-high 398 yards and four passing touchdowns on the day.
Cook fell just two yards shy of the single-game passing record for Michigan State, and his top receiving target — receiver Aaron Burbridge — caught a team-high eight balls for 128 yards and a touchdown.
One-on-one coverage was a weakness for the Hoosiers. The experienced Michigan State receiving corps forced IU cornerbacks to misjudge passes and create space for Cook’s passes, something Wilson said made the difference in the game.
“He’s a great player,” Wilson said about Cook. “And he throws to quote ‘covered receivers’ into unreasonably tight coverage, but he puts the ball where it gives his guy a chance. I think one of the differences in the game was that they won some one-on-one battles that we didn’t quite come down with.”
Even though IU forced Michigan State into several third-and-long situations, the Spartans still converted 13 of 20 third downs, compared to the Hoosiers’ 5-of-11.
Wilson and the coaching staff said third down efficiency was a focus for IU this week, after allowing Rutgers to convert 12 of its 20 third downs last week. IU has forced third downs, but failing to capitalize on the third downs to force fourth downs has contributed to the combined 107 points the Hoosiers have allowed in the last two weeks.
As a result, IU had the ball for just 21:01 of the game, while Michigan State maintained the ball for 38:59.
“We need to get more time of possession,” senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld said. “I think our defense was getting tired, and we were making their defense tired too, but we just need more time.”
While Sudfeld threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns, IU only ran for 81 yards on the ground, a balance Sudfeld said will come with more time in control of the ball.
Putting aside the fact that IU was outscored 24-0 in the fourth quarter, and has been outscored 46-0 in the last two fourth quarters, Wilson said he likes that the team came close to defeating No. 1 Ohio State in week five and was down by just two points in the fourth quarter to a No. 7 Michigan State team.
“I thought our kids battled their tails off,” Wilson said. “Our inability to get them on schedule, or get third down stops, or Connor’s ability to put the ball where guys could make some plays got them on top, and at the end, it finally broke. I’m not into morale victories, but we’re going toe-to-toe with some pretty good teams.”
Tori Zeige contributed reporting.
