Richard Lagow threw five interceptions.
The junior quarterback set the school record for passing yards in a game Saturday against Wake Forest, with 496, but he also threw five interceptions.
It was the interceptions that proved to be most costly against a Wake Forest team that allowed 12 points per game coming into Bloomington.
The Demon Deacons scored 17 of their 33 points off three interceptions and defeated the Hoosiers, 33-28, to drop the Hoosiers to 2-1 on the season.
“A couple times, we put him in some tough situations,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said. “He had one bad throw. A couple were on us.”
Lagow had not thrown an interception this year until the 7:38 mark of the first quarter against Wake Forest (4-0), when the Hoosiers were threatening inside the Wake Forest 10-yard line.
Lagow turned to sophomore receiver Luke Timian, who was crashing toward the center of the endzone, and threw a dart that went off the sophomore’s hands directly into Wake Forest defensive back Jessie Bates’ lap.
Wake Forest tied the game, 7-7, 12 plays later. The interception was a 14-point turnover.
Lagow blamed himself for the pick, and said he should have put the ball in a spot that was easier for Timian to catch, not above his receiver’s head.
After his first interception, interceptions stacked up in a way the Hoosiers hadn’t seen in this decade. Lagow ended the first half with three picks, and the game with five.
But Wilson said only one was Lagow’s fault.
The head coach — who recalled all five interceptions in detail after the game — said it was the fourth interception that could have been prevented.
Early in the third quarter, when IU was down 21-7, Lagow stared down sophomore receiver Nick Westbrook and threw the ball directly at Wake Forest linebacker Grant Dawson, who was standing in front of Westbrook.
“He tried to Superman and throw through a person,” Wilson said, “which is impossible.”
Nonetheless, Wilson said he never considered putting in a different quarterback, not even junior quarterback Zander Diamont, who Wilson has turned to multiple times in the last two seasons when former Hoosier quarterback Nate Sudfeld went down with an injury.
Lagow made plays, but it was that the few mistakes the junior made were costly, Wilson said.
“When we started scoring points, he was a big reason why,” Paige said. “We were really pressing, but Rich did a really nice job of, ‘Relax guys, we got this. We can’t score 14 points on one play. Let’s take it one at a time.’”
On the first play from scrimmage, Lagow connected with Westbrook for a 75-yard touchdown. He hit senior receiver Ricky Jones for 65- and 50-yard receptions, which led to a short pass to Westbrook for a touchdown and IU’s first rushing touchdown by a running back in freshman Tyler Natee.
IU became one-dimensional, Wilson said, only totaling 155 rushing yards, which contributed to a high concentration in passes. Even with 47 passing attempts, Lagow still completed 59.6 percent of his throws.
Jones recorded the sixth 200-yard receiving game in IU history, while Westbrook had 129 and senior receiver Mitchell Paige had seven catches for 64 yards.
Lagow finished with three passing touchdowns.
Despite the five interceptions and the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which came after Lagow jawed at an official, Paige said it was Lagow that was settling down the offense and keeping them close. Paige said Lagow handled the setbacks as well as he could have during the game.
Lagow — who had never thrown five interceptions in a game at any level — disagreed.
“I need to be better,” Lagow said. “If I would have handled it as well as I could, I would have stopped throwing interceptions.”
