IU nearly climbed all the way back.
A Hail Mary pass in the waning seconds tipped off a couple Wake Forest defenders and into the hands of sophomore wide receiver Donovan Hale, who then waltzed into the end zone to bring IU within five points.
Eleven seconds remained, just enough for the Hoosiers to get off one play, maybe two, but they couldn’t recover the onside kick.
Wake Forest defeated IU, 33-28, to hand the Hoosiers their first loss in nonconference play since Bowling Green in 2014. IU had won eight straight nonconference regular season games.
“Disappointed to lose but got beat by a team that played very, very well today,” Wilson said. “So give a lot of credit to Wake. They came in playing good team ball, and they played better team ball than us today.”
Junior quarterback Richard Lagow threw five interceptions, one in the end zone, overshadowing a 496-yard performance that set a new IU single-game record for passing yards and included three touchdowns.
The Hoosiers also committed nine penalties that cost them 84 yards. Four came on one Wake Forest drive. Freshman running back Tyler Natee had just punched it in for a score to cut the Demon Deacons’ lead to 27-21, and on the ensuing offensive possession, Wake Forest scored a touchdown in part because IU was called for holding, jumping offside and two face masks.
One of the face masks came on a sack by sophomore defensive end Nile Sykes that would have set Wake Forest back to a 2nd-and-26, but instead, pushed the Demon Deacons across midfield and into Hoosier territory.
Wake Forest’s touchdown later in the drive put the game just a bit too far out of reach.
“That hurt it, hurt it as a whole,” IU junior linebacker Tegray Scales said. “We had them behind in the chains, and penalties just hurt us, gave them a first down. So just strengthening up on those little mistakes that we made, we would have been closer in the game.”
Overall, IU’s defense held Wake Forest to just 352 yards of total offense. Demon Deacon junior quarterback John Wolford threw for just 172 yards and one score. He did most of his damage on the ground, rushing for 61 yards and two scores.
Wake Forest sophomore running back Matt Colburn may have run for 103 yards, but he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry and didn’t score. One of Wake Forest’s touchdowns came off an interception return.
The crux came in IU’s reliance on Lagow’s arm, which inevitably led to his numerous interceptions.
Junior running back Devine Redding’s streak of five straight 100-yard games came to an end as he rushed for just 68 yards on 16 attempts, and with the other 16 hand-offs split up amongst others in his group, the Hoosiers managed to amass just 115 yards on the ground.
It’s the least amount of rushing yards the Hoosiers have produced in a game since the 52-26 loss against Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan, in October of last year.
And yet, IU still only lost by five points. The Hoosiers lost the turnover battle by five, and had the ball for 7:46 less than the Demon Deacons, but still only lost by five.
While that fact may sting, it also sheds some light into what IU may be capable of.
“If we play our game and be disciplined, we can play with anybody. We can beat anybody,” junior linebacker Marcus Oliver said. “But that’s how college football is, when you beat yourself, you usually come up short like that.”
