IU Coach Kevin Wilson didn’t say anything to Griffin Oakes before the junior kicker stepped up to take what would turn out to be a game-winning field goal.
Neither did senior wide receiver Ricky Jones.
That’s not Jones’ style. He wanted Oakes to treat it like any other kick.
“I didn’t want to put a lot of pressure on him by going up there and saying, ‘You got it. You got it’,” Jones said. “No, Griffin likes to be in his own mind and do his own thing.”
Oakes missed three kicks before lining up to kick the 20-yard field goal that gave IU (3-1, 1-0) the 24-21 overtime win over No. 17 Michigan State (2-2, 0-2). Two count on the stat sheet. One doesn’t.
The latter would have sent the game into double overtime and given the Spartans a chance to redeem themselves. MSU allowed senior quarterback Tyler O’Connor to get sacked twice before senior kicker Michael Geiger missed his 49-yard attempt.
But officials called a personal foul on MSU junior cornerback Drake Martinez for leaping. The penalty gave IU a new set of downs and prime position at the 8-yard line. After two runs by freshman running back Tyler Natee, Oakes stepped up and came through.
Had he missed, IU’s defense was prepared to back him up.
“Our mindset was, Coach Hagen got us together and told us, and the defensive coordinator got us together and told us, no matter what happened we’re going back on the field,” senior defensive tackle Ralph Green III said. “So, regardless of if they kick a field goal or whatever, we had the mindset we’re going back on the field, we’re going to get a takeaway.”
Junior linebacker Tegray Scales said the defense didn’t know what was going to happen but focused on handling their business and letting the offense go to work.
Sophomore wide receiver Luke Timian was holding on to the guys next to him as he watched Oakes’ kick sail through the uprights. He knew Oakes would deliver.
“Best kicker in the nation,” junior quarterback Richard Lagow said. “I never lost any faith in him at all.”
Oakes lined up for the kick, just four-for-eight on the season. The reigning Big Ten Bakken-Andersen Kicker of the Year had three straight misses following him onto the field before his kick.
Senior receiver Mitchell Paige didn’t see the same Oakes he had seen in years past, though. His body image showed this one, this one was more mature.
“He was like, ‘Alright, I missed those. You put me in I’ll kick the game-winner.’ And he did,” Paige said.
Now, Jones said, if anyone on the team didn’t believe the Hoosiers were capable of beating a team like Michigan State before, they do now.
The win, IU’s first against a ranked opponent since No. 18 Missouri on the road in 2014, and first against a ranked team at home since No. 15 Iowa in 2006, brought students to storm the field.
“That was an unreal feeling,” Jones said. “You always see it on TV, but you never really know how that feels. It was a surreal moment, and I can’t believe it.”
