IU gauges Virginia loss, prepares for next week

Last week, sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker said the first hit he took in his collegiate career against Ball State made him wake up and feel good.

The last hit he took in the home opener against Virginia, however, didn’t have the same effect.

Virginia’s senior defensive end Cam Johnson sacked Wright-Baker and forced a fumble with 1:13 remaining in the game. The Cavaliers recovered at the IU 14-yard line.

They ran down the clock and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to secure a 34-31 victory, spoiling a 21-point fourth-quarter IU comeback.

“It’s just hard to put in that much effort and not have things go our way toward the end,” sophomore cornerback Greg Heban said.

In a wild game of turnovers and momentum changes, Heban and the rest of the IU defense played a huge role. Heban grabbed two interceptions and fellow sophomore cornerback Lawrence Barnett returned a fumble 54 yards for a score.

After a rough week one outing against Ball State, IU senior safety Jarrell Drane said he saw improvement from the defensive side of the ball for IU.

“We kind of found our identity this game,” Drane said. “The emphasis this week was enthusiasm: Have more enthusiasm, play harder, have fun, play together. We found ourself this week.”

Virginia condensed the vast majority of its scoring into four minutes and eight seconds Saturday.

The team scored 17 points in a 2:33 period that spanned from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half.

Then they scored the final 11 points in a 1:36 span to end the game.

Virginia turned a 6-3 lead into a 16-3 lead in the final 32 seconds of the first half, which could have deflated the Hoosiers’ spirits. Barnett said that wasn’t the case.

“We kept our heads high that whole time,” Barnett said. “We came in the locker room, and we just knew that we had to come out and stick it to them next time. We knew we just had to come back and bounce back and take it to them.”

Freshman running back Matt Perez saw halftime as a turning point in the game, saying that as the second half wore on, he saw Virginia’s defensive line begin to grow tired.
He gave credit to the offseason workouts and said IU players were in great physical shape.

“We came out, and the offense was struggling the whole time,” Perez said. “Then, after halftime, the coaches made the right adjustments, and we came out, kept the intensity up, kind of wore them down a little bit.”

After Virginia scored with 12:59 remaining in the third quarter, IU pieced together a 10-play, 68-yard drive that culminated in an eight-yard Perez touchdown run.

It was the beginning of a 28-0 IU run that left the Hoosiers clinging to a 31-23 lead with 6:34 left in the game.

The game didn’t end as planned for IU. The Cavaliers used their run game to keep time ticking off the clock and eventually won it when time ran out.

Wright-Baker said after he threw an interception early in the second half, he had to refrain from remembering the turnover and direct his attention to the
next drive.

Drane said the team needs to do something similar as it moves to its
next game.

“It’s going to hurt tonight,” Drane said. “But tomorrow, (we’ll) watch the film, and then on to the next week.”