Hoosiers defeat Hawkeyes

Political journalist and author Norman Cousins once wrote, “He who keeps his cool best wins.”

While football is certainly not politics, IU lived by that motto Saturday afternoon.
Despite early miscues, the Hoosiers (4-5, 2-3) managed to rebound and defeat the Iowa Hawkeyes (4-5, 2-3) 24-21 at Memorial Stadium for their second straight win.

“I’m very excited for our seniors,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said. “Those guys are playing to come out and get the ‘W.’ There were several glitches, but we’re making strides.”

For most of the first half, IU’s offense failed to click. After the opening kickoff had been delayed an hour because of bad weather, sophomore starting quarterback Cameron Coffman was benched after the team’s first possession. Freshman Nate Sudfeld replaced him, and his first play was a pick-six.

A failed fourth-down attempt and missed field goal followed as the Hoosiers trailed Iowa 14-3 late into the second quarter.

“There were guys (whose) heads just weren’t there,” junior wide receiver Kofi Hughes said. “It was mental errors, but we just had to put that behind us.”

After being benched early in the game, Coffman returned with 2:13 remaining in the second quarter and provided a spark the Hoosiers needed on offense.

His first drive back spanned 87 yards over six plays, ending in a touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Cody Latimer to put the Hoosiers within four points of the Hawkeyes heading into halftime. All five of Coffman’s pass attempts on the possession were completions.

“His two-minute drive, he was very assertive,” Wilson said. “He was ripping it. He came in with some good energy.”

His streak continued into the second half when he passed for a total of 315 yards and three touchdowns, with 21 completions on 33 attempts.

IU took its first lead of the game in the third quarter when Coffman passed to Latimer for his second touchdown of the day.

“I’m just trying to make plays, trying to help the team out,”
Coffman said. “You’ve seen in the past two weeks it hasn’t worked too well, but we were fortunate tonight, and we did a little bit better.”

Though Iowa retook the lead in the fourth quarter, on the following drive Coffman again passed to Latimer for a 30-yard touchdown completion. Latimer led the Hoosiers with 113 yards receiving on seven catches and three touchdowns.

IU would not give up the lead again. The Hoosiers’ defense forced two Hawkeye punts, and a last-minute comeback attempt gained no traction as a last-second pass resulting in multiple laterals ended in a fumble recovery by senior defensive tackle Adam Replogle.

“We played 60 minutes of hard football, which is what we’ve been trying to stress all year,” junior safety Greg Heban said. “The offense is going to have some down days, and that is when the defense has got to come step up and play as hard as they can. I feel like we did a great job throughout the whole game.”

With Saturday’s win, IU is now one game back of first-place Wisconsin (6-3, 3-2) in the Leaders Division standings. The two sides will meet Saturday in Bloomington with a noon kickoff.

Should the Hoosiers win, they will be in first place with a direct path to the Big Ten Championship game thanks to the postseason ineligibility of Penn State and Ohio State.

“We’re a 4-5 football team and 2-3 in the Big Ten, and that’s not very good,” Wilson said. “We’re going to keep working hard at getting better, and we hope our best is coming, because we’ll need it.”