It happened so fast, you might have missed it.
Battling back against No. 9 Iowa late in the fourth quarter, Nate Sudfeld connected with Michael Cooper for his 49th career passing touchdown — a program record.
The senior quarterback penciled his name in the history books, but the page was quickly flipped. Down eight with less than 2:30 on the clock, IU needed to onside kick.
The attempt failed, and the Hoosiers lost. The touchdown, ultimately, was meaningless.
It’s been that kind of season for Sudfeld, whose statistical achievements have been overshadowed by his team’s disappointing losses.
On Monday, the senior said he hasn’t “scratched the surface of how good he can be,” a troubling notion for a player who has potentially only three games remaining in his collegiate career.
On paper, Sudfeld is compiling an enviable season, leading the No. 1 total offense in the Big Ten — which might very well be the best conference in football — with a Big Ten-best 278.6 passing yards per game and 8.5 yards per attempt.
But given the option, Sudfeld would eschew his records for a win against a team like Iowa or No. 14 Michigan, who rolls into Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The Hoosiers will face their fourth top-15 opponent in a single season for the first time since 1979, and though the Wolverines (7-2, 4-1) own the worst record of those competitors, they are perhaps the most fearsome team IU will face, and the only one I don’t give IU a reasonable chance of playing close.
Michigan has adopted the same daunting persona as its first-year head coach, former NFL front man Jim Harbaugh, who is one clean punt away from an 8-1 record in what many expected to be a rebuilding year.
There isn’t a team in college football who wouldn’t be afraid to face Michigan right now, and with the Big Ten East title still up for grabs, there is plenty of motivation for the Wolverines to win big in Bloomington.
With a formidable Penn State team and defending champ Ohio State still left on the Wolverine’s slate, the counter-argument, of course, is that IU could catch Michigan in a trap game.
But there is a genuine belief among those in Ann Arbor that Harbaugh is simply incapable of overlooking games, a belief I wholeheartedly share.
If the Hoosier offense isn’t firing on all cylinders, it will be man-handled by the No. 2 defense in the country, which also leads the conference in scoring defense, rush defense and opponent third-down conversion rate.
As IU Coach Kevin Wilson aptly noted, his quarterback’s tenure at IU won’t ultimately be judged by his statistical feats, passing numbers or touchdown records, but by the success of victory.
And the time to garner those victories is running out.
Saturday is Sudfeld’s last chance to win in Memorial Stadium — and in order to do so, he will need to play like a mad man on his senior night.
The fate of the Hoosiers’ season, and his legacy, may very well depend on it.
vziege@indiana.edu
