LINCOLN, Neb — As the final whistle sounded and the Hoosiers poured onto the field, IU head coach Tom Allen breathed a sigh of relief as he ran to the “N” at the center of the field to shake hands with Nebraska’s head coach Scott Frost.
To his right, the moment Allen has spent three years building began.
The IU players jumped up and down hugging each other and danced their way to the corner of the endzone to share their 38-31 victory with the IU fans that made the trip to Nebraska.
“It was awesome,” junior quarterback Peyton Ramsey said. “These are the reasons we come to Indiana, to play games like that. It was just fun, and we’re going to celebrate it.”
For IU, the celebration with the fans in the corner of the endzone didn’t always feel like an inevitability.
Once again, it was Ramsey who had to step in for the injured redshirt-freshman quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and delivered the game of his career.
Ramsey spread the ball around completing 27-of-40 passes for a career-high 351 yards, two touchdowns, while only throwing one interception, relying heavily on junior receiver Whop Philyor who caught 14 passes for 178 yards.
IU’s offense set the tone early as the Hoosiers came out guns blazing scoring 16 points on its first three possessions.
While the Hoosier offense consistently moved the ball downfield, the defense couldn’t put together enough stops to allow IU to create separation. IU’s defense gave up seven chunk-plays of 10 or more yards in the first half that allowed the Cornhuskers to extend drives as they trailed 21-16 going into halftime.
In the second half, the Hoosiers turned a corner.
“We just kind of settled in,” sophomore linebacker Micah McFadden said. “We started to not do too much and not get involved with the crowd.”
On first and second down with 11:26 remaining in the third quarter, McFadden and junior defensive end Michael Ziemba broke through the offensive line to stuff Nebraska running back Wan’Dale Robinson in the backfield.
After IU got the stop on fourth down, Nebraska’s senior punter Isaac Armstrong shanked a punt out of bounds at Nebraska’s own 35 yard-line to set up an IU touchdown to take the lead.
“Our whole defense was just swarming,” McFadden said. “Me and Mike got there and were able to make some plays, and then the punt and the offense were able to go and score.”
The Hoosiers would be able to hold onto the lead through the fourth quarter after a third-and-seven scramble from Ramsey.
As the pocket collapsed around him, Ramsey rolled out to his right tucking the ball as he barreled toward the first-down marker. As he crossed the marker and stepped out of bounds, Allen jumped up into the air double fist-pumping in excitement as his first bowl-birth neared.
“I know I took some heat when I came out with ‘breakthrough’ a few years ago, and I believed with my whole heart we were going to breakthrough year one,” Allen said. “We were obviously close and we didn’t and I really believed in year two and we didn’t, but I didn’t quit believing.”
It may not have been pretty, but IU clinching its first bowl game in the Tom Allen era in one of the toughest environments in the country embodies the type of program Allen has been trying to create.
“I love this team,” Allen said with tears filling his eyes. “Everybody told us we couldn’t do it. We’re not defined by what others think we can do.”
