IOWA CITY, Iowa — After picking up dominant wins in its first four games of the season, No. 11 Indiana football found itself in unfamiliar territory Saturday with its contest against Iowa knotted at 10 points heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cream and Crimson executed a quick start offensively on their opening drive, as redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza connected with Omar Cooper Jr. for a touchdown. The redshirt junior wide receiver created a separation in the end zone to secure the 14-yard score.
However, the Indiana offense struggled to continue this momentum, failing to score on six of its next seven possessions. An upset was brewing in Iowa City, Iowa, and the Hoosiers were fired up after Mendoza absorbed a hit near the sideline to end the third quarter. So, Indiana redshirt senior offensive lineman Pat Coogan delivered an impassioned speech to rally the Hoosiers together before the final frame.
“So, I thought it was my job and my responsibility as a leader of this team to kind of just rally the troops a little bit and get everyone refocused,” Coogan said postgame. “And it was also the start of the fourth quarter, we gotta win the fourth quarter. So that was kind of the message, just refocus, and we gotta focus on executing. I told them ‘We're gonna win this game, this is why we train so hard.’”
And Coogan’s leadership proved successful, helping propel the Hoosiers to a 20-15 victory over the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.
Iowa began its initial fourth quarter possession at Indiana’s 47-yard line after stopping redshirt senior running back Kaelon Black short of the first-down marker on fourth-and-one.
But Coogan’s message echoed through the Indiana defense despite Iowa’s advantageous field position. It held the Hawkeyes to 11 total yards on the possession and forced Drew Stevens to attempt a 54-yard field goal. The Iowa senior kicker made the kick to re-take the Hawkeye lead.
On the ensuing Indiana offensive drive, the Hoosiers broke their scoring drought. Mendoza delivered a 29-yard strike to senior wide receiver Elijah Sarratt to set the team up in Iowa territory. Redshirt sophomore kicker Nicolas Radicic converted a 44-yard field goal attempt to even the contest —— his second field goal of over 40 yards on the day.
Coogan’s leadership inspired a collective Indiana defensive effort after Radicic’s field goal conversion —— one that shutout the Iowa offense the rest of the contest.
“Yeah, I mean, he basically said ‘We're right where we want to be,” senior linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “It's a dogfight, and, you know, you've got to embrace things like that. I can't give you word for word of what he said but got a lot of people going. And basically, I think it really just pulled all of us together to know that, you know, we're all in it together. Everybody’s got each other back.”
In the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers held the Hawkeyes to a 1-5 third-down conversion rate, while sixth-year redshirt senior defensive back Louis Moore secured an interception.
The Hoosiers failed to capitalize on Moore’s pick, as Mendoza tossed the first interception of his Indiana career on the next drive. Yet, the signal-caller and Indiana offense earned a shot at redemption with two minutes left in the game.
Facing a roaring crowd in Iowa City amid a tie game, Mendoza completed a 24-yard pass to Cooper Jr., before throwing two consecutive incompletions to the wideout.
But on third and 10, Mendoza connected with Sarratt, who broke a tackle and ran his way to the end zone. The 49-yard catch-and-run granted the Hoosiers their first touchdown since their opening drive and a one-touchdown lead over the Hawkeyes.
The Indiana defense finished the job, forcing a turnover-on-downs to close out the road-victory.
While many will remember the final result, Mendoza emphasized the sense of togetherness among the team postgame.
“I’ll remember all our teammates coming together,” Mendoza said. “It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was just a band of brothers and the boys winning it in the fourth quarter together. Sticking together through the good, the bad and the ugly.”
This collectiveness will be pivotal as the season progresses, with the Hoosiers heading into their bye week boasting a 5-0 record (2-0 Big Ten), before preparing for another hostile crowd when they travel to Eugene, Oregon to take on the Ducks on Oct. 11.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
