In the movie ‘Any Given Sunday,’ head coach Tony D’Amato delivers this famous line, “Life's this game of inches. So is football.”
Last year, Indiana football learned that inches could win games. Just look at Omar Cooper Jr.’s catch against Penn State. He levitated in the air while being pushed by a defender before defying gravity and planting his left foot in bounds, keeping the Hoosiers’ perfect season alive.
This year, the Hoosiers discovered inches can lose games.
I’m sure everybody has seen the play by now, but I’ll still describe it.
Indiana was trailing 19-15 with just over a minute left in the game. The Hoosiers faced a fourth-and-4 at Ohio State’s 27-yard line. After the Buckeyes brought a blitz, redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover threw a fade pass to junior wide receiver Nick Marsh. Marsh had plenty of separation from the defensive back. It should've been a touchdown nine out of ten times.
But, this time, it wasn’t a touchdown.
As Marsh kept running toward the sideline, the ball kept floating to the white boundary. Eventually, the Detroit native caught the pass, but his left foot landed out of bounds before his right foot touched in the endzone.
It was initially ruled a touchdown. With the fans at Memorial Stadium collectively losing their minds, the referees announced the pass was incomplete.
You can tell Marsh knew he messed up right away. He held his hands over his head and had a blank stare on his face as broadcast cameras zoomed in on him.
And that's both the beauty and the pain of sports.
Sometimes you’re the hero. Other times, you’re the victim of a defeat.
Just like that, the Hoosiers' nation-best 22-game winning streak was over. It feels weird to type it, much less say it, but Indiana’s last loss came Dec. 20, 2024, at the University of Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Saturday felt like a game Indiana should’ve won. The Hoosiers had plenty of opportunities to take and build on a potential lead, yet they failed to capitalize.
With a 7-3 lead during the second quarter, Indiana marched down the field. Then, on a third-and-6 at Ohio State’s 14-yard line, Hoover had redshirt freshman tight end Brock Schott and junior running back Turbo Richard wide open. Hoover threw the ball to Richard, but it was too late. Ohio State junior linebacker Payton Pierce jumped the wheel route and broke up the pass.
Indiana settled for the field goal. However, senior kicker Nico Radicic’s 32-yard field goal hit the left upright. After a 12-play, 66-yard drive, the Hoosiers finished with zero points.
On the ensuing possession, Ohio State drove down the field and scored a touchdown to take the lead. It happened on a fourth-and-goal at Indiana’s 2-yard line, where the Hoosiers triple-teamed Buckeyes junior wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and left open sophomore running back Bo Jackson for a walk-in touchdown.
Any momentum the Hoosiers had was gone as they entered halftime. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti even called the sequence “a critical moment” during the postgame press conference.
As the game progressed, Indiana’s mistakes kept occurring like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
During the next three drives, the Hoosiers fumbled twice and missed a 55-yard field goal. Somehow, despite being inside the Buckeyes’ territory on three of those four drives, Indiana came away with zero points — something that simply can’t happen, especially against the No. 4 team in the country.
So, what now?
Indiana’s loss felt inevitable at some point. After all, nothing lasts forever. Streaks are meant to be broken. The Hoosiers had many close calls last year and even a few earlier this season.
Still, it feels odd to realize the team truly lost. I was a freshman in college when Indiana last lost. In fact, I don’t know what Bloomington looked like when Indiana wasn’t a winning football program.
Ultimately, it’s important to have perspective. As of now, Ohio State and UCLA are still both undefeated in the Big Ten and the frontrunners to appear in the Big Ten Championship. That doesn’t mean Indiana’s season is over.
As Cignetti said, “the sun’s going to rise tomorrow.”
Hoover reiterated his coach’s statement, saying the Hoosiers will grow despite the loss.
“I think our team can respond in the right way,” Hoover said. “I’m going to use this as fuel moving forward.”
Currently, the Hoosiers play only one top-25 team the rest of the season: No. 19 USC on Nov. 14. If Indiana takes care of business and finishes 11-1, I have a good feeling Indiana will be in the College Football Playoff.
Yes, a loss to a Buckeyes team who lost starting quarterback junior Julian Sayin for most of the fourth quarter hurts. It especially stings when the Hoosiers had the game in their hands and failed to take the steps to execute.
Unlike last season, Indiana will fall short of being perfect this season. The Hoosiers are human. Nevertheless, the defeat to Ohio State doesn’t mean the season is lost yet.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season
