-- Indiana 14, Illinois 27, -- [FINAL]
IU was unable to pull off any last minute heroics. After driving most of the field, Lewis threw an interception from inside Illinois's five-yard line and the Illini kneeled the ball to end the game.
The Hoosiers weren't able to establish any consistency on both ends of the ball. On offense, they were completely dependent on the big play (and weren't able to get enough of them) and on defense they were unable to stop Illinois's rushing attack - which ended up with nearly 300 total yards on the ground.
I know a lot of people will be ready to jump off the bandwagon after this game, but if there is anything I've learned from following IU football its that one loss isn't that big of a deal.
Yes, they are no longer undefeated. Yes, they couldn't beat a weaker conference team at open. But the Hoosiers are still only three games away from bowl elgibility.
If someone had told you the Hoosiers would be 3-1 after four games before the season, would you have taken it? ----------------
-- Indiana 14, Illinois 27, -- [Fourth quarter - 4:46]
It is pretty hard to convert on fourth and 17. Too hard for the Hoosiers. IU turns the ball over to Illinois on the Fighting Illini's 47-yard line.
Lewis just hasn't looked comfortable in the pocket all day. When he has thrown from the pocket, the pass has either been forced or off target. This has really been the first team to put consistent pressure on him and it shows. ----------------
-- Indiana 14, Illinois 27, -- [Fourth quarter - 5:24]
The Hoosiers were able to get the ball back before the five-minute mark on a fumble by Illinois's Troy Pollard.
Lewis and the offense will take over on their own 38-yard line and need to drive the length of the field for a touchdown. From there, they can either elect to onsides kick it or try and stop Drink and Mendenhall. ------------------
-- Indiana 14, Illinois 27, -- [Fourth quarter - 7:58]
It's still a two touchdown lead, but the Hoosiers made a dent into their deficit with a long touchdown pass to James Bailey. Bailey was able to elude three or four Illinois defenders and dove into the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown.
With eight minutes left on the clock, the Hoosiers can still play normal defense and try and force a punt. Illinois will most likely try and work the clock, but if the Hoosiers can get the ball back before the five-minute mark they will put themselves in a decent position for a comeback. ------------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 27, -- [Fourth quarter - 12:45]
Hoosier fans are making their way to the exits.
Illinois took the ball 27 yards on the five-play drive and ended it with a Mendenhall rushing touchdown.
Let's hope Tyler Zeller is across the street checking out the Kelley School of Business right now.
Three touchdowns isn't impossible in 12:45, but its pretty unlikely. I'm surprised the Hoosiers haven't tried airing it out once to Hardy or James Bailey yet.
To make things worse, the U of I crowd is now leading cheers near the pep band. Advice to IU Athletic's: don't allow road bands at future games. -------------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Fourth quarter - 14:10]
Hardy caught a ball over the middle for a big gain...
The Memorial Stadium crowd: "Ooooooh!!"
Hardy fumbles the ball seconds later. Recovery Illinois...
The Memorial Stadium crowd: "(the sound of frustration)."
14 minutes left, the Hoosiers are down two touchdowns and Illinois is taking the ball over inside the red zone. Like O.J. Simpson's pending trial, this doesn't look good. ----------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Third quarter - 2:44]
The Hoosiers still can't going it going offensively and just punted to Illinois again. Bryan Payton started the drive with a 20-yard run, but the Hoosiers weren't able to do anything from there. They ran the Ray Fisher screen play for a loss and followed it with two other dud plays.
James Hardy stayed on the field after the Hoosiers failed to convert on third down and set a record for negative body language. I'm in the press box, but hands on the hips, followed by an angry strip of your chin strap usually means you aren't satisfied with the quarterback, right?
Illinois just went three-and-out quickly and punted into the end zone for a touchback. I feel like I'm repeating myself (I am, I am, I am, I am), but the Hoosiers take over the ball in need of some points. -----------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Third quarter - 9:21]
Porter is having a great game. He just made a great tackle on IU's punt, tackling Illinois's Jacob Willis for a loss.
Unfortunately, no one else is really stepping up on IU's offense. Once again, the Hoosiers will need their defense to step up for the struggling offense. -----------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Third quarter - 11:00]
Tracy Porter just gave the Hoosiers the turnover they were desperately looking for. Porter caught his second interception from Drink Williams near Indiana's 10-yard line and Porter returned the ball 20 yards before being knocked out of bounds by Mendenhall.
IU will start their next drive from the 33-yard line and really needs to get some points off the turnover. It's early enough where they can settle for a field goal, but another punt could really deflate the team. -----------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Third quarter - 12:00]
The Hoosiers need to come out strong in the second half...
They did not.
On second down Lewis spiked the ball near the sideline, meaning to throw it away, but instead was flagged for intentional grounding. Sacked on the next play, the Hoosiers were unable to convert on third and 19.
Michael Hines came out to punt, only to have it blocked by the Fighting Illini. -------------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Halftime]
The half ends on a Kellen Lewis sack. The Hoosiers weren't able to get into field goal position despite having two timeouts and being in Illinois territory with 21 seconds left.
The Hoosiers have chosen Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" to honor Anthony Thompson at halftime. I'm surprised they didn't go with one of Sting's classics.
Thompson was recently selected into the college football Hall of Fame. He hasn't played in almost 20 years, but I'd still give him the bulk of the carries in the second half.
IU was out gained by Illinois in the first half, 265-211. The Hoosier's rushing yards are skewed due to the big loss by Lewis to end the half, but Illinois has dominated on the ground, rushing for 176 yards.
The Hoosiers will need to do two things differently in the second half to win: they'll need their defense to play better against the run and they'll need to score touchdowns in the red zone, and not settle for field goals or turnovers. ------------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 20, -- [Second quarter - 0:44]
In less than 90 seconds Illinois stormed down the field and scored a touchdown on a short screen pass to Mendenhall.
I don't know if the Hoosiers were in prevent defense the entire time or what, but that was probably the worst defensive stand by IU all season. Illinois really had no trouble scoring on the Hoosiers, it was just a question of whether they'd score a touchdown or kick a field goal.
With under a minute left on the clock, the Hoosier's last touchdown has lost most of its significance. Down two touchdowns, the Hoosiers could use an Austin Starr field goal to close out the half. -----------------
-- Indiana 7, Illinois 13, -- [Second quarter - 2:04]
The Hoosiers are able to get on the board before the first half ends. Lewis led the Hoosiers on a seven-play 78-yard drive down the field that concluded on a seven-yard touchdown pass to James Hardy.
IU's offense looked significantly better than they did in the first quarter. In addition to the passing game working some kinks out, the Hoosiers have also started to run the ball better. Part-time blogger/part-time running back Bryan Payton even got a carry that got the Hoosiers a 15-yard gain.
Bill Lynch most likely isn't happy being down a touchdown going into the half at home, but IU's score puts them back in the game. Illinois has totaled 197 yards offensively and 167 of them have come on the ground. -------------------
-- Indiana 0, Illinois 13, -- [Second quarter -- 7:22]
Thanks to two broken pass plays that resulted in long runs for Lewis, the Hoosiers were able to work the ball down the field. IU went to the reverse again, this time to Fisher, who gained about 15 yards before fumbling inside IU's red zone.
The play was reviewed, but the call stood. Illinois takes the ball over inside their own 20. -----------------
-- Indiana 0, Illinois 13, -- [Second quarter -- 10:00]
On a play-action pass from inside the five-yard line, Drink Williams threw an easy touchdown pass to Michael Hoomanawanui.
(Not only do I nominate Hoomanawanui for having the best last name in the Big Ten, but he's also a Bloomington native. Okay, Bloomington, Ill.)
After picking one off early, the Hoosiers have looked pretty sloppy. They were flagged earlier for having too many people on the field and have been getting run over by Drink and Rashard Mendenhall.
Williams has been throwing screen passes and running the option, and so far, that's been more than enough to cripple IU's defense.
The Memorial Stadium crowd has fallen silent. The last time they really exploded was during a time out in the first quarter when the men's basketball team came out on the field. No sight of Zeller.
The Hoosiers will start their next drive from their own 34-yard line and will look to start their struggling offense. They could really use some points to try and swing the momentum back in their corner. ----------------
-- Indiana 0, Illinois 6, -- [End of First Quarter]
Tom just pointed out that the Memorial Stadium staff couldn't go an entire quarter without playing John Mellencamp over the loud speakers. It is true.
It only went for two yards, but the Hoosiers just ran a reverse to Andrew Means that featured Lewis drilling an Illinois linebacker onto the turf.
But Lewis has been unable to get it going offensively. Illinois has been doing a good job of containing him, and the Hoosiers haven't done anything creatively play-calling wise to throw Ron Zook and his coaching staff off yet.
------------------ -- Indiana 0, Illinois 6, -- [First Quarter, 4:28]
Not a lit to report from the first quarter here at Memorial Stadium.
Reda just kicked his second field goal of the quarter, a 35-yarder, to pad Illinois's slim lead. Drink Williams has put the Fighting Illini in good field position but hasn't been able to translate it into a touchdown. In the last series he skipped two balls into the turf that looked more like infield practice than passing attempts.
Illinois's defense has been sharp, putting pressure on Lewis and forcing him to run out of the pocket. Lewis hasn't been able to gain positive yards or hit someone down field yet, so I'd expect the pressure to continue until he makes a play.
After the field goal, Illinois kicked the ball to Marcus Thigpen (a rare occurance). Thigpen caught the ball about five yards deep into the end zone and had to have Leslie Majors beg him not to run it out. Majors ran in front of Thigpen and through up his hands pleading with him to knee it.
IU's first play from scrimmage was the Ray Fisher screen pass, the first time they've called it today. -----------------
-- Indiana 0, Illinois 3, -- [First Quarter, 10:20]
Illinois's Jason Reda just connected on a 45-yard field goal to put the Hoosiers down by three early. The Fighting Illini marching band made the trip to Bloomington this weekened and is stationed in the Memorial Stadium seats.
Apparently, one band isn't going to cut it. This is an unofficial estimate, but there is one band member for every eight people here. -----------------
-- Indiana 0, Illinois 0, -- [First Quarter, 12:20]
Both teams are off to strong starts on the defensive side of the ball.
On the second play from scrimmage, Drink Williams threw a deep ball on a fly route that was miraculously intercepted by Tracy Porter. Porter caught the ball with one hand fully extended and snagged it from the Fighting Illini wide receiver.
After a long running play from Kellen Lewis and a pass to Josiah Sears, Marcus Thigpen fumbled a handoff and Illinois recovered the ball on their own 33-yard line.
Illinois is going non-huddle on this drive.
------------------- G'day, mate. We're up in Memorial Stadium's press box (the one in Bloomington) and are just over an hour away from kick-off.
Is DJ Green Lantern working the public address system? The longest remix of Party like a Rockstar just played during warm-ups.
There is a lot riding on this afternoon's game for the Hoosiers. A quick rundown:
* A chance to go 4-0 for the first time since 1990. * With a win, IU will continue its recent dominance of the Fighting Illini. Something that is valuable when you consider them a conference rival. * The Hoosiers will be only two games away from bowl eligibility with a win. * This game will give an opportunity for the Hoosiers to prove they haven't just been beating up and weaker teams and are actually a legitimate team to reckon with. * And of course, Tyler Zeller will be in attendance today watching his possible future school. A strong performance will surely impress.
