[Indiana 33, Oklahoma State 49] (Final)
A last second touchdown to James Bailey makes the score appear more respectable than the game actually was.
Despite the late effort, an inspirational season ends on a disappointing note for the Hoosiers.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys clobbered the Hoosiers this evening, 49-27. IU was unable to make the game competitive after falling behind 35-10 at the half.
We are headed down to the press conferences and locker rooms for interviews. We'll be back later with further analysis and some visuals. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 24, Oklahoma State 42] (Fourth quarter -- :50)
Running up the score a bit, eh?
The Cowboys go for it on fourth down and score another touchdown, pulling them ahead 49-27.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 27, Oklahoma State 42] (Fourth quarter - 3:08)
Austin Starr is a good kicker.
After three incomplete passes in the general direction of James Hardy, the Hoosiers settle for a field goal.
The onsides kick attempt failed - Oklahoma State recovers the ball.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 24, Oklahoma State 42] (Fourth quarter - 7:02)
Touchdown, Josiah Sears.
A Sears run up the middle results in IU's third touchdown of the day.
After the play, Sears threw the ball into the end zone. He hit a girl in a No. 42 jersey right between the numbers. Unfortunately, the referees saw the play too, and whistled Sears for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 17, Oklahoma State 42] (Fourth quarter - 10:31)
The Hoosiers will take over at their own 20. Lets see if they keep fighting and can score a touchdown on this drive.
The stands are losing warm bodies by the second. The Block Party is beating the football game.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 17, Oklahoma State 42] (End of third)
Still a blowout.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 17, Oklahoma State 42] (Third quarter - 6:16)
The Cowboys answer with a touchdown of their own. After driving the pigskin into IU's red zone, Robinson found Bowman in the end zone on a lob pass. The defender, Leslie Majors, never had a chance guarding the taller wide receiver.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 17, Oklahoma State 35] (Third quarter - 10:29)
After a Marcus Thigpen run up the sideline the Hoosiers moved inside the 10.
On third-and-seven Lewis threw a slant to Hardy but was easily tackled.
On fourth down, the Hoosiers lined up in fence formation for the field goal. Lewis, who was lined up as the holder, took the snap and rolled to his right with IU's entire offensive line left of the hashmarks.
Oklahoma State saw the play coming and Lewis threw a short pass to...Austin Starr. Starr, remarkably, juked out several defenders before finally being tackled at the one, giving the Hoosiers a first down.
Two plays later Lewis snuck it into the end zone for a touchdown.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 10, Oklahoma State 35] (Third quarter - 13:06)
Here's a photo from the first half showing a Dez Bryant touchdown. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 10, Oklahoma State 35] (Third quarter - 13:06)
Thanks to two crimson calls by the officials, the Hoosiers pushed the Cowboys to third-and-13 from OSU's 12.
In a shotgun formation, Bowman dropped a pass over the middle of the field forcing the Cowboys to punt for the first time all day.
The punter looks rusty. An 18-yard punt gives the Hoosiers the ball at the 26.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 10, Oklahoma State 35] (Halftime)
I'll let the numbers do the talking...
First downs: Oklahoma State 20, Indiana 10 Rushing yards: Oklahoma State 130, Indiana 65
Zac Robinson (passing): 15-20 (one meaningless pick), 192 yards and 2 passing TDs Zac Robinson (ground): 11 carries for 67 yards and 2 rushing TDs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 10, Oklahoma State 35] (Halftime)
It won't mean much on the scoreboard, but Nick Polk intercepted a deep pass as the half was ending to give the Hoosiers the ball back.
To open the second half the Hoosiers will kick to the Cowboys.
I'd have to say this is probably the worst half of football I've seen the Hoosiers play this season. They absolutely had no answer for Oklahoma State's offense and their own playmakers weren't able to find the end zone often enough.
More later.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 10, Oklahoma State 35] (Second quarter - 2:18)
Another possession, another touchdown for the Cowboys.
On their five possessions today, Oklahoma State has scored a touchdown on every drive. The scoring play was on a quarterback sneak by Robinson.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 10, Oklahoma State 28] (Second quarter - 5:35)
IU just drew its largest cheer of the day since Starr's early field goal. On third-and-eight deep in IU territory, Lewis found James "Hands" Bailey over the middle for a long completion. Bailey was finally brought down at OSU's 48.
Three players later, the Hoosiers were facing third-and-13 from OSU's 30. Once again, the Hoosiers came up big on third down and found Hardy over the middle for 17 yards.
On first down Bryan Payton exploded up the middle for a gain of 11.
On the 2, OSU stuffed Payton this time pushing the Hoosiers back to the 4. Second down, Hardy was hit from behind coughing the ball up in the end zone.
Third down (again!), Lewis found Thigpen in the flat for the touchdown. Thigpen hurdled the OSU defender and came to rest in the orange end zone.
The Cowboys are still up huge, but IU is at least showing a pulse now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 28] (Second quarter - 10:11)
Yikes.,.
Oklahoma State continues the Hoosier slaughtering with another touchdown. Robinson found Bowman WIDE OPEN in the end zone. I'm using capital letters to emphasize the openness.
Its not like Bowman hasn't been having his way all game with the Hoosiers. How do you let their top offensive playmaker stand wide open in the end zone on third down? Mind boggling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 21] (Second quarter - 12:28)
Twist the dagger.
Nick Polk intercepted Robinson's pass deep down field, only to have the play called back due to an offside penalty (Middleton).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 21] (Second quarter - 13:09)
Facing third-and-16 (running backwards doesn't work), Lewis completed a pass to Andrew Means in the flat. Means, sensing the first down marker, dove for the pylon.
After the officials gave him the first down the booth decided to review the play.
The review corrected the spot to a yard short of the first down marker. The yard would come back to haunt the Hoosiers.
On fourth-and-one, Lewis's short pass to Ray Fischer flew high. No idea why Lewis didn't run it there.
The Cowboys take over on their 44.
NOTE: Tracy Porter has returned to the field. Great to see he is okay after a scary injury in the first quarter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 21] (End of First)
After two plays on first and second down, Lewis darted up the middle for a much-needed first down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 21] (First quarter - 1:41)
Wow. Things really escalated quickly there.
Zac Robinson ran the ball into the end zone to put the Cowboys up huge in the first quarter.
IU's offense has struggled early on - featuring two straight three-and-outs - but they look like the Indianapolis Colts in the RCA Dome compared to the defense. Oklahoma State is obliterating any defensive scheme the Hoosiers send out on the field.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 14] (First quarter - 2:56)
A quick three-and-out gives the ball back to Oklahoma State.
They wasted no time moving the ball into IU territory thanks to a great screen pass to Kendall Hunter that resulted in a huge gain.
The Cowboys have the ball on IU's 20.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 14] (First quarter - 4:38)
Following an unnecessary roughness penalty on Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, OSU QB Zac Robinson found Bryant in the end zone for a touchdown.
The Hoosiers are in a big hole early in this game. They are down two scores and are without their best defensive player in Porter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 7] (First quarter - 5:44)
Porter was just walked off the field with his arms around two IU trainers. He appears to be all right but seems very woozy. From watching the replays it appears Porter suffered a concussion. I would put his return at doubtful.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 7] (First quarter - 5:44)
Another strong Oklahoma State drive has been interrupted by a scary injury.
After a big collision, Tracy Porter is down on the field nearly motionless. I've seen him move his arms, but outside of that he is completely still. IU trainers are attending to him.
The injury resulted from a helmet-to-helmet collision with IU defensive lineman Greg Brown. Brown is listed at 6-2 300 lbs., significantly larger than Porter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 7] (First quarter - 7:21)
The Hoosiers went to dump off plays on first and second down. The first one Lewis threw out of bounds, the second to Thigpen resulted in no gain.
On third, Lewis went deep to Hardy over the middle. It hit Hardy in the hands (well above 10 feet in the air), but No. 82 was unable to come down with it. For the first time today, the Hoosiers will punt.
The Cowboys returned the punt to the 48.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 7] (First quarter - 8:18)
Oklahoma State goes ahead with a touchdown after stomping down the field in less than three minutes.
The Cowboys really had their way with IU's defense. Dantrell Savage had several impressive runs and also drew a 15-yard facemask penalty on Tracy Porter.
The Hoosiers will need to mount a more impressive defensive effort this afternoon to hang with the Cowboys.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 3, Oklahoma State 0] (First quarter - 10:41)
A strong third down blitz from the Cowboy defense forces the Hoosiers to attempt a field goal.
Luckily for the Hoosiers, Austin Starr is still in top form. Starr easily cleared the cross bar from 43 yards to put the Hoosiers ahead.
On a side note, it appears Sun Devil Stadium has a surplus of fireworks. They fired several rounds off before the game and will continue to launch fireworks after every score.
After Starr's field goal, the fireworks flew into the air. About 200 feet away from the fireworks was a commercial airplane descending towards Phoenix's airport. Oops.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 0, Oklahoma State 0] (First quarter -- 12:46)
The first play of the afternoon resulted in a short loss after Kellen Lewis handed off to Marcus Thigpen. The next two plays were completions to James Hardy and Nick Sexton.
Lewis carried the ball past midfield after scrambling outside of the pocket to his right. So far the Hoosiers have moved the ball with relative ease.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 0, Oklahoma State 0] (First quarter -- 14:54)
Oklahoma State has won the toss and deferred. The Hoosiers will receive the ball first. James Bailey and Marcus Thigpen are back awaiting the kick.
Bailey returned the ball to the 24.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Indiana 0, Oklahoma State 0] (Pre-game)
We are about 30 minutes away from kick-off at Sun Devil Stadium.
The fans are starting to trickle in. The stadium is split perfectly down the middle by the field: one side, a section of Oklahoma State orange, the other side, a sea of cream and crimson.
The players have filed off the field and the marching bands are now performing. I've always been entertained by "band offs," I'm intrigued by the prospect of Nick Cannon showing up somehow.
As always, I'll be here giving live blog updates throughout the game. If you're watching the game back in Indiana, tune into the NFL Network or Fox to watch the game.
