After sophomore running back Tevin Coleman suffered a right ankle sprain in IU's 52-35 win against Illinois, senior Stephen Houston reclaimed the starting job in the Hoosiers' backfield--a position he had held in each of his previous two seasons in Bloomington.
"I thought Stephen Houston and D'Angelo Roberts were capable," IU Coach Kevin Wilson said.
Houston started in Madison, Wisc. against the No. 22 Badgers and he was held to 61 yards on 15 carries. Roberts, who has been one spot behind Houston in each of his three seasons at IU, started last week against No. 3 Ohio State, which limited Houston to seven rushes for 36 yards and a pair of receptions for eight yards.
In his final collegiate game, Houston started at running back for the Hoosiers.
"It was nice to see Stephen...step up today," Wilson said.
Houston's first touch was on the fifth play of the game, when he took a handoff from redshirt sophomore quarterback Tre Roberson and ran 53 yards for a touchdown.
"(I) just took it to the house, there really isn't too much to explain," he said. "They put trust in me, put trust in the O-line and we just got the job done."
Houston ran the ball 17 times, which tied his season-high for carries in a game, for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
"It felt great," he said. "I was going to leave it all out there on the field, I have nothing left here so this was my bowl game, this was my national championship game. (I) just emptied my whole clip, came out exhausted because this is my last game in an IU uniform."
More importantly for Houston, he ended his career on a high note with a 56-36 victory against Purdue.
"It feels good, two years in a row we lost when I felt that we should have won," he said. "(It was an) unfortunate turn of events but we won and brought it back and rightfully belonging here at IU so it's a good way to go out as a senior."
Houston finished with 753 yards and five touchdowns this season to bring his career totals to 424 carries for 2,304 yards (5.4 yards/carry) and 29 total touchdowns. He is sixth all-time in career touchdowns at IU and ninth in career rushing yards.
