That was something, huh?
Indiana football and Curt Cignetti wriggled their way out of yet another jam on Saturday evening with a 23-16 overtime win over Minnesota. It wasn’t pretty and featured plenty of mistakes that kept the Hoosiers from winning in regulation but, as this program does, it madethe right plays at the right moments to secure the win.
Refuse to lose. Here’s a few stats to know from the game:
60 yards
Paddy McAteer, take a bow.
Indiana’s Irish-born kicker, added this past offseason after spending
the first two seasons of his career at Troy, set the Hoosiers’ new program record for longest made field goal with a 60-yarder to tie the game as time expired in regulation.
On a day when Indiana’s special teams struggled mightily and nearly lost it the game, McAteer’s leg ended up saving it. The Hoosiers added him primarily to handle kickoffs, but knew he had the kicking power for a long range attempt if the situation called for it.
And, well!
204 yards
Indiana out-gained Minnesota by 204 yards on the day. The Hoosiers out-rushed and out-passed the Golden Gophers in what turned into a rock fight when the offense couldn’t score early on and Minnesota saw its chance in dragging the game out.
Lee Beebe Jr. nearly equaled Minnesota’s rushing total himself, with 84 yards to the Gophers’ 95. If Josh Hoover had completed one more pass Indiana would’ve had two quarterbacks with more yards than Minnesota’s Drake Lindsey.
Indiana beat Minnesota in several facets, but couldn’t stay consistent through the air and kept making critical mistakes between special teams miscues and penalties. This looked like a team that needs a bye, and they’ll get it.
47%
Indiana played two different quarterbacks, with Grant Wilson replacing Hoover in the second half. Wilson delivered on more big throws and was able to use his legs to pick up yards on the ground, but his overall passing performance wasn’t statistically too much different from Hoover’s aside from the latter’s tipped interception.
Hoover connected on eight of his 19 attempts through the air while Wilson did on nine of his 17 attempts. Granted (no pun intended), Wilson was playing under more dire circumstances with Indiana playing from behind.
What doesn’t show up on the stat sheet is that Wilson was just throwing a more catchable ball in ways that Hoover, still playing through injury, wasn’t. But Indiana’s passing game needs to be way more efficient to compliment the defensive tenacity that’s kept the Hoosiers in these games for several weeks in a row now.
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