Indiana’s win over Minnesota was among the most dramatic of the Curt Cignetti era, rivaled only by Fernando Mendoza’s late game heroics against Penn State that culminated in Omar Cooper Jr.‘s miraculous touchdown catch.
That win last year gained significance as the Hoosiers capitalized on it to sustain a perfect season through the National Championship, while the weight of this year’s win will be determined by how Indiana finishes the season. To finish the season well, it will need to learn from its
mistakes over the last four weeks.
Much of the focus surrounding Indiana’s struggles lately have been unfairly focused on Josh Hoover, who’s clearly been dealing with an injury to his throwing arm dating back to the Ohio State game. His health going forward might be the biggest factor in how Indiana finishes the season, but it’s not the only one.
Paddy McAteer’s 60-yard field goal to send the game to overtime made Cignetti look like a genius, turning to his designated long-range option after Nico Radicic had missed a chip shot and the special teams unit fumbled a snap on his second attempt.
Before getting too deep into the decisions that preceded this, it’s worth mentioning that Nico Radicic is having an uncharacteristically inconsistent year, why that is is anyone’s guess. He has never once hit a field goal from over 50 yards. In the past two weeks alone, he’s been sent out for two attempts, both of which he missed.
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Points have been hard to come by for Indiana recently, but opting for field goals has been a dicy endeavor for Indiana lately. The fourth downs have been longer than you’d want if you’re going to leave the offense on the field, but turning to a struggling kicker when outside of his career-long range seems counter-productive.
Fourth downs on the verge of scoring territory might just have to be where Indiana picks its spots to be aggressive. The field goal kicking is spotty, punting spottier, and a failure at any of the three options results in asking the same of the defense, give or take a few yards.
It feels weird to say this about the team that came in fourth in the opening CFP Standings, but Indiana has frankly had its back up against the wall in four consecutive weeks and should probably start acting like it.
With Hoover healthy, Indiana was able to hit the home run balls against Nebraska that put the game away. You don’t want to put too much on the shoulders of Grant Wilson, but he’s shown an ability to hit the deep pass too, especially in big moments. Even the backfield has demonstrated its capability for big plays, albeit scarcely in recent weeks.
No matter how Indiana finds its groove again, it feels like time is running out on “playing not to lose” strategy that was inches away from preserving a perfect season against Ohio State. Indiana needs to get healthy this week, then come back with its signature aggression to close out the regular season.
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