Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera

The Skip Report: Indiana in Review

10/23/2016 6:32:00 PM | Football

By: Skip Myslenski

By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor

The 'Cats took the opening kickoff and, on their first snap, Justin Jackson gained five over the left side. Two plays later Clayton Thorson hit Austin Carr for 12 on a short cross, and now the drive was on. There would be a Jackson sweep for nine and Thorson finding Flynn Nagel for eight on a curl. There would be Thorson smartly dumping off to Nagel for four in the face of a big blitz, and then hitting Nagel for nine on an out, and finally throwing a 17-yard strike to Solomon Vault between two defenders in the left side of the end zone.

Like that, after a mere 3:23, the 'Cats were up seven on Indiana on Saturday morning at Ryan Field, and now their defense trotted out and stuffed the Hoosiers and forced them into a three-and-out. That brought the offense back out again and this time it was even more impressive, even more efficient, even more explosive. This drive started with Jackson gaining four and then, after an incompletion, Thorson hit Carr on an out for 10. Now Jackson, on a draw, burst free for 27 and finally, out of trips left, Carr burst from the inside slot, broke free from 240-pound Hoosier linebacker Marcus Oliver and collected Thorson's 34-yard offering to put the 'Cats up 14 with less than seven minutes gone.

"Everything worked well for us in the first half," Thorson would later say. "We were really balanced. When we're like that, we're tough to beat. We feel we can go against anyone in the country when we're playing like that."

"But we as a coaching staff knew that Indiana would respond," said Pat Fitzgerald. "Kevin (Wilson, the former 'Cat assistant who is now the Indiana head coach) and I have (the late) Randy Walker in our DNA. It's part of our blood. Walk, it was never a game perfect. It was always about the way you respond and the way that you finish. So we knew they were going to swing back and they did, and our guys were able to keep swinging one more time, one more time, one more time, and found a way to get it done."

The 'Cats would get it done, eventually defeating the Hoosiers 24-14, and along the way any number of them would contribute to this success. There was Thorson, who threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns without suffering an interception. There were Carr, who caught seven for 125 and a score, and Nagel, who caught a half-dozen for 40. There were Jackson, who netted 94 on 28 rushes and caught five passes for 34 more, and bit players like Macan Wilson, whose one reception resulted in his first career touchdown and the 'Cats going up 21-3 early in the second quarter.

Fitzgerald, in advance of this date, had widely praised the Hoosier defense, which (for one example) had held Ohio State to a mere 93 passing yards two weeks earlier. Now, after being shredded so impressively by the 'Cats, that unit stiffened, and through the rest of this afternoon it would surrender just a field goal. "A lot of missed opportunities," Thorson would say of his offense's sudden demise.

"They did make adjustments at halftime," said Carr. "But we did make some mistakes. Dropped balls. Some routes we could have run more crisp to get more separation. . . . In a way we're not really satisfied with the way this game ended offensively."

That, in turn, left the 'Cats fate in the hands of their defense, and most especially in the hands of their defensive backfield.

Last Thursday evening, after attending a function, Fitzgerald went around to his team's meeting rooms to make sure they were locked up. "D line room was locked. I'm happy," he recalled. "Linebacker room is locked. Happy. DB room is unlocked and I'm furious. I open the door and there're all the secondary guys watching tape on a Thursday night. I was pleasantly surprised. I was very happy. That's what I told them after the game. It goes back to the way they prepared. They've got to keep doing it. It's a grind. It's a grind. You've got to put the work in mentally so you can go out and play physically the right way."

This was, in fact, a group that was physically beat up. It had lost junior Keith Watkins, one of its starting corners, in training camp, and then the other, senior Matthew Harris, in Week Two. They were replaced by (respectively) true sophomore Montre Hartage and redshirt freshman Trae Williams, but now Williams was hurt too and starting in his spot against the Hoosiers was redshirt freshman Alonzo Mayo. Then, in Saturday's first quarter, he went down, and in to replace him was junior Marcus McShepard.

Middle linebacker Anthony Walker, Jr., and safety Godwin Igwebuike, the studs of the 'Cats back seven, would shine on this day, and later Fitzgerald would say, "To have two of your better players start to play their best football as we creep toward the end of October is really, really important." But, as an unexpected contributor to a true team win, their abiding symbol this day was McShepard, who was switched from corner to wide receiver last off-season then switched back to corner again when injuries leveled that position.

"I brought him in," recalled Fitzgerald, "and I said, 'Listen, I've got to move you back and I feel terrible about it. You haven't done anything wrong. But the team needs you to move back.' He just looked at me and said, 'Coach, whatever you need for me to do for the team I'll do.' I can't describe in words how proud I am of him. . . . He was prepared for today and when the opportunity presented itself, he went out and he competed."

He competed as both he and Hartage were constantly tested by the Hoosiers ("We anticipated seeing that," said Fitzgerald), and never did either of them blink. They were bloodied, to use a boxing analogy, by some snake-lick jabs. But their knees didn't buckle, and they remained on their feet, and constantly, always, they fought back. "I thought those guys stepped up big time," Fitzgerald would say of them, but he could well have been speaking of all those he had found studying film on Thursday night.

So, on Saturday, it was only appropriate that it was they who finally shut down the Hoosiers, who were down 12 and driving with under four minutes remaining. They were set up at the 'Cat nine with a second-and-six, and here safety Jared McGee held Hoosier Donovan Hale to a one-yard gain after he caught a short cross. They next went to the same pattern, this time completing it to Nick Westbrook, and he was brought down after just a two-yard gain by Kyle Queiro, who earlier had had a highlight film interception. Now, with 2:10 left, the Hoosiers faced fourth-and-three at the six, and their quarterback Richard Lagow targeted Ricky Jones in the left side of the end zone.

Covering Jones was Marcus McShepard. The pass fell incomplete.