Indiana Football's Downward Spiral Continues With 31-14 Loss To Rutgers

Indiana fell to 2-5 on the season with a 31-14 loss to Rutgers Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Indiana made special teams mistakes, had below-average quarterback play and couldn't stop the run.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana can only blame itself for this loss.

Two critical special teams mistakes gave Rutgers 10 free points. Indiana could not stop the Scarlet Knights’ grind-it-out rushing attack, and there continues to be no good answer at quarterback.

In the end, the Hoosiers lost 31-14 to Rutgers in their homecoming game Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Rutgers became bowl-eligible with the win, and Indiana moves to 2-5 on the season, continuing an ugly 2-20 stretch in Big Ten play since 2021.

Win or lose, this game was going to mark a turning point in Indiana’s season. With a win, Indiana could have raised expectations of beating fellow below-.500 Big Ten teams Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue. But a loss at home to Rutgers offers little hope Indiana can win another game.

Indiana’s two most costly plays in the first half were self-inflicted errors. As Indiana lined up to punt, Indiana coach Tom Allen said Indiana checked out of its initial coverage based on what Rutgers showed. He denied there was pre-snap confusion, saying that the team worked on what Rutgers did during practice.

Instead of calling a timeout to discuss how to block the rush, Indiana snapped the ball when its players seemed ill-prepared. Rutgers’ Shaquan Loyal came free off the edge, blocking James Evans’ punt, and Eric Rogers picked it up for an easy touchdown.

“We felt good about how we had it schemed up,” Allen said. “Wasn't good enough.”

The second special teams error came at perhaps the worst time one could imagine. With 28 seconds before halftime, Rutgers was content to punt the ball. Indiana would have probably killed the clock and gone into halftime tied. But Jaylin Lucas muffed the punt, and Rutgers recovered. Indiana’s defense did well to keep Rutgers out of the end zone, but the mistake gave Rutgers three free points.

In its seemingly unending quarterback competition, redshirt freshman Brendan Sorsby started for the first time since Week 1 against Ohio State. He played the entire game – the third time an Indiana quarterback has done so in seven games – but had an overall mediocre performance.

Sorsby led a promising opening drive, going 75 yards on nine plays. In his second game as offensive coordinator, Rod Carey went for it on 4th and 8 from the 35-yard line. Sorsby avoided an immediate pass rush, then threw deep to a wide-open Omar Cooper Jr. for touchdown.

Indiana, which entered the game with the Big Ten’s 13th-ranked rushing attack, had its second most productive game of the season. Sorsby picked up 49 yards on 11 tries, and Trent Howland took advantage of an expanded role, rushing for 54 yards on nine attempts.

But aside from the two touchdown drives, which generated 134 yards on 13 plays, the Hoosiers’ offense fell into similar struggles that have plagued them all year. Indiana went three-and-out three times, and 2-for-11 on third down.

Completing 15-of-31 passes, Sorsby didn’t make any massive mistakes, but his inaccuracy contributed to an offense that couldn’t consistently sustain drives. He and Carey were far too conservative in the second half, throwing the ball short of the line to gain multiple times on third and fourth down.

“Bottom line is we ran the football better against a really good defense in the box,” Allen said. “But not good enough in the throw game to create points.”

Indiana’s defense felt that effect. Rutgers passed the ball just 12 times Saturday because it didn’t need to risk it. Allen and linebacker Aaron Casey said they expected Rutgers’ run-heavy offense, but they couldn’t stop it.

Quarterback Gavin Wimsatt rushed 16 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns, and it felt like he could pick up five yards whenever he wanted. The same was true for the Big Ten’s leading rusher Kyle Monangai, who ran for 109 yards on 24 attempts.

For the first three quarters, Rutgers slowly but surely gashed the Indiana defense play after play. It started early, with a 15-play drive that chewed eight minutes of clock. They later sustained drives of six and four-plus minutes to wear down the Hoosiers. Rutgers won the time of possession battle 37:38 to 22:22.

“I was concerned about that,” Allen said. “That's what they've been able to do. But just didn't do a good enough job on first downs, got too many third and shorts, had a big quarterback gain that we knew they would do, and yeah, just frustrating couldn't get off.”

Allen made the defensive line, end and linebacker positions a point of emphasis this offseason in the transfer portal, but those units couldn’t hold up against Rutgers’ deliberate style. Indiana also lost starting safeties Noah Pierre and Louis Moore to an injury and a targeting penalty, respectively, both in the first half.

And finally, early in the fourth quarter, Indiana’s defense was done for good. Wimsatt used misdirection to fool most of the Hoosiers, then broke free for an 80-yard touchdown.

That was the game’s dagger. And in a big-picture sense, the loss ends any realistic hope Indiana could turn around its season.

Even Allen feels the season slipping away.

“I don’t think I feel it,” Allen said. “I think it’s a reality.”