LIVE BLOG: Follow Indiana's Game With Minnesota in Real Time
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Welcome to Memorial Stadium. It's the final home game of the season for Indiana, with the Hoosiers taking on the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium. The Hoosiers are hoping to snap a six-game losing streak and end the home portion of their schedule on a high note.
If you're not familiar with our live blog, what we do is keep you up to date in real time with everything that's going on in the game, and we'll throw in some opinion and video highlights as well.
The most recent items are at the top, so just refresh often to see everything you need to know about that game.
So here we go.
FINAL SCORE: It's all over, and Indiana falls to Minnesota 35-14. The Hoosiers are now 2-9 on the season, and 0-8 in the Big Ten. Minnesota raises its record to 7-4 and 5-3 in the Big Ten. GAME STORY AND MORE TO COME
6:55 p.m . ET — Grant Gremel throws for 24 yards to A.J. Barner and then hits Malachi Holt-Bennett for a 29-yard touchdown strike. It's the first career touchdown for both of them. MINNESOTA 35, INDIANA 14.
6:38 p.m. — Minnesota adds another touchdown, covering 46 yards on seven run plays. Mar'Keise Irving scores on a 3-yard run with 3:41 to go in the fourth quarter. MINNESOTA 35, INDIANA 7.
6:15 p.m. — Grant Gremel in at quarterback now for Indiana. Indiana goes three-and-out with three incompletions.
6:01 p.m. — On the first play, Donaven McCulley tries to throw deep, but the pass is woefully short and is intercepted. He is now 3-for-7 passing for 17 yards and two interceptions on
5:59 p.m. — Here's how horrible Indiana's offense has been today. They had 92 yards on the first drive, but only 33 since then, with four punts.
5:52 p.m. — Minnesota scores again, this time on a 9-yard pass into the left corner of the end zone from Tanner Morgan to Chris Autman-Bell. It was a 50/50 ball, but Autman-Bell went up over Indiana cornerback Noah Pierre. MINNESOTA 28, INDIANA 7. There was a roughing the passer call on the play as well on Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden. It was also reviewed for targeting, but it wasn't enforced. That's had a good thing. Had McFadden been ejected for targeting, he would have had to miss the first half of the Purdue game.
5:48 p.m. — Bad news. Minnesota hits a long pass play down the right sideline, with Tanner Morgan connecting with Dylan Wright for 34 yards. They're into the red zone again, first-and-10 at the 20. Worse news: Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden needs to be helped off the field. He misses two plays, but then comes back in.
5:38 p.m — Micah McFadden continues to make big plays in this game. He blows up a third-down run and Minnesota is forced to punt. They bury Indiana at the 2-yard line. Indiana goes three-and-out themselves.
5:33 p.m. — Indiana gets a first down on a pass from Donaven McCulley to tight end Matt Bjorson, but then the drive stalls and they are forced to punt.
5:11 p.m. — Next week, Indiana travels up the road to Purdue to take on the Boilermakers for the first Old Oaken Bucket game since 2019. Purdue won on Saturday, beating Northwestern 32-15 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. For your halftime reading pleasure, here's the game story from our Sports Illustrated Purdue site. CLICK HERE
HALFTIME STATS: Indiana quarterback Donaven McCulley has run the ball 12 times for 59 yards, but he's just 1-for-3 passing for 7 yards with an interception. Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan is 10-for-15 for 143 passing yards, and Ky Thomas is their leading rusher with 51 yards on 14 carries. Minnesota had 21 unanswered points. Indiana won the toss and deferred, so it's their ball to start the third quarter.
5:01 p.m. — And just like that, Minnesota scores another touchdown. Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan hits Chris Autman-Bell in the right corner of the end zone. It was called incomplete on the field, but ruled a touchdown on review. It was clearly a score. Those points were so unnecessary. MINNESOTA 21, INDIANA 7.
4:56 — I guess that's the reason why the Hoosiers don't let Donaven McCulley throw on third downs. With just 37 seconds left in the half, you'd think Indiana would just run out the clock and be content to go to halftime. Instead, McCulley throws the ball into double coverage and is intercepted by Tyler Nubin, giving Minnesota the ball on the Indiana 31.
4:52 — A busted coverage by Indiana allows Minnesota to get a huge 48-yard pass play. Brevyn Spann-Ford was wide open in the right flat and nearly scored. Micah McFadden caught him from behind and tackled him at the 4-yard line. Those coverage busts have happened too often this season. Ky Thomas scores two plays later with 46 seconds left in the half to give the Gophers the lead. MINNESOTA 14, INDIANA 7.
4:49 p.m. ET — It's third-and-10 for Indiana, and once again it's a running play instead of letting McCulley throw on third down. Run goes nowhere and Indiana punts again. Jeez, let the kid at least try to throw.
4:44 p.m. — Minnesota caps off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Ky Thomas. Long drive lasted 6:02, on 12 plays for 68 yards. INDIANA 7, MINNESOTA 7.
4:43 p.m. — Tough drive for the Hoosiers health-wise, with both linebacker Cam Jones and safety Devon Matthews getting injured. Matthews was taken straight to the locker room.
4:32 p.m. — Minnesota goes for it on fourth down again, and this time they make it on fourth-and-1 from the Indiana 35 on a 5-yard run by Ky Thomas. Lots of long drives in this game so far. This drive is already 10 plays long for the Gophers.
4:22 p.m. — Indiana goes three-and-out on its second possession. Interesting — and very conservative — call on third down. It was third-and-5, and Indiana opted to run instead of trusting McCulley to throw. Doesn't work and the Hoosiers are forced to punt.
4:18 p.m. — Another huge tackle on third-and-short by Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden, forcing the first punt of the game. He and fellow linebacker Cam Jones are all over the field. Jones missed last week's game with the flu.
4: 12 p.m. — Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan deserves some props for that drive. Lots of solid play calls, and an impressive answer after Minnesota's long drive. End of the first quarter now, and Indiana leads 7-0.
4:05 p.m. — Donaven McCulley is definitely looking to run on this drive. It's first-and-10 at the 15. He has rushed seven times for 53 yards on this drive, capping it off with a run for a touchdown, even after he dropped the snap. Thankfully, it bounced right back up to him, and he ran right up the middle. Indiana's drive goes 92 yards in 14 plays and goes ahead with 17 seconds left in the quarter. INDIANA 7, MINNESOTA 0.
4 p.m. — Impressive first drive by Indiana so far, too. Seeing some plays we haven't seen all year, including a wildcat snap to tight end end Peyton Hendershot and a jet sweep to Ty Fryfogle. True freshman quarterback Donaven McCulley is running well with the ball, too. Just breaks free for a 19-yard run to get a first down to the Minnesota 25. Nice.
3:50 p.m. — Minnesota impressive on this first drive so far. Four straight third-down conversions has them in the red zone now. Minnesota goes for it on fourth down, but doesn't make it. Their 16-play, 67-yard drive ends with zero points. Huge tackle by Micah McFadden and Bryant Fitzgerald on the fourth down play. Drive ate up, 8 minutes, 19 seconds.
3:40 p.m. — Indiana wins the toss and defers. Minnesota gets it first and starts at its own 25.
3:09 p.m. — It's Senior Day at Indiana and several veterans were announced with some family members, There were so many players that the line stretched from one end zone to the other. Seniors Micah McFadden, Michael Penix Jr, Miles Marshall and many more all went through the festivities.
3 p.m. — Indiana true freshman quarterback Donaven McCulley is going through all the pregame warmups with the first team. Neither Michael Penix Jr. nor Jack Tuttle are dressed. It's McCulley's game, with walk-on Grant Gremel as his backup.
2:55 p.m. — The game is on the Big Ten Network today, but there are two games in the 3:30 window (Michigan at Maryland is the other.) If you're in the state of Indiana, the game should be on your regular BTN channel. Out of state, you might be out of luck without doing some digging. Here's how to watch the game, with lots of other nuggets on the game. CLICK HERE
Related stories on Indiana football
- GAMEDAY PREDICTION: It's the final home football game of the season for Indiana, with the Minnesota Golden Gophers the opponent for Saturday's meeting at Memorial Stadium. The Hoosiers have won only one home game all year, and that was more than two months ago. Can they win the last one? Here's my GameDay Prediction. CLICK HERE
- HOW TO WATCH: Indiana's 2021 football season hasn't gone the way anyone had hoped, and it wraps up at home on Saturday with a game against Minnesota at Memorial Stadium. It's a flex game on the Big Ten Network, so here's how to watch, with gametimes, TV, the latest on the point spread and more. CLICK HERE
- UPDATED BIG TEN POINT SPREADS: We're heading down the home stretch in the Big Ten football race, and there are several high-profile games this weekend. There's been some subtle movements in the point spreads this week, but the over/unders have jumped a lot. Here's the latest. CLICK HERE
- SENIOR DAY: For the seniors on Indiana's football team, they've been along for a ride where the program has reached lofty heights not seen in a long time. Despite this disappointing 2021 season, they want to go out on a high note in the final home game of the year on Saturday against Minnesota. CLICK HERE
- WHAT NICK SHERIDAN SAID: Indiana offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan understands that true freshman Donaven McCulley is a young and inexperienced quarterback, but he says there were no excuses for some of the blunders that took place in Saturday's ugly 38-3 loss to Rutgers. CLICK HERE
- WHAT CHARLTON WARREN SAID: After Indiana's 38-3 loss to Rutgers, Indiana defensive coordinator Charlton Warren talked about how depth on the defensive line is still a problem, how Cam Jones' absence affected the run defense and the challenges that lie ahead with Minnesota. CLICK HERE
