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3 takeaways from No. 13 Indiana’s win over Washington to remain undefeated
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Indiana is still undefeated.
In the national spotlight with College GameDay in town and Lee Corso back on campus, Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers took care of business against Washington, notching a 31-17 Big Ten win. Indiana never trailed in the game. Once the scoring ice was broken, the closest it got was 17-14 in the 3rd quarter.
The Hoosiers are now 8-0 for the first time since 1967. Every IU win has been by double digits.
Here are 3 quick takeaways from the game:
IU offense shows up late, does enough
A big part of Indiana’s 8-0 start has been setting the tone early. The Hoosiers have been dominating the 1st quarter. IU’s defense has yet to allow a score in the first 15 minutes.
With Kurtis Rourke out, Indiana’s offense got off to a slow start. It was the Hoosier defense that brought the 1st quarter advantage to 87-0 with the first IU touchdown of the day.
The Indiana offense eventually got going. It wasn’t a banner day for the unit, but they made it work. QB Tayven Jackson was only asked to throw 19 times, but completed 11 passes for 124 yards and 1 touchdown. He did have 1 interception but made up for that by adding a TD on the ground.
IU leaned on Justice Ellison for 123 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on 29 carries. The Hoosiers finished with 52 rushes for 188 yards.
D’Angelo Ponds the difference-maker
The MVP of the game for Indiana was D’Angelo Ponds. He broke the scoring ice with the thrilling pick-6 early in the 1st quarter.
Ponds made an even more impressive catch on his second pick of the day. The highlight pick set up the Hoosiers in Washington territory, and IU made it 14-0 with a quick 2-play, 46-yard drive.
Ponds had a complete game. He finished with 5 tackles, including 3 solo stops with an assist on a TFL to go with the 2 picks.
A box score that won’t sit well with Washington
Washington played Indiana evenly much of the day, but seemingly every cliché about winning a game on the road caught up to the Huskies.
The turnover battle went 2-1 in Indiana’s favor. Even more importantly, points off turnovers favored the Hoosiers 14-7.
Special teams also came into play. Indiana was able to pull away after Myles Price tore off a 55-yard punt return to give Indiana a 4th-quarter possession starting at the Washington 14-yard line. The Hoosiers were able to add another touchdown, making it a 3-score game (31-14) with 8:55 to go.
UW has to feel like it could not stay on the field long enough. Though time of possession was just 31:27-28:33, the Huskies were a rough 3-of-2 on 3rd down and 1-of-3 on 4th down.
When UW couldn’t punch it in the red zone in the 4th quarter, the Huskies had to settle for a field goal, only cutting it to 31-17, the game’s final score.
A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.