Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Tom Allen explains why he finished Saturday’s win with a bloody face

Kristian Dyer

By Kristian Dyer

Published:

Tom Allen left the field on Saturday following Indiana’s win over Michigan bloodied and bruised. It was worth it, the Indiana head coach said.

Late in the fourth quarter, Allen went racing down the sidelines following Devon Matthews’ interception to seal the game. He jumped into the arms of Matthews, sending his player onto his back with Allen tumbling down, still in the defensive back’s arms.

Allen was left bleeding and with a cut after hitting his face against Matthews’ helmet:

“I knew that was the dagger, I knew that was it. I really believed the way our offense was playing that that was the final thing that we had to do to secure the win and so I just took off. Sometimes I do not really think much in those situations,” Allen said after the game in his media availability.

“That is why I got this cut on my cheek. So, unfortunately, his helmet hit my cheek bone. I do not think he broke it but it does not feel very good right now, but bottom line is I do not really care. I just love this team. These guys, they work so hard and everybody has doubted us and said this and that and just so neat to see them be able to be rewarded for believing and for coming here.

“Some of these guys came here, could have gone a lot of other places in the recruiting process but they believed in what I was telling them, what our staff was telling them, and we are basically doing the very thing we said we could do even though we had not done it yet.”

The 37-20 home win over Michigan, ranked No. 23 at the time, is a statement performance for Allen’s surging Hoosiers. It represents the second game this year for the 3-0 Hoosiers where they’ve beaten a ranked team.

With the win, Indiana is now No. 10 in the polls. It is the highest ranking for the program since 1969.

Kristian Dyer