Indiana began the season with 12 consecutive victories.But coach Tom Crean said IU is a better team now than they were after capturing that 12th straight victory Dec. 22 against Maryland-Baltimore County.The No.It was a play that might have shifted the momentum of Saturday’s game Northwestern’s way.
But it’s a call that Indiana coach Bill Lynch didn’t regret.
Leading by nine late in the third quarter, the Hoosiers decided to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Wildcats’ 1. IU didn’t score.
Northwestern later completed the rally for a 29-28 victory.
IU is preparing for undefeated Iowa (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten), but Lynch spent a portion of Tuesday’s news conference defending the play-calling during the Northwestern game.
“I don’t second-guess one call that was made in that football game,” Lynch said. “I’ve been a play-caller a long time, our staff does a tremendous job.
“A week ago, I was hearing how unbelievable the play-calling and fancy offense (was). Then we play a really good defense and we get stopped some and then all of a sudden it’s something else.”
Immediately after the loss, Lynch said he chose to go for a touchdown instead of a field goal because of the possibility of a high-scoring fourth quarter.
“It’s my decision whether we’re going to go for it on fourth down or any of those situations because it affects both offense and defense,” Lynch said. “I take full responsibility. Do I second-guess anything in that game? No.”
The Hoosiers went for it with just less than two minutes to go in the third and lined up in wildcat with wide receiver Mitchell Evans at quarterback.
“We had two or three options. We went with the one that we thought gave us the best chance to score a touchdown in that situation,” Lynch said.
The design was to show run and catch the Wildcats off-guard by throwing to tight end Troy Wagner.
But Northwestern covered Wagner, forcing Evans to improvise. He started right, then went back left. He appeared to have an opening but got tangled with teammate Will Matte and fell short of the end zone.
It was a play the team had practiced all week but just didn’t execute Saturday.
“Play-calling, you don’t just all of a sudden pull something out of the air. You have all those things calculated the best you can,” Lynch said.
“I don’t care at any level of football, the NFL guys have those sheets the width of their shoulders, because you’re going to make a lot better decisions Tuesday morning in the staff room or Wednesday afternoon in the staff room than you are in a 30-second period.”
Notes: Defensive lineman Jibreel Black, Indiana’s top recruit for the class of 2010, has de-committed and will instead go to Cincinnati, according to Cincinnati’s Rivals.com site, Bearcat Lair. Black is the brother of IU freshman defensive tackle Larry Black Jr. … Rodger Saffold, Austin Thomas, Jammie Kirlew and Matt Mayberry are captains for the Iowa game.
