Hoosiers fall to last place in Big Ten with loss to Wildcats

EVANSTON, Ill. -- In a game rife with errors and less-than-perfect execution by both teams, it came down to the team that made the last mistake ending up as the loser. In this case, it was IU, which all but kissed its post-season aspirations goodbye with a 41-37 loss to Northwestern in front of a sparse crowd of 25,077.\nThe game saw one dubious streak come to an end and another continue. The Wildcats (3-7, 1-5) broke an 11-game Big Ten losing skid, winning for the first time since they beat Michigan State last September. Meanwhile, IU (3-6, 1-4) has yet to win a game on the road this season and has lost six straight road contests overall.\nThe decisive play was a seven-yard touchdown run by Wildcat junior running back Jason Wright with 2:14 remaining that capped off a 44-yard drive for Northwestern. The touchdown also capped off a career day for Wright, who rushed for 219 yards in addition to four touchdowns.\n"He's a good player, he played very well," Coach Gerry DiNardo said. "But I don't think we tackled very well."\nA pop-up 20-yard punt by junior Ryan Hamre set up the short drive. Hamre's short punt accentuated a short drive by the Hoosiers, who went three-and-out as they tried to hold onto the ball to run out the clock.\nDiNardo said the Hoosiers were doomed after their inability to move the ball into Northwestern territory at the end of the game.\n"We all felt that we put our defense on the short end of the field," DiNardo said.\nFrom the beginning, the game had all of the markings of the wild shootout it developed into.\nIU opened the game by running through the Northwestern defense at will, scoring in eight plays on a 60-yard drive. Freshman running back Yamar Washington ran through the Wildcats' defense, carrying the ball on every play of the drive including a two-yard touchdown.\nSophomore kicker Bryan Robertson missed the extra-point attempt.\nIt didn't take Northwestern long to respond. After a 73-yard kickoff return to the IU 18-yard line by freshman Jeff Backes, the Wildcats put the ball in the end zone on a draw play to Wright.\nSenior kicker David Wasielewski proceeded to miss the point-after attempt, keeping the score tied at 6.\nWright would also score on a 12-yard draw to put the Wildcats up 13-6 to end the first quarter.\nIU's next score was another Washington two-yard touchdown, which was followed up by another missed PAT by Robertson.\nRobertson's next kick was a 43-yard field goal attempt, which split the uprights to give IU a 15-13 halftime lead. It was the first time this season IU has led a game at halftime.\nMomentum swung heavily in Northwestern's favor on the first possession of the second half. Facing a fourth-and-four at their own 23-yard line, DiNardo tried to surprise the Wildcats by calling for a fake punt. Sophomore tight end Aaron Halterman took the direct snap and was stopped a yard short of the first down marker.\n"I was trying to make something happen," DiNardo said.\nWhat happened was another Wright touchdown off of a draw play, this one coming from 10 yards out.\nNorthwestern scored two more touchdowns in the third, including one off of a drive that covered 94 yards in only seven plays.\nIU's lone score of the third quarter came from freshman running back Chris Taylor, who played for the injured Brian Lewis. Taylor scored his first career touchdown on a 26-yard off-tackle scamper.\n"It was good blocking. I just had to beat a couple defenders and get into the end zone," Taylor said.\nIU would retake the lead after a pair of Northwestern turnovers in the fourth quarter. The first was a fumble at the Northwestern nine-yard line forced by junior linebacker Herana-Daze Jones. Jones picked up the ball and waltzed into the end zone for the score.\n"It just pretty much bounced back to me," Jones said. "I just saw the ball on the ground and scooped it up."\nThe Hoosiers took a 37-34 edge after a fumble and a one-yard Washington run and a two-point conversion on a shovel pass from senior quarterback Gibran Hamdan to Washington.\nAfter Northwestern retook the lead, Hamdan and the Hoosiers had a chance to put together a two-minute drive for the victory. But sophomore wide receiver Courtney Roby dropped a pass on fourth-and-four from the IU 36-yard line that effectively ended the game with 1:23 left to play.