Payton leads IU to 40-20 victory over Minnesota; team one win away from bowl eligibility

Bryan Payton spent 2½ seasons waiting for a chance to make some plays.\nOn Saturday, with Indiana's top three runners sitting out, Payton finally showed his coaches and teammates what they'd been missing: Those powerful runs.\nPayton, a redshirt sophomore, ran 13 times for a career-high 90 yards, scored three touchdowns and helped put the Hoosiers on the brink of becoming bowl eligible with a 40-20 rout of Minnesota.\n"I knew my time would come," he said. "You just know you're going to be needed at some point."\nThe Hoosiers needed him badly Saturday, and Payton was more than ready.\nWhen starter Marcus Thigpen limped off to the sidelines in the first half, Payton sprinted straight to the huddle instead of waiting for his name to be called, then wore down Minnesota's suspect defense.\nThe Hoosiers (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) couldn't have asked Payton to do much more.\nCoach Bill Lynch, now off to the best start of any first-year coach in school history, had announced Tuesday that Thigpen's regular backup, Demetrius McCray, would not play because of a foot injury.\nThings got bleaker quickly. Fullback Josiah Sears left with a head injury in the first quarter. Thigpen left for good with a left ankle injury in the second quarter, and then late in the half starting center Ben Wyss went down with a back injury.\nThe three injured players did not return, leaving the Hoosiers with only two nonfreshman backs — Trea Burgess and Payton, who had 149 yards rushing in his career.\nBut Indiana wasn't fazed by the losses. The Hoosiers still ran for 228 yards, threw for 235 yards and scored on seven of their first eight possessions against Minnesota (1-5, 0-3), putting themselves within one victory of ending the Big Ten's longest current bowl drought.\n"Bryan is a guy who will hit you for three yards, then hit you for four more," quarterback Kellen Lewis said. "He's a big, downhill runner and eventually, those guys get tired of hitting him and then you'll see him break an arm tackle and go for 40 or 50 yards."\nThat's exactly how the script played out midway through the first quarter.\nPayton took found a crease in the middle of the line, made a nifty move to get free and then sprinted through three Minnesota defenders in the secondary for a 48-yard touchdown.\nAfter Minnesota tied it at 14 on Duane Bennett's 1-yard TD run, Payton found his place again.\nThis time with Indiana leading 20-14, Payton changed the play. The middle was bottled up, so Payton changed direction, turned the corner on the left side and dragged a Minnesota defender into the end zone for a 1-yard score. That made it 27-14 and gave the Hoosiers control with 2:41 left in the half.\nThe Gophers never challenged Indiana again.\n"We didn't tackle a lot of guys on defense," Gophers coach Tim Brewster said. "We just have to find a way to improve and get better."\nFor much of the game, the Hoosiers did almost exactly what they wanted.\nLewis, twice named the Big Ten offensive co-player of the week this season, was his usually efficient self. He finished 24-of-36 for 235 yards with one touchdown and ran 10 times for 75 yards.\nRay Fisher caught nine passes for 106 yards and James Hardy had five catches for 85 yards and a touchdown — breaking the school record with a TD reception in his seventh consecutive game. Kicker Austin Starr tied Indiana's single-game record with four field goals.\nMinnesota, in contrast, was effective for only one quarter. Quarterback Adam Weber scored on a 7-yard run to tie the score at 7, and Bennett made it 14-14 on a 1-yard run.\nAfter that, the Gophers were relegated to playing catchup and didn't get back into the end zone caught a 3-yard TD pass with 6:47 left in the game to make it 33-20.\nWeber was 24-of-44 for 280 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, while Decker caught eight passes for 74 yards. Ernie Wheelwright had seven receptions for 101 yards.\n"Offensively, we go down and score the first two times we get the ball, and then we didn't do much the rest of the day," Brewster said after Minnesota's fourth straight loss.\nIndiana answered the challenge with another dose of Payton who cut to the middle of the field and ran 5 yards for the game-clinching score.\nIndiana now heads to Michigan State with a chance to qualify for its first bowl game since 1993.\n"Coach always tells us to be ready because you never know when you'll get your chance," Payton said. "Things just worked out today"