An IU football fan fought through the crowd surrounding the line of players walking into the locker room and called for the attention of senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld.
“Thank you,” he said with awe in his eyes and a phone to take a picture. “Thank you.”
He was thanking Sudfeld for leading IU to a 54-36 victory against rival Purdue, for clinching bowl eligibility, for a program that hasn’t been there since 2007 and for helping turn a team around that went 1-11 in the season before he arrived.
Saturday was the day Sudfeld cemented himself in IU history with passing records and an Old Oaken Bucket victory. He said he was happy to do it for the Hoosier nation that welcomed the Modesto, California, prospect in.
“At the same time, we were really thinking, ‘Do it for ourselves, for each other, our teammates, our coaches,’” Sudfeld said.
Sudfeld’s game-sealing, record-breaking pass was fitting to the legacy he might leave at IU.
It was a floating 72-yard heave down the sideline to senior receiver Andre Booker that left plenty of room for Booker to make his way into the endzone. It gave IU a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter and pushed Sudfeld ahead of Antwaan Randle El as IU’s all-time leader in career passing yardage with 7,490.
Sudfeld is now No. 1 all-time at IU in both passing yardage and passing touchdowns, with 58.
With these honors, he said he has been able to reflect on all the players he has thrown touchdowns to, all the players who have blocked for him and all of the coaches who have helped him.
“I mean, it is a big honor, but I’m just standing on the shoulders of guys around me,” Sudfeld said.
IU Coach Kevin Wilson also made sure to state how Sudfeld has played well thanks to the pieces around him.
But he still had high praise for the quarterback who has played in games across four seasons for Wilson.
“Nate played good,” he said. “I’m proud of him. He’s awesome. Got a chance to be the best quarterback in this league.”
Junior receiver Mitchell Paige echoed these thoughts by saying he believes he plays with the best quarterback in the Big Ten.
Sudfeld often talks about how this is the reason he and his classmates came to IU — to be a part of the team that turned IU football around.
Now that he has accomplished the goal of taking IU to a bowl game, he said he doesn’t look back or have regrets despite the earlier years of losing.
He spoke of all the things he has had to fight through at IU, like stepping in as a true freshman when Tre Roberson went down with an injury.
Or like competing and sharing time with Roberson during his sophomore season.
He spoke of all of the ups and downs, like earning the starting job as a junior only to go out with a season-ending shoulder injury during the sixth game of the season.
Sudfeld stopped and tried to refocus his thoughts.
“You know, I’ve been so happy to be a part of this team,” he said. “I’ve believed in everything the coaches have said. I’ve taken coaching. Coach Wilson has done a great job with me, Coach Johns, those two, especially.”
They treated him like a son but still coached him to never be comfortable and to never accept less than what he is capable of, he said.
So before he can truly revel in all of his passing records and the Hoosiers’ first bowl berth in eight years, Sudfeld knows those coaches will still want him to improve.
“I’m sure come Monday they are going to critique me on what I could have done better, and I love that about them,” Sudfeld said.
