2022 Week 4: Northwestern @ IU

The Northwestern Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers opened up Big Ten play Saturday inside Memorial Stadium in Bloomington Indiana.

The Hoosiers received the opening kickoff and marched down the field to within the red zone. However, the Hoosiers would go for it on 4 and 1 instead of kicking the easy field goal and the Wildcats defense would stuff the short pass to Shaun Shivers to take over on downs.

The Wildcats would quickly go three and out before the Hoosiers would take over again with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. They themselves would go three and out to give Northwestern back the ball with fifty-three seconds left. The last play of the opening quarter would be a 31-yard rush from Wildcats quarterback Jarrett Washington to give them a spark of momentum before the start of the second quarter.

After the Northwestern drive stalled, the Hoosiers got the ball back with 5:48 left before halftime. They would march down the field and score on a 3-yard rush from Shaun Shivers for the first score of the game. Shivers would finish the game with 84 yards on 22 attempts with 2 touchdowns. He’d also grab 2 receptions for 4 yards.

Both teams would throw their own interceptions in the final minutes of the half. With 1:21 left freshman linebacker, Ryan Hamilton would intercept an errant Jarrett Washington pass. Two plays later junior cornerback Cameron Mitchell would intercept a Connor Bazelak pass to give Northwestern the ball back.

Northwestern would get the ball to start the second half but couldn’t do much offensively. The Hoosiers would take over after a Northwestern punt. The Hoosiers would find themselves just outside the red zone after a 40-yard reception by D.J. Matthews Jr. Two plays later, quarterback Connor Bazelak would scramble 20 yards for a touchdown to put the Hoosiers up 14-0.

The Hoosiers would make it 17-0 with 90 seconds left in the third quarter when senior kicker Charles Campbell connected on a 25-yard field goal. Northwestern broke the shutout in the closing seconds of the third quarter with a 26-yard field goal of their own.

The Hoosiers would add seven more in the fourth quarter to make it 24-3 on a Shaun Shivers rush from the one-yard line. Connor Bazelak finished the game going 14 of 18 for 205 yards with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception for Indian. Jarrett Washington went 12 of 14 for 149 yards with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception for Northwestern. Northwestern falls to 0-3 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. The Hoosiers move to 3-0 and 1-0 in the conference.