Hoosiers baffle sloppy UO
EUGENE, Ore. – The Indiana Hoosiers kept calm and let Oregon make the mistakes. There were plenty of them.
The No. 24 Ducks turned over the ball seven times and missed a field goal, and the Hoosiers held on for a 30-24 victory Saturday night after leading 23-0.
Indiana, which won two games last season, is off to its first 2-0 start since 1996. The Hoosiers opened with a 41-10 rout of Central Michigan.
“I can’t really describe the locker room and the energy right now,” quarterback Matt LoVecchio said. “You practice year-round and this makes it all worth it.”
LoVecchio threw for 71 yards and a score and BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran for 91 yards and another TD to help the Hoosiers snap a 13-game road losing streak.
“I just knew we had to keep working hard and believing,” safety Herana-Daze Jones said. “Something was eventually going to happen for us.”
Indiana had not defeated a ranked opponent on the road since Nov. 10, 2001, when it beat No. 23 Michigan State in East Lansing. The Hoosiers hadn’t downed a Pacific-10 Conference team since beating Washington in 1978.
The Ducks (0-1) had won 21 consecutive non-conference games at Autzen Stadium dating to Sept. 17, 1994, when they lost to Utah.
Oregon’s Kellen Clemens completed 24 of 44 passes for 317 yards and three scores, but also threw three interceptions.
“Hold on to the ball, and don’t throw the ball to the other team,” Clemens said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Oregon came cut it to 30-24 with 8 minutes, 38 seconds left in the game on Dante Rosario’s 7-yard TD catch from Clemens.
On the next series, Indiana punter Tyson Beattie, on fourth-and-12, put his knee down while fielding a low snap for a loss of 14 yards. Oregon got the ball on the Indiana 44, but the drive stalled at the 18 and Jared Siegel’s field-goal attempt went wide right.
Oregon had another chance when Robby Valenzuela recovered Ymar Washington’s fumble on the Indiana 27, but a play later Clemens was intercepted by Jones.
Clemens was intercepted again on the Ducks’ next series, and time eventually ran out for Oregon.
Indiana easily handled the stumbling Ducks in the first half. Bryan Robertson had field goals from 39 yards and a pair from 31 yards. Green-Ellis had 19-yard scoring run and LoVecchio hit Courtney Roby with an 8-yard TD pass.
After they were booed by the home crowd at the half, the Ducks finally scored in third quarter, when Clemens found Rosario with a 35-yard TD pass.
Siegel added a 33-yard field goal for Oregon to narrow it to 23-10.
On the next play, Lance Bennett had a 98-yard kickoff return to score for the Hoosiers. But Oregon came up with its big play with Clemens’ 59-yard scoring pass to Demetrius Williams.
It was Indiana’s third non-conference victory on the road since 1995. The Hoosiers won at Cincinnati in 1998 and Toledo in 1996.
Oregon is one of five ranked teams on Indiana’s schedule this season, with Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota and Purdue.
“It’s not just today, it’s a culmination of the last few years,” Indiana coach Jerry DiNardo said. “We’ve been building for something like this and you can never tell when it will come.”
The Ducks were the final Division I team to open the season. The effort did not bode well for them as they head to Norman to play No. 2 Oklahoma next week.
“You can’t let teams get on you early. I thought we battled back as a team, but this loss hurts,” Williams said
The game started on a somber note, as Oregon held a moment of silence for Terrance Kelly, a promising recruit from De La Salle High School who was shot to death in Richmond, Calif., two days before he planned to report to fall practice.