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The late-season spark to Indiana's offense saw his season come to an unfortunate end late in the first quarter on Saturday.

Quarterback Dexter Williams II was carted off after a non-contact injury caused him to go down behind the line of scrimmage. Williams was taken to a Bloomington area hospital for further evaluation.

As Williams' family and teammates huddled around him on the ground, he was carted off with an air cast on his right leg. Postgame, Tom Allen confirmed that the injury was not ACL-related.

The redshirt sophomore QB was in the midst of his second career start, but was playing in his fourth different game this season. He was 1-1 for 5 yards and rushed four times for nine yards before leaving the game versus Purdue. Coming into Saturday's contest, he had passed for 179 yards and two touchdowns in addition to 156 rushing yards and an additional score on the ground.

"It was a devastating loss to be real honest with you," Indiana head coach Tom Allen said following the game. "He did a great job last week, and we felt great about our gameplan, it was working to perfection. We were driving the ball when he went down, just a freaky, non-contact - I mean, you all saw it - I just can't even put it into words."

The injury was the latest and last of a long line of injuries that plagued the Hoosiers this season. Cam Jones, Cam Camper, Matthew Bedford and others all missed significant time from the gridiron this season. Williams was a key contributor before he went down, one of the sparks that led Indiana to an emotional Old Brass Spittoon victory just a week prior.

"'Snakebitten' is kinda how I feel in some ways with regards to the injuries we've had for two straight years with key guys," Allen said. "It's just tough, you know. It's just tough. I hate it for him, he's an amazing young man.

"If you want my reaction, just kinda have no words to be honest with you. It's part of the game, you gotta learn to adjust and adapt."

Wide receiver Emery Simmons expressed emotion as well after seeing his quarterback go down.

:"He played well against Michigan State, we got us a dub," Simmons said. "Just seeing how he's been progressing throughout practice and stuff throughout these following weeks and for him to get his opportunity and chance to start - for that to happen, that was kind of a tough moment.

"He was in our thoughts and prayers the whole time."

Simmons admitted that playing out the rest of the game was tough with their newfound leader on the sidelines.

"It affects us, but at the same time, it hurts us more as a human," Simmons said.

The effects lingered over to the defense as well. As much as it is a testament to this team's togetherness, it shows just how important of a role he had taken on in such a short time.

"We're all really hurting for Dex," linebacker Kaiden Turner said Saturday night. "We never want to see our guys go down, especially when he was finally given his opportunity to go start. He'd really been working his butt off to go get there, so we just really felt for him. We're all going to be praying for him and just keeping him in our thoughts this offseason as he continues to get better."

No further update has been provided on Williams' status.

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