With 11 minutes and 19 seconds left in the game, Jack Lausch connected with A.J. Henning for a two yard touchdown, cutting the Indiana lead to three.
As a team that hasn't trailed all season, Indiana hadn't faced much adversity all season, but at that moment, the Hoosiers were vulnerable and the momentum was clearly in the Wildcats' favor
After that touchdown by Northwestern, IU finished the game 14-0, sealing it with two touchdown drives and two forced turnovers on downs.
Coach Cignetti said postgame that he felt his group "finished the game like a championship team," which allowed them to come away with the road Big Ten win, moving the Hoosiers to 3-0 in conference play and 6-0 overall.
The offense was the highlight of the game start to finish but late in the game, when they faced adversity, is where Kurtis Rourke and company really shined.
Cignetti said that "it seems like every time when the offense has needed to respond with a touchdown they have," mentioning that the offense scoring in back-to-back drives after the Wildcats cut the lead to three was incredibly important.
Also noted that "the offense kept responding with touchdowns when they needed to," giving praise to Rourke and the rest of the offense, especially after their rocky performance last week against Maryland.
The offense was poised throughout the second half, but those two touchdown drives it where it was truly evident, especially from Elijah Sarratt who had a phenomenal catch on third down that kept the first touchdown alive.
He said "We try to finish the job and take it one play at a time," when talking about what was going on in his head in those late drives, mentioning that "We know the games not over 'til the clock hits zero."
This mentality when facing adversity is exactly why the Hoosiers have come up clutch in multiple games this season, but this one against Northwestern was probably the most impressive, as the Hoosiers were really on the ropes before Sarratt's key third down catch.
While the offense certainly responded to the adversity late with the two touchdown drives late, the defense's performance late in the game might have been even more impressive.
The unit that responded so well a week prior against Maryland did not have a great start to the game, allowing Northwestern to score at will for the most of the second half, the Wildcats having back-to-back TD drives to cut the lead to just three.
Mikail Kamara said postgame that "when it comes to finishing we don't want to put anything bad on tape," while he talked about why the defense put so much emphasis on playing their best ball late in the game.
And play their best ball they did, as the defense had two phenomenal series to seal the game for the Hoosiers.
Kamara said that "It comes down to adjustments" when facing adversity, mentioning that they kept their poise late in the game despite not having a good performance for the first three quarters.
When discussing if Northwestern could potentially come back after cutting it to a three point game, Kamara simply said "we can't allow that to happen."
This is the mentality that allowed the defense, similarly to the offense to respond to the adversity, something that they take pride in, Kamara saying that "I think it goes back to culture" when it comes to responding to adversity.
Ke'Shawn Williams said something similar about why the Hoosiers responded they way they did, stating, "we keep on preaching our poise, never getting too high or too low."
This is exactly what happened throughout the matchup with Northwestern, as the Hoosiers didn't get "too high" during their successful first half and didn't get "too low" during their slow third quarter, keeping poise the entire game.
Williams also said that "we have to play our best ball late in the game because that's when you got to close it out," which is exactly what this performance came down to.
When IU was facing adversity and needed it most, both the offense and defense stepped up.
From the two touchdowns scored, to the two turnovers on downs forced, this Indiana team closed out this one against Northwestern about as perfectly as any team could.
Cignetti said that "it was awesome" to see the this type response to adversity, a response that powered them to a victory against Northwestern and a 6-0 start to the season.
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