Indiana's defense had, for the most part, gotten by with the bend-don't-break method on defense in 2019. Through the most bleak stretches of the Gator Bowl on Thursday, the defense held strong and gave Indiana a chance to win its first bowl in 28 years.
But the final five minutes featured a crumble in fatigue that left the Hoosiers unarmed in defense of their two-score lead.
Indiana’s defense had been living by the bend-don’t-break lifestyle for much of the 2019 season, as first-year Indiana defensive coordinator Kane Wommack directed a fragile, young defensive group throughout a Big Ten East schedule.
On Thursday, on its biggest stage of the year in Jacksonville, the IU defense bent about as far as it could bend without breaking against Tennessee in the Gator Bowl. The group allowed Tennessee to move the ball well, 202 yards in the first half, but kept the Volunteers out of the endzone on redzone opportunities.
For a team that was driven fiercely by the second-best Big Ten offense in 2019, Indiana’s defense provided the opportunity to jump to a two-score lead in the second half but was also key to the final 10 minutes of the game, when Indiana surrendered that lead and, fatefully, lost, 23-22.
“We were playing well, but we didn’t play well when it mattered most,” Indiana redshirt senior linebacker Reakwon Jones said.
It’s true that the defense was playing well. Tennessee’s offense wasn’t particularly a force coming into the bowl game, finishing 12th out of 14 SEC schools, but it maintained possession for much of the first half while Indiana’s offense came out of the gate sputtering.
The Hoosiers gained only 69 yards in the first half, and before its final drive of the half, had only possessed the ball for 11 minutes. The Hoosier defense was tasked with taking the field after four consecutive drives that ended with an interception and three punts and end Tennessee possessions without digging a hole for the team.
That’s exactly what it did. The Volunteers 51, 67 and 50 yards on long, grueling possessions but only ended the first half with six points.
“When we had them kicking straight field goals, we said, ‘No touchdowns. This is what we’re going to do,’” Jones said about the defense.
Finally, near the end of the first half, the defense’s big break came when sophomore linebacker Cam Jones blitzed a gap and was in Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano’s face, forcing him to throw the ball up and into sophomore linebacker Micah McFadden’s hands.
The interception marked the pivot point for the Hoosiers. The offense responded with a field goal and went into halftime trailing 6-3. Indiana received the ball after halftime and pieced together a scoring drive that ended in a rushing touchdown for Peyton Ramsey and strung together 22 straight plays with the IU defense off the field.
A pick-six by sophomore safety Jamar Johnson pushed the score to 16-6 and left Tennessee in disarray.
But the time the defense spent on the field in the beginning of the game took its toll. Jones and freshman cornerback Tiawan Mullen said they won’t use fatigue as an excuse for the final handful of minutes, but the defense began to trail off when Tennessee easily pushed 82 yards down the field to score and then cleared 54 yards on three plays to take the lead.
While the bend-don’t-break method had served the Hoosiers well throughout 2019, it let them down in the final five minutes of the season, when mistakes piled on top of each other and the defense finally broke.
“As soon as I hop on the bus, it’s over,” Mullen said. “I’m not going to beat myself up about it. We have a great coaching staff and great players. You don’t beat yourself up about it.”
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