Logan Justus misses two kicks in Indiana's 23-22 loss to Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. The fifth-year senior ends his collegiate career as the Hoosiers' all-time leader in field goal percentage but couldn't put his final attempt through the uprights with a chance to take the lead.
As the first half of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl came to a close, fifth-year senior kicker Logan Justus gave Indiana it’s first points of the game on a 24-yard field goal. He accounted for 10 of his team’s scoring total but will be haunted by the four he left on the field in the second half.
The game came down to a career-long attempt for the Second Team All-Big Ten selection after Indiana held a 13-point lead with just under four minutes to play.
The kick was wide to the right.
That attempt, coupled with a missed extra point midway through the third quarter, were the failed opportunities that eventually gave Tennessee a 23-22 victory over Indiana. On the final drive of the game, Justus didn’t get a shot at redemption as the offense turned the ball over on downs on fourth and 10 from the Volunteers’ 45-yard line.
“Just want to start by saying how proud I am of our football team and the way they competed and battled tonight to the bitter end,” Indiana head coach Tom Allen said after the game. “Obviously very, very disappointing to have a fourth-quarter lead and let it slip away. But not going to sit here and point fingers and blame.”
Justus began the season with a perfect field goal percentage through 12 games. He was 14-for-14, including a historic season opener on Aug. 31 in which he set a career-long three different times in the Hoosiers’ 34-24 win over Ball State.
His success earned him a nomination for the Burlsworth Trophy for the nation’s best player that started as a walk-on and was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award for the second straight year.
It wasn’t until Indiana’s rivalry matchup with Purdue — with the Old Oaken Bucket on the line — that Justus’ percentage saw its first blemish. And its second. And its third.
The normally sure-footed placekicker missed three field goals, and two were wide right from more than 40 yards out. Justus was benched in favor of redshirt freshman Charles Campbell, who connected on a 41-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
It appeared that Justus would rebound after he hit his first field goal of the game as time expired in the second quarter, but the positive outlook didn’t translate in every facet of his game.
Indiana took full momentum in the game on a 63-yard interception returned for a touchdown by sophomore defensive back Jamar Johnson. The ensuing point-after attempt by Justus ricocheted off the right upright, yet the Hoosiers still clung to a 16-6 lead in the third quarter.
“Good grief, how often does that happen with a guy who's an All-Big Ten kicker?” Allen said of Justus. “The snap was good, hold was good. He just missed it.”
Justus responded by nailing two more field goal attempts in the second half. One from 49 yards, the other from 30. The former was a perfect shot down the middle and had plenty of leg behind it.
With 3:51 left in the fourth quarter, down one point as a result of the missed extra point attempt, Justus was in position to put that leg to use on what would be a career-long try at 52 yards.
The odd thing about the try was that the officials appeared to stall the snap of the football as they tried to reset the play clock. Fifth-year punter Haydon Whitehead, Indiana’s holder, waved his hand in a gesture to Justus, seemingly insisting that he reposition himself before the kick.
After the snap, the boot from Justus sailed from left to right, and he missed the attempt similar to the two he misfired on in the team’s matchup with Purdue.
“Any time you have to pause and wait as a kicker, it kind of makes it harder,” Allen said of Justus’ final field goal attempt of the game. “It was not ideal, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Logan has had a tremendous career, obviously had a rough last two games — they have not been his best.”
The Hoosiers had one more chance at the end of the game to put points on the board and win the game. From their own 19-yard line, no timeouts and only 55 seconds on the clock, Indiana’s redshirt junior quarterback Peyton Ramsey completed two quick passes before the offense’s final drive stalled in Tennessee territory.
Justus never had a chance to amend his two costly misses and ends his collegiate career as Indiana’s all-time leader in field goal percentage at 82%. But the final attempt he took wearing the cream and crimson came up short.
It was a kick that would have completed a historic season, giving the Hoosiers its first bowl win since 1991 and its first nine-win season since 1967. Instead, Tennessee erases a two-score deficit to become the only FBS teams this season to win a game after trailing by 13 or more points with under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
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