Rapid Reaction: Indiana crushes Oregon in Peach Bowl blowout to advance to national title game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
On Thursday night, college football fans were treated to an instant classic of a back-and-forth battle that went down to the final play. Friday night, however, was a blowout. No. 1 seed Indiana was dominant in a 56-22 blowout of No. 5 seed Oregon. The Hoosiers advance to face No. 10 seed Miami in the national championship game, Monday night, Jan. 19, in the Miami Gardens suburb.
On Oregon’s very first play, D’Angelo Ponds intercepted Oregon QB Dante Moore and took it 20 yards to the house for a pick-6. It might not be accurate to say Indiana never looked back, as the Ducks did answer with a scoring drive of their own. But the tone was set, the Hoosier defense was set to make life miserable for Moore and the Ducks all night.
The 7-7 lasted only briefly. The Hoosiers scored on their first offensive drive. After 1 punt, they closed out the 2nd quarter with 3 more touchdown drives, going up 35-7 at the half.
The IU defense was responsible for more than just the pick-6. Indiana gained 21 points on 3 turnovers. The Hoosiers had an average starting position of their own 45. Three touchdown drives were of 21 yards or fewer, including 3 and 7 yards off a fumble recovery and a blocked punt.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza shined, recording more touchdown passes (5) than incompletions (3). Mendoza was 17-of-20 passing for 177 yards.
In the box score, the teams did not look far apart. With Indiana winning turnover battle 3-0 and going 5-of-5 in the red zone to Oregon’s 2-0, though, the game was only close for 1 of 4 quarters.
Indiana 56, Oregon 22
Here’s the Peach Bowl Playoff semifinal box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
