Rutgers scored 24 unanswered to Halt Hoosiers

RUTGERS 24 - INDIANA 17

Needing a victory in the worst way, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights stormed back from an early 14-0 hole, to shock the Indiana Hoosiers 24-17 at SHI Stadium in Piscataway.

Rutgers (4-3) scored 24-unanswered points en route to its first Big Ten Conference victory of the year, and snapped a 21-game home losing streak in the Big Ten that dates back to 2017.

"Really proud of our guys, our coaches and players. This is what choppin' is about. To go down 14-0 and start the way things did after what happened 15-days ago, realy could have caved in a lot of teams. They stayed in the process of chop. Believed and did it," Head Coach Greg Schiano said in his opening postgame remarks.

Freshman running back Samuel Brown V ran for 101 yards on 28 carries including a 2-yard score that put Rutgers up 17-14 with 0:38 seconds to go in the third quarter.

"We've all seen him progressing," Schiano said of Brown. "Sam continues to show us each week he deserved more touches, and today he had plenty of touches."

Noah Verdal started and played the entire game under center. He was efficient completing 12 of 24 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown pass. His 15-yard touchdown completion to Sean Ryan got Rutgers to within 14-7 with 9:53 to go in the first half, and really got this Rutger comeback going.

Rutgers Top 10 defense was once again stingy, holding Indiana to just 85 total yards of offense in the second half. LB Deion Jennings and DB Christian Izien added nine tackles apiece. DB Christian Braswell recorded three pass breakups and a pick-six in the fourth quarter, while DL Aaron Lewis contributed two tackles-for-loss.

Added Schiano about the overall team effort: "What we went through two Friday nights ago was as tough as a loss as I went through. To be able to overcome that, there are guys here who are starting to know what that means. It's part of growing as a program. We got better."

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