>LTP Vault: Hoosiers Edition

Ahhhh, Wednesday already? Yes indeed and it’s time to tee-up LTP resident historian Shane for another pre-Dark Age history lesson to offer the younger set (me included!) some appreciation and background to yet another game in NU history you likely don’t know much about. Shane…take it away.

Northwestern sports a 42-34-1 all-time record against Indiana, the only Big Ten team with a losing record versus NU. Every rose has its thorn, however. For one thing, there’s the John Pont connection. He was a Gary Barnett prototype in 1967, coaching the Hoosiers to a 9-2 record and the Rose Bowl, where they lost to (you guessed it) USC. To put Pont’s accomplishment in proper perspective, it was IU’s first (and so far only) Rose Bowl appearance. Entering 1967, IU had not won more than one Big Ten game in a season since 1959. For more than three years (November 14, 1959 to November 24, 1962), the Hoosiers lost 18 Big Ten games in a row. Pont’s success in 1967 paved the way to his hiring as NU’s head coach when Alex Agase had left for Purdue in December of 1972. At the time, Pont’s hiring was well received. Robert Markus of the Chicago Tribune wrote, “If ever a man and a position were created for each other, it is John Pont and the Northwestern coaching job.” Yet Pont went 12-43 as Northwestern’s head coach. To be fair, Pont never had a winless season at NU. Pont’s apologists blame then-university president Bob Strotz because Strotz wasn’t exactly a big pigskin fan (in fact, he was hostile to athletics).

Another thing about the NU-IU football series is that although the Wildcats have beaten Indiana 55% of the time, the usually hapless Hoosiers have actually outscored NU by 100 points. After the 2008 game, you and I assume that NU will never underestimate IU again. We’ll see.

If there’s one lesson to learn from this series, it’s that when NU beats IU, it’s usually a tight game. The 1962 matchup was certainly no exception, even though the Wildcats entered the game as the #1 team in the nation and a three-touchdown favorite. (Reading that sentence might provoke younger NU fans to perform a double take, but yes, NU was the nation’s top team and a big favorite.)

In the first half, Indiana put points on the board first on a 1-yard run by HB Woody Moore and a PAT. Then, Northwestern QB Tom Myers connected with E Gary Crum on a 14-yard TD play, but the extra point try failed. The ‘Cats took the lead when Myers hooked up with HB Willie Stinson on a 38-yard TD pass. Northwestern converted the 2-point try and led 14-7. Both teams failed to score on their next possession, then Indiana equalized the score at 14 on a 29-yard run by FB Jim Bailey on a double reverse and a PAT. With 67 seconds to go before halftime, the ‘Cats drove inside the Hoosier 5, but FB Steve Murphy was stopped short of the goal line on 4th down.

In the second half, Northwestern asserted itself with a 13-play, 73-yard drive capped by a short Stinson TD run (the extra point try failed) to make the score 20-14. Later in the third quarter, Myers threw to E Chuck Logan at the NU 43 yard line, but IU’s Moore snatched the ball away for an interception. The Hoosiers capitalized when Moore hit Marv Woodson on the run for a 48-yard TD pass play. The PAT gave the Hoosiers a 1-point lead. The ‘Cats couldn’t score on their next possession, but P Merlin Norenberg bailed out the offense with a rolling 62-yard punt. The Hoosiers also failed to move the ball, but their punter kicked very short and Northwestern began its next drive at the IU 44. From there, Myers misfired a pass to HB Dick McCauley on first down but recovered to hit Crum for 16 and Logan for 23. From the IU 5, FB Bill Swingle reached the end zone and though NU missed the 2-point try, the final score was 26-21, Northwestern.

The morale of this story is that you can be #1 in the country and be considered a three-touchdown favorite, but you still have to play the game, especially if you’re Northwestern and the opponent is Indiana.