Sudfeld, Howard help lead Indiana past Wake Forest
INDIANA 31, WAKE FOREST 24
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld is happy that the Hoosiers are now 4-0, and on their longest winning streak in in 28 years. But even after Indiana’s 31-24 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday, Sudfeld and his teammates know there’s still some areas for improvement.
“The cool thing about where we’re at right now is that we’re really not clicking at the level we know we can,” Sud felt said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it’s good to be 4-0.”
Sudfeld threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns, and Jordan Howard added 168 rushing yards and a touchdown for the undefeated Hoosiers, who head into next week’s Big 10 showdown against No. 1 Ohio State riding a five-game winning streak.
Indiana’s 4-0 start is its best since 1990, and the sixth time in program
history that the Hoosiers have opened a season with four consecutive wins. And the five straight wins, dating back to the final game of the 2014 season, is their first since 1987. However, the Deacons (2-2, 0-1 ACC) made it close at the end, rallying from a 3110 deficit with a pair of touchdowns late in the fourth quarter, and setting themselves up to tie the game by recovering an onside kick with 2:31.
“It was a good win, but we made it hard at the end,” Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. “It was nice to keep playing, get a little pressure and close it out. We made it harder than we needed to.
“No game has been easy for us. If we’re not awake, we’re doing a bad job coaching. We know conference play is coming, and there’s a lot of football to play.”
Sudfeld, who finished 19 of 34 passing, threw TD passes of 6 yards to Simmie Cobbs Jr. and 28 yards to Ricky Jones in staking Indiana to a 17-10 halftime lead. Griffin Oakes also hit a 30-yard field goal as time expired. Howard, who entered Saturday’s game as the nation’s rushing leader with 507 yards, added a 2-yard scoring run in the third quarter.
“We started out a little slow, but we kept doing what we know best,” said Howard, who now has 672 rushing yards in four games. “Things opened up for us.
“We didn’t want this to be a trap game, we didn’t want to look ahead (to playing Ohio State) and end up slipping up. But games like this are bringing us closer together, showing us that we’ve got to keep fighting throughout the game.”