BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — That one was tough to watch.

Yes, the Indiana Hoosiers (2-2, 0-1 B1G) defeated the Akron Zips (1-3, 0-0 MAC) on Saturday night, 29-27 in 4OT. Tayven Jackson found Dequece Carter in the end zone for the game-winning two-point conversion, and Phillip Dunnam ensured Akron didn’t tie the game in the final OT. However, with IU coming into this game as a 17-point favorite, the team ignited more concerns with a sloppy 4.5-hour long performance in the non-conference finale.

The visiting Zips, who entered ranked 130th out of 133 FBS teams per ESPN’s SP+ rankings, out-gained the Hoosiers 474-282, converted 24 first downs to IU’s 14, and held the football for nearly nine more minutes of possession. Indiana benefited from some timely takeaways, including a Louis Moore interception for a touchdown, and limited their penalty total on the field, committing five to Akron’s 10.

The game began with Walt Bell calling consecutive inside runs with Jaylin Lucas netting four yards, and Jackson taking a 3rd down sack. That set the tone for the remainder of the game on that side of the ball.

The Hoosiers’ first three drives resulted in two punts and a turnover on downs. While the offense sputtered, the defense continued in its strong play from the second half of the Louisville game. IU finally strung together its first scoring drive early in the second quarter.

Cam Camper continued his dominance of Akron’s defense, catching a second long pass from Jackson, which put IU in scoring position. Wake transfer Christian Turner, who came into the game with a larger role than anticipated with Josh Henderson’s absence, found space off left tackle to find the end zone.

Indiana’s first extended stretch of frustrating play began after Moore’s first interception, which he returned to Akron 4. What should have taken a play or two to extend IU’s lead to 14 instead resulted in four ugly, slow-developing efforts, all stopped by the Zips defense. The last two plays involved Donaven McCulley coming into the game as the Wildcat QB and running, with both tries denied.

On Akron’s first play from their own 1, Akron WR Alex Adams slipped behind IU’s secondary and simply dropped a pass from QB DJ Irons that would’ve resulted in a 99-yard touchdown.

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After Akron punted, Jackson stared a linebacker down and saw his pass picked off by LB Andrew Behm. Behm returned the ball to the IU 24, Akron ended up kicking a field goal, and the Zips drew within 7-3 with 1:53 left until halftime.

Instead of an emphatic response via a two-minute drill before halftime, Jackson threw three straight incompletions, including a second-down throwaway that was whistled for intentional grounding. IU punted, Akron kneeled, and the teams headed to halftime with Hoosier Nation disgruntled.

After halftime, the Zips were clearly the better team. Irons completed three straight passes to start the drive, then in the red zone, he used his legs to give Akron the lead. He had 54 rushing yards in the first half alone, yet Tom Allen, Chad Wilt, and Matt Guerrieri could not find the necessary adjustments to slow down that part of Irons’ game.