What we learned from Indiana football's 21-14 loss to Louisville

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football knocked on the door.

Louisville slammed it shut on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Hoosiers had the ball at what officials described at the "one and a half foot line" facing a fourth and one with less than five minutes to go trailing by a touchdown.

Indiana quarterback Tayven Jackson, who made a diving play at the pylon for the near score on the previous play, handed off to Josh Henderson only to see the running back swallowed by Louisville's defensive line.

The Cardinals were able to run out the clock in the final minutes and escape with a 21-14 win.

It wasn't the feel good ending IU fans were hoping for after watching their team comeback from a 21-0 deficit on the back of strong play from the redshirt freshman quarterback and a defense that woke up after surrendering 300-plus yards in the first half.

Tayven Jackson has a moment

Tayven Jackson wasn’t perfect in his return to Lucas Oil Stadium.

There will be some throws he will certainly want back — most of them a little high — after he watches the film and some runs where he didn’t cut up field quick enough, but those mistakes won’t overshadow the 13-play, 97-yard drive in the third quarter OR the

Louisville simply had no answer to Jackson for much of the second half.

He opened the quarter with a 30-yard strike to Jaylin Lucas for a score, extended that lengthy scoring drive by converting a pair of third downs with throws to Lucas and Cam Camper and had a 41-yard bomb in the fourth quarter to Camper to put IU on the verge of tying the game.

Lucas was his favorite target on the day with the elusive running back leading the team with nine catches for 88 yards, but he completed passes to seven different targets including completions of 20-yards or more to four of them.

He extended plays with his legs when Louisville got pressure and showed the poise his coaches talked about that helped him the job.

Indiana fans won't soon forgot the way he commanded the offense this early in his career.

Tom Allen lights the spark

Allen refocused his team against Indiana State last week when the defense was on the verge of giving up some points with a fiery talk on the sideline.

He let his play calling do the talking on Saturday.

Allen caught Louisville completely off guard to start the second half when he called for an onside kick that his specialists executed to perfection. The offense made quick work of the short field to erase the shutout and the whole sequence created a palpable sense of momentum for the Hoosiers at Lucas Oil Stadium.

That call and the subsequent choice to go for it on fourth down at midfield later in the quarter seemed to help the regain some confidence.

It was Allen’s way of saying I believe in you and they seemed to feed off that. After giving up 300-plus yards of offense in the first half, the defense forced a three-and-out and had an interception on Louisville’s two possessions in the quarter.

Also, it's worth mentioning that Allen's gamble to extend the quarterback competition into the season paid off in a big way as well.

IU’s secondary gets busted

Indiana allowed one passing play of 30 yards or more in the first two games.

Louisville surpassed that mark in the first quarter against the Hoosiers with a pair of long completions from Jack Plummer to Jamari Thrash including a 85-yard touchdown that was the ninth longest pass play in school history.

Thrash proved to be a mismatch for a secondary playing without Nic Toomer, the Stanford transfer who has been IU’s top corner through the first two weeks of the season.

Those coverage busts left a lasting mark on Indiana's confidence — the front four couldn’t generate pressure alone and the miscues made the Hoosiers reluctant to blitz —  as Louisville put together a pair of long scoring drives to close out the half to take a 21-0 advantage into halftime.

The Cardinals came close to landing some deep shots later in the game as well, but had a would-be 56-yard touchdown to Thrash called back on a holding call and another one picked off by Phillip Dunnam when it appeared the receiver didn’t realize the ball was coming his way.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Observations from Indiana's 21-14 loss to Louisville