Indiana University overcame a strong first half from Wisconsin to win a key Big Ten game 53-43 on Saturday in Madison, WI. 

The Hoosiers' Tyler Sousley exploded for five tries in the road victory, several of them on crucial plays. The former USA U20 star was not the only standout on the day, as both teams unleashed some fairly impressive offensive work and benefited from silly penalties and poor defense on the other side of the ball.

IU scored first when the Hoosiers pack stole a scrum put-in and No. 8 Jake Ney picked up and powered over. Alan Kim kicked the conversion -- his goalkicking would be key throughout the game -- and Indiana led 7-0. The Badgers punished some desultory IU tackling, getting deep in the Indiana zone, before Paul Lema scored off a scrum. Kim added a penalty to put IU up 10-7, but for the next 30 minutes or so, it was mostly Wisconsin. 

After a long period of attack, and with the Badgers' Crass duo of Tyler and Hunter operating nicely in the backs, Wisconsin put Lema over for his second and a 12-10 lead. Henry Dean added a penalty to make it 15-10. Indiana came back with a concerted attack that ended when flyhalf Teddy Terezis worked a nifty fake switch move and sent a hard pass out to Sousley for the center's first try. The kick was good and IU led 17-15.

But Wisconsin answered immediately, with Trevor Zarecki selling a dummy and going right through a hole to touch down under the posts to stretch the lead back to 22-17 before halftime. In the second half, Wisconsin continued to cut through holes in the IU defense, and the Indiana players started committing penalties out of frustration.

The penalties and poor defense were just what the Badgers wanted, and two tries put Wisconsin up 36-17 with about 25 minutes to go. With a hard-nosed approach, the Badgers seemed in control.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/BadgerRug/status/911693608495075329" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
But then something seemed to change. After two Wisconsin players ran into each other trying to catch a kick, the IU backs chased the ball down and worked it nicely back and forth before Sousley was there to take the final pass from Terezis and score. Immediately following, Indiana was back on the front foot. The Hoosiers got a penalty inside the 22 and decided to run it, using their forwards to bash at the line. Once the Badgers started worrying about defending around the breakdown, the ball was sent out to Sousley, who slipped and dipped his way over for his third try to cut the lead to 36-31.

Moments later, Sousley ran through a massive hole and was gone for his fourth to tie the game 36-36.

Sousley had one more to score, and again his acceleration and ability to identify space was crucial. Terezis converted for the 43-36 lead, and a late try and penalty made it 53-36. Wisconsin scored one more but didn't have enough time to get the try the Badgers needed for the close-loss bonus points.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/IURugby/status/911676897125335044" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
In the end, some excellent playmaking from Terezis -- who also made some tough conversions -- and Sousley's ability to make scoring chances pay off were the keys to Indiana's win. But composure, and some hard work up front, was part of it all, too. The Hoosiers looked troubled and vulnerable but somehow pulled it out.

Also in the Big Ten, Michigan State held on for a 36-22 win over Minnesota after running out to a 31-7 lead. Ohio State played a non-conference game against Cincinnati and won a pretty fractious encounter 27-10.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/OSUrugby/status/911663613873704961" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
Certainly, the OSU coaches weren't happy.

The Big Ten scores and standings are here. The way the Big Ten works this season is that Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Indiana play each other twice and two other teams once. A team with a better record than Indiana, Wisconsin, or Ohio State can make it to the playoffs but has to have beaten one of those three.