Why Indiana football safety Louis Moore clashed with Louisville in pregame ‘war of words’
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana football safety Louis Moore got some added motivation before Saturday’s 21-14 loss to Louisville that made the way the afternoon unfolded all the more disappointing.
Moore told reporters after the game he had a brief verbal altercation with a group of Cardinals that initially refused to get off IU's side of the field at Lucas Oil Stadium for early pregame warmups.
While Moore is no stranger to trash talk — he's widely considered the most vocal defender on the team — he was a bit caught off guard by how things unfolded.
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“They had the whole field, I asked their coach, I was like, ‘y’all aren't supposed to be over here, can you handle that?’” Moore said. “He went down to the end zone and their players wouldn’t move. My teammates start getting into it with them, I went over there and was like, ‘hey bro, take that down there.’ It was a war of words.”
The NCAA rulebook outlines how the field should be divided during the pregame warmups, but those rules aren’t enforced until there’s 90 minutes until kickoff when the officials take jurisdiction.
They divide the film into a “L-shaped” configuration to start and eventually split the field up with a buffer zone at midfield to keep the teams separated.
“I told them, ‘we'll see you in 90 minutes,’” Moore said. “That's why I'm disappointed. I talked before the game and we came out here and lost.”
Indiana's secondary struggled in the first half
It was particularly frustrating for Moore since the secondary had some busted coverages in the first half that allowed Louisville to jump out to a 21-0 lead. Cardinals quarterback Jack Plummer set up their first touchdown with a 43-yard completion down the sideline to Jamari Thrash in the first quarter.
The two connected again before the quarter was out for an 85-yard touchdown on a similar deep throw down the right sideline.
“It comes down to doing your job,” Moore said.
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Moore, who had nine tackles (seven solo) and recovered an onside kick at the start of the second half, spoke about avoiding those miscues to his teammates in the secondary in the days leading up to the game.
He promised to “preach” the same message during team meetings this week and use the success they had in the second half to prove his point.
Indiana gave up 202 passing yards in the first half — they had given up 258 in the first two games — but settled down and only allowed 36 passing yards in the second. Plummer was 5 of 10 with an interception after halftime.
Louisville’s longest completion in the second half was for 13 yards.
“The second half showed we could be,” Moore said. “It's disappointing, I'm disappointed in our team today. We shouldn't have lost that one in my opinion."
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: Indiana football's Louis Moore regrets pregame trash talk at Louisville
