INDIANAPOLIS (AP) With Louisville facing fourth-and-goal, 18 inches away from a tie score, linebacker Stanquan Clark sensed what Indiana would do.

So he trusted his instincts - and his film study.

Then the freshman a read that took him the Hoosiers backfield where he stuffed Josh Henderson with 4:38 to go and waited for his teammates to help prerserve a 31-21 victory over Indiana.

Officially, he had just three tackles. But it was the last, memorable one that will go down as the play of the day and perhaps the play of the year for the Cardinals.

First-year coach Jeff Brohm has his alma mater off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2016. Brohm also got his first win at Lucas Oil Stadium. He’d lost in the building twice before - first to Louisville in his debut as Purdue’s head coach in 2017 then to Michigan in last season's Big Ten championship game, which ended his Boilermakers tenure.

But after a dominant first half had the Cardinals leading 21-0, they couldn't secure the victory until Clark and T.J. Quinn corralled Henderson well short of the goal line and the offense ran out the clock.

The bigger question was why Indiana (1-2) called a slow-developing handoff to the deep back rather than letting new starting quarterback Tayven Jackson line up under center and plunge ahead?

But without some aggressive play-calling and a promising second half from Jackson, just five days after winning the job, the Hoosiers wouldn't have even been this close.

After Jamari Thrash opened the first half with an 85-yard TD catch and Jawhar Jordan closed out the half with a 25-yard scoring run, the Cardinals appeared to be in complete command - until Allen opened the second half with an onside kick the Hoosiers recovered.

It took Jackson three plays to find Jaylin Lucas for a 30-yard TD pass - the first of Jackson's career.

Two series later, Jackson deftly engineered a 97-yard drive, capped by Henderson's 2-yard TD run to make it 21-14 late in the third quarter. Jackson nearly tied it up himself when he lunged toward the goal line and put the ball on the pylon but a replay review showed him short of the goal line and Henderson was stopped short on Indiana's final play.