Indiana 19, Eastern Kentucky 13: Hoosiers struggle in second half but win opener.
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Sep 4, 2009 6:01 AM EDT
14 comments
Wins have been in short supply for Indiana over the last 15 years, so any win is welcome, but the opening night performance against Eastern Kentucky will not inspire any Hoosier fans to book hotel rooms in Pasadena, or in Detroit, for that matter. At times in the first half, IU seemed poised to put the game away, but the offense bogged down and produced no points in the second half. EKU had the chance to win with a hail Mary into the end zone on the final play, but it hit the turf and IU avoided its second I-AA loss in four years. Here is the box score.
The most obvious disappointment was the running game. The adoption of the pistol formation was supposed to allow IU to create a downhill running game, but that aspect of the offense really struggled. IU gained only 73 yards on the ground and averaged only 2.4 yards per rush. Whether it was the line, the backs, or both, IU failed to generate any momentum against an undersized EKU defense. The passing game provided more optimism. Although he made a couple of poor decisions that led to interceptions, overall Chappell was very good, completing 27 of 36 passes for 326 yards and a touchdown. The defense was fairly successful in the first half, other than a big play, a 61 yard TD pass by EKU. Ultimately, however, EKU averaged more yards per play, 6.6, than did the Hoosiers (6.0). Other performances of note:
- Tandon Doss caught 8 passes for 125 yards, but only one in the second half.
- Damarlo Belcher caught 6 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown.
- The rushing performances were very disappointing: Demetrius McCray was respectable with 49 yards on 13 carries, but Darius Willis, Bryan Payton, and Trea Burgess combined for only 22 yards on 15 carries. Willis fumbled on his first carry and had only two more opportunities.
- Nick Freeland made a 38 yard field goal, which isn't bad for a guy who wasn't supposed to play this season.
- The Hoosier defense did a reasonably good job of getting to EKU's quarterbacks: the Hoosiers recorded four sacks, but none by Greg Middleton or Jammie Kirlew. In limited action Ray Fisher made five tackles and forced the game saving fumble in the fourth quarter.
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A win is a win
And I’ve been a Hoosier fan long enough to know that you don’t look a victory in the mouth. But you are right, that effort won’t work against anyone remaining on the sked.
I liked Chappell. I like his arm strength and his accuracy is pretty good. He seemed to be comfortable int he pistol, and ran it well. The TV commentators noted that he was a Brett Favre fan, and he emulated him a bit too much. I did not see either of the picks, but he had a few other passes that were bad decisions and would have been picked by a better secondary.
Doss and Belcher were great. Those two are very exciting.
And I liked what I saw from McCray last night, too. I think that I’ll make this a separate fan post, but I think a lot of the problem last night was play calling. EKU made adjustments; IU did not, which is a shame, because I think that the pistol gives you lots of opportunities to make adjustments.
Defensively, and overall, I thought that there were way too many fundamental mistakes. On EKU’s touchdown, Nick Polk really blew his assignment. I imagine that Pete Saxon will be running windsprints until next Saturday, for all of the penalties. Those are things that you cannot have from upperclassmen, and expect to win.
Now, with that being said, I think that the problems from last night are fixable. I just hope that they do get fixed.
by hoosierdaddynow on Sep 4, 2009 7:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
disappointing overall
but i agree with some of the bright spots.
Chappell and the wideouts weren’t on the same page at times, and i think that’s what led to those mistakes. i thought he played pretty well, but there were at least two throws that i saw that would’ve been picked off by Big Ten defensive backs.
how much of the running game issues are due to the backs compared to the line? i know that EKU was stacking the box, but if this line can’t open up running lanes against I-AA teams, then this is going to be a long season. i don’t think McCray/Willis/Payton/Burgess are the best RBs in the world, but at least half the time those guys had nowhere to go.
Doss is going to be a star. if not for the bad drop on the slant in the red zone in the first half, he would’ve gone 9/150/TD.
Ewing with the step...YES! and the foul!
by Anthony Masons Haircut on Sep 4, 2009 8:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Line should share some of the blame
But if the defense is going to stack the box, then you need to shuffle the play calling to give them a reason not to stack the box. Coaching staff did not do the line any favors.
by hoosierdaddynow on Sep 4, 2009 9:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
i agree
but still, this is Eastern Kentucky we’re talking about.
if IU can only generate 2.4 ypc with a I-AA team stacking the box, then what’s going to happen when Ohio State does it, or Penn State, or hell, even Michigan or Purdue?
it shouldn’t have been that easy for a team like EKU to completely shutdown IU’s running game.
Ewing with the step...YES! and the foul!
by Anthony Masons Haircut on Sep 4, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
IU/EKU Postgame Thoughts
North Endzone Project: The finished product looks good. That’s more than just good, that’s italicized good. The scoreboard fits in perfectly with it and the addition blends well with the sections that were already there.
Pistol Formation: I like it. I think it gives our offense a good tempo because of it’s semi-shotgun-ness. I think it’s better for Chappell than being under center and dropping back and it still allows a good set of plays to be run. Yeah, the running game sucked but I don’t think it would be significantly better in any other formation.
The Bubble Screen: Seemed like 5 of our first 10 plays were bubble screens or some variety of them. Not as many in the second half, but I’m very cautious about how much we run them. By the third game, teams will begin to figure out and adjust quickly and it’s efforts will be futile.
Ben Chappell: Frustrates the living hell out of me sometimes. Times when he throws the worst pass in the world, either completely missing an open receiver by ten feet or by throwing it right into the hands of defenders. But I can’t get too down on him because there were definitely glimpses of solid QB play. It also seemed that sometimes he made an easy throw hard on a few occasions, which led to our WRs making unbelievable catches.
The South Goalpost: Certainly looked lopsided from the student section, FWIW.
EKU Clock Management: Seemed awful, no? They had two timeouts to use while we were on our final offensive drive, running the clock down, and they just stood there and took it. Perhaps the fact that EKU didn’t have an extra 30 or 60 seconds is what truly saved our asses. Well, that and the EKU fumble on the 5 yard line in their previous drive.
by D.M.J. on Sep 4, 2009 10:13 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Andy Reid School of Clock Management
EKU’s clock management was terrible. And — credit where credit is due — IU did a fairly nice job of milking the clock on their last drive, particularly since they had not had a lot of success on the night running the ball. I was baffled by IU’s last offensive snap, though. I get trying to surprise them and go long, but seems like it would have been better to run the ball, let the clock wind down even more, and even take a delay of game on the punt. I suppose, though, that the Colonels (and my daughter though that the TV commentators called them the “Turnips”) did have a time out that they could have used.
by hoosierdaddynow on Sep 4, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
True, but I think IU’s clock milking was made to look better than it was by EKU’s poor clock management. We did milk 6 plus minutes off the clock, but ultimately got only as far as the EKU 47 and still gave them a chance to win the game.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Sep 4, 2009 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I agree with pretty much everything you guys said above.
The running game was by far the most dissapointing aspect of the game. They actually had some good success on the opening drive until Willis fumbled. After that IU did two things that I really think were mistakes. First, they did not force EKU to stop stcking the box by changing the play calling (as you guys mentioned above). Second, they completely went away from Willis after the fumble. I firmly believe they should have put him right back out there when they got the ball back. Instead they sent a message to their best running back that they don’t trust him because of one bad play.
Chappell’s performance was mostly good. He obviously made some bad throws, but I think any QB is going to be a little off in the first game of the season. Tandon Doss looked like he could be a beast if he’s utilized correctly. Overall, the passing game was a little better than I expected.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the defense. EKU’s QBs were both very mobile, which presents some unique challenges, but they did a pretty good job of containing them and creating pressure. If you take away a few big plays it was a pretty good performance on their part. Then again, it may just be that my expectations for the defense weren’t too high after last season.
Overall, I was dissapointed with how teh game unfolded but I am going to reserve judgment until after the next game given the jitters and uncertainty surrounding opening games.
Oh, and one more thing, The stadium really looked amazing on TV last night. It looked like it had always been enclosed, and I couldn’t help thinking that it finally looked like they were playing in a stadium worthy of a BCS conference team.
by acelion on Sep 4, 2009 10:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Kirlew and Middleton
Although they didn’t register a sack, I paid very careful attention to them (especially Kirlew) and they were both putting good pressure on. They will need to step up with sacks and TFLs against better opponents, but it’s not like they were completely useless last night.
by D.M.J. on Sep 4, 2009 10:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, I remember thinking that they were pretty active and was surprised to see their minimal impact in the box score (Middleton didn’t have a tackle). It probably says something about the attention that they drew that four other guys had sacks.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Sep 4, 2009 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
anybody else
get tired of hearing music between EVERY play on the loudspeakers?
that was something i could’ve done without.
Ewing with the step...YES! and the foul!
by Anthony Masons Haircut on Sep 4, 2009 11:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I wouldn't mind the tunes if...
1. The Memorial Stadium sound system was anything near respectable.
and
2. They didn’t run out and have to start recycling songs by the 4th quarter.
by D.M.J. on Sep 4, 2009 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
nice win for the Hoosiers
those sophomore receivers are very good, but I was not impressed with Chappell. He had the two picks and had a stretch where every throw to his receivers were high leaving his guys a bit vulnerable.
EKU isn’t a B10 school, but you can’t complain about a win ever.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Sep 4, 2009 4:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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