Indiana 73 - Indiana State 35: Hoosiers Roll Sycamores

Well that went about as good as one could hope. The Hoosiers came out firing and pretty easily scored at will, no matter who was on the field. We finally figured out who was the starting quarterback, kinda, and we now have a little better idea of what kind of defense we'll be seeing this year. Plenty of players got to see the field and the reps were very valuable to the coaching staff to know who's capable of what going into stiffer competition.

The Hoosiers had a record setting night offensively last night. Indiana scored 10 touchdowns last night, shattering the previous Memorial Stadium record of 8 touchdowns against Wisconsin in 2001. The only time Indiana has scored higher than what they did in the game last night was in 1901 in a storied rivalry against those bastards down at Franklin College. In fact, all of Indiana's highest scoring games in their history came very early in the 20th century. The last time Indiana came close to the 70s was against Fort Knox in 1944. Even then, that doesn't quite count because the majority of the real Fort Knox team were saving the world and fighting Nazis. The Hoosiers beat up on a bunch of national guardsmen and MPs. In fact, that may be one of the darkest moments in Indiana history. We should have laid down and let them beat the pants off of us, but that's another discussion.

The defense came out with a very quick three and out and then a botched punt saw Indiana State's punter take a knee, giving Tre Roberson and company the ball on the 15 yard line to start their drive. One play later it was 7-0. Immediately excitement was high and everyone was feeling optimistic. Then the second defensive drive happened. Indiana State picked IU's defense apart with Shakir Bell and zero push from the D-Line. The Sycamores cruised an easy 74 yards to knot the game up. From there, ISU's offense wasn't able to do much however.

Roberson bombed one deep to Shane Wynn to for 54 yards and a TD. Tevin Coleman broke off a big run and Shane Wynn returned a punt. At that point the game was out of hand, but not because of the offense. The defense after the Sycamore touchdown drive stonewalled the ISU offense nine straight times. Truly, the defense looked quite good last night despite a few hiccups on drives here or there.

Towards the end of the first half when IU hit cruise control, they learned a valuable lesson that focus is still necessary. They gave up a big run and put up relatively little resistance on a TD drive. Then Laray Smith fumbled the ensuing kickoff where Indiana State recovered the ball in the endzone with 10 seconds left in the half. To start the second half, Nate Sudfeld came out as quarterback after a very successful quarter and a half in the first half due to a minor rib injury to Roberson. Sudfeld, subsequently threw a lazy pass right to Indiana State's linebacker who took it back for a pick 6. 21 points in 62 second for Indiana State. Mostly all of it from lack of focus and laziness.

The Hoosiers refocused their efforts and put up another 28 points in the second half while only allowing one opposing touchdown that came very late in garbage time. Despite the small hiccup there was never much doubt beyond the 10 minute mark in the first quarter. Tevin Coleman (cousin of Noah Vonleh) came out and had himself a game. 169 yards on 14 carries is impressive for anyone no matter the opponent. Originally I thought Stephen Houston would be the premiere back for this team, but he only looked meh while Coleman was awesome. Seriously, we may have something here with the explosive back who proved quite elusive last night.

Going forward the Hoosiers now have to re-tool and start looking towards the Navy Midshipmen next Saturday. They need to come out and prove that this game wasn't just because of the opponent. Navy would be the first opponent to prove that Indiana is the real deal. We'll look into that in the ensuing days. Until then, enjoy a very encouraging victory and bask in the glory of the history you just witnessed.