Game Wrap and Reaction (Indiana 52 Georgia Southern 17)

Morgan Ellison had 186 yards rushing on Saturday Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Opponent: Georgia Southern Eagles

Location: Saturday Sept. 23rd Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN

Why They Played:  The Hoosiers and Eagles played as a one-game non-conference series

What The Game Meant

This was a game where Indiana should’ve been able to flex their muscles and they did. The biggest takeaway from the game was that it was win number two on the year.

Top Offensive Performers

Morgan Ellison, RB, Indiana- The star of the day was freshman running back Morgan Ellison, who we predicted before the season to be starting by the third game of the season during fall camp. Ellison was terrific, outside of a fumble at the goal line, rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. He finished just 21 yards short of Anthony Thompson’s freshman rushing record (207).

Ian Thomas, TE, Indiana-Indiana’s passing game was quite vanilla on Saturday due to the fact that the Eagles couldn’t stop the run, but Ian Thomas has the highlight of the afternoon through the air as quarterback Richard Lagow saw one-on-one coverage and lofted it up to the tight end and he took it 71 yards for a score that was capped by a great stiff arm. Thomas caught two passes for 79 yards on the day.

L.A. Ramsby, RB, Georgia Southern- GSU didn’t do much on offense as they produced only 17 points, but one of the bright spots was reserve running back L.A. Ramsby who ran for 108 yards on 18 carries. He also caught one pass for eight yards.

Glenn D’Ondre, WR, Georgia Southern- The Eagles rarely pass the ball, but were effective throwing when IU bit on play action as the Hoosiers sold out on the run. D’Ondre has just three catches, however they went for 98 yars and a touchdown.

Top Defensive Performers

Chris Covington, LB, Indiana- Covington was great on Saturday and was a major reason why the Hoosiers stopped the triple-option effectively. He made six tackles including a tackle for loss and half a sack.

Andre Brown Jr., CB, Indiana- Brown filled in nicely for the banged up Rashard Fant (don’t worry IU fans he’ll be back next week). Brown made five tackles and ripped the ball away from a GSU receiver and returned it for a touchdown to cap off a big day for the Hoosiers.

R.J. Murray, SS, Georgia Southern- Anytime a defense gives up five touchdowns (IU scored on special teams and defense) it’s difficult to find a player of the game, but Murray came down from his strong safety position to make 12 tackles and two tackles for loss.

Special Team Performance

At some point teams are going to figure out that J-Shun Harris is really good and that punting to him is a bad idea. Once again Harris was a game changer, taking a punt 70 yards to the house for his second punt return TD in as many games. Harris had one other chance to return a punt and returned it for two yards.

Griffin Oakes looks as good as ever as he was 7-for-7 on extra points and hit his only field goal attempt from 27 yards. Oakes also hit seven of his nine kickoffs for touchbacks.

Punter Haydon Whitehead continues to be a weapon for the Hoosiers as he averaged 42.6 yards per punt and pinned the Eagles inside their own 20-yard line three times. His lone touchback came when the coverage team tried their best to corral the ball at the one, but the ball ended up just barely crossing the plain of the goal line.

Devonte Williams didn’t have much of a chance to get going in the return game as he only had one chance to return a kick and he netted 23 yards on it.

Key Stat(s)

282

The Hoosiers needed to get the running game going on Saturday and they did just that to the tune of 282 yards and six yards per carry. Morgan Ellison led the way, but IU also got contributions from Cole Gest (four carries, 45 yards) and Devonte Williams (four carries 18 yards).

Turning Point

The turning point of the game came on Indiana’s second drive when they started to feed Morgan Ellsion. He rushed six times for 29 yards and a touchdown.

I Knew it Was Over When…

Simmie Cobbs fell on Morgan Ellison’s fumble in the end zone to push the Indiana lead to 21-0. Everything was going IU’s way and three scores was too much to overcome for the Eagles.

Players of the Game

Morgan Ellison, Indiana- The Hoosiers have found their feature back as the true freshman was impressive running for 186 yards and two scores on 25 carries.

R.J. Murray, Georgia Southern- Murray tried his best to stop the Indiana offense, but his 12-tackle effort wasn’t enough to give Georgia Southern a chance.

What I took away from the game

As we at Hoosier Huddle stated many times in our content previewing this match-up, this game was more about what the Hoosiers have to do instead of Georgia Southern. The goals we set out for this game was 1) get the win, 2) establish the run and 3) create takeaways. Well, the Hoosiers accomplished all three of those.

The 52-17 win was great to see, and Hoosier fans really haven’t had a laugher like this since 2013. IU scored in all three phases of the game, something that they will need to do if they want to pull off a win against some of the big boys in the Big Ten East.

Even though it was “just Georgia Southern” the emergence of the running game is huge for the Hoosiers. Indiana made some lineup changes as Brandon Knight returned to action and Mackenzie Nworah took over the right guard spot. Those changes seemed to work as they didn’t surrender a sack and gave up just three negative plays.

Indiana once again shuffled quarterbacks early in the game and this week it seemed to be Peyton Ramsey coming in for Lagow in red zone opportunities. Ramsey ran the ball ok, seven carries for 22 yards, but struggled throwing it. He finished the game just three-for-eight for 55 yards and a TD. The touchdown came on a swing pass that Devonte Williams too 42 yards into the end zone.

The crowd went wild when Ramsey came into the game, but I’ll say this again, IU will need Richard Lagow’s arm in addition to Ramsey’s legs to get back to a bowl game.

Defensively, Indiana caused three fumbles that led to 21 points and got another fourth down stop that led to an Oakes field goal. Indiana had no takeaways in the first two games so it was good to see the defense be rewarded for their efforts.

Up next for the Hoosiers is a trip to Happy Valley to face Penn State. It’s another opportunity for Indiana to ‘Breakthrough’ in a venue they’ve never won in and against arguably the best team in the Big Ten.