Hoosiers Hammer Cardinals to Sweep Non-Conference Slate
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Reakwon Jones (7) and Jacob Robinson (91) celebrate a TFL in IU’s 38-10 win Saturday Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
Games against underdog in-state opponents don’t always go as planned. The Ball State Cardinals entered today’s matchup winners of three of the last four meetings against Indiana and coming off an impressive close loss at Notre Dame. The makings were in place for another Ball State victory over the Hoosiers. However, Tom Allen stressed the importance of paying attention to history and IU’s players made sure that the past would not be repeated. After a Ball State field goal on the first drive of the game, Indiana rattled off 31 unanswered points and routed the Cardinals 38-10. The victory improves the Hoosiers to 3-0 and gets them halfway to bowl eligibility as they enter Big Ten play.
Ball State was impressive on their first drive, using a good mix of the run and pass to march inside of the Indiana 15-yard line. However, the Hoosier defense stiffened and held the Cardinals to a 31 yard field goal that opened the scoring. Indiana’s offense responded quickly as Whop Philyor burst to the outside on a jet sweep for a big gain. IU’s offense also stalled out inside of the red zone and Logan Justus connected on a 20-yard field goal to tie the score at three. The Hoosiers defense again surrendered some yardage but Ball State’s second possession resulted in a missed 48-yard field goal that gave IU the ball around the 30 yard line. Indiana’s offensive line asserted itself and IU pounded out an impressive 12 play, 69 yard drive that ended in a Stevie Scott touchdown from one yard out. The run was the opening play of the second quarter and it put Indiana ahead 10-3. Ball State was forced to punt on their next possession and J-Shun Harris broke loose down the sideline and used his speed and great blocking from the rest of the Hoosiers to score on an 86 yard punt return. Harris had two punt return touchdowns last season before tearing his ACL (the third time that has happened) and today proved that he is still a dangerous weapon. The Hoosiers again forced Ball State to punt and a bobble by the punter allowed Peyton Hendershot to block the kick. IU almost scored shortly after but Stevie Scott had the ball punched out as he was fighting for yards near the end zone. The Cardinals got possession back but were forced to punt, giving the Hoosiers the ball on the 27 with 3:13 remaining in the first half. Peyton Ramsey connected with Luke TImian a few times on the drive and IU quickly moved down the field, scoring on a Ramsey five yard run with only 22 seconds remaining. The Hoosiers went into the locker room ahead 24-3 after a dominant half.
The Hoosiers went three and out on their first possession of the second half but forced the same from Ball State. True freshman quarterback Michael Penix entered the contest and helped the Hoosiers down the field before handing it off to another true freshman, Ronnie Walker Jr.. Walker broke through the middle and scored from 18 yards out. It was the freshman’s first career carry and first career touchdown and the Hoosiers led 31-3. James Gilbert scored for the Cardinals as Ball State managed a seven play, 60 yard drive to cut the deficit to 31-10. IU was forced to punt and it felt like momentum could be veering to the Cardinals but Jonathan Crawford sacked Riley Neal on third down, IU took over at the Ball State 38 and Stevie Scott pounded it in for his second touchdown of the day to ensure the lead would not even come close to slipping away.
IU put third-string quarterback Mike Fiacable into the game and worked their way inside of the five-yard line before giving the ball back to Ball State. The Cardinals tried to get more points on the board but the game ended as Isaac James intercepted a pass with no time remaining. The Hoosiers amassed 457 yards of offense and it could have quite a bit more if they needed to. The defense was far from perfect but they limited Riley Neal to 12 of 24 for only 115 yards and held Ball State to only 4-14 on third down. For the second straight week, Stevie Scott was very impressive as a runner. The freshman had 114 yards on 18 carries (6.6 ypc) with two touchdowns. This week, he was joined by a good debut from Ronnie Walker (nine carries for 41 yards with one touchdown) and solid running from Peyton Ramsey (6 carries for 43 yards with a touchdown). In total, the IU running game, buoyed by their strong offensive line, had 255 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Ramsey was 20 of 27 and Penix was four of five as IU relied mostly on the ground attack to punish the Cardinals defense. It was a very impressive performance for the Hoosiers and at 3-0, they are ready for a primetime battle for the Old Brass Spittoon against Michigan State next Saturday night.