Indiana Offense Shows Flashes of What It Could Become
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Stevie Scott (8) and Ty Fryfogle (3) celebrate a touchdown Image: Sarah Miller Hoosier Huddle
Written by Evan McShane (@veryreasonable)
With a new offensive coordinator in Kalen DeBoer and a quarterback making his first career start in Michael Penix, Indiana’s offense demonstrated serious potential in Saturday’s win over Ball State. Penix’s talent and elite arm strength was on full display under the lights at Lucas Oil Stadium. Although he wasn’t perfect, the redshirt freshman quarterback gave Hoosier fans a lot to be excited about. Penix has described himself as a pro-style quarterback who can run if he needs to. He lived up to that description, showing tremendous poise in the pocket for a young passer while leading the team in rushing yards.
Hoosier wide receivers dropped an alarming number of passes and missed several opportunities to make plays downfield, but the group ultimately did enough to secure a victory. While the offensive line provided stellar pass protection, Indiana couldn’t get the running game going, averaging under 4.5 yards-per-carry. DeBoer finished the game having called 41 pass plays and 33 running plays. Indiana did an excellent job distributing the football with seven players catching at least one pass and six players logging at least one rushing attempt.
Kalen DeBoer made his presence felt early on as the Hoosiers opened the game with a relentless aerial attack. Michael Penix completed his first five passes and led Indiana to a five-play, 60-yard drive which ended in a 48-yard field goal from Logan Justus. On the very next drive, Indiana fans got a taste of what makes Penix special. With an effortless flick of the wrist, Penix launched the ball 55 yards through the air right into Nick Westbrook’s bread basket. Westbrook took it the rest of the way, untouched into the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown.
Penix had some moments on Saturday where he looked like a freshman quarterback. Most notably when Indiana had back-to-back drives end in interceptions in the first half. The first interception was a classic rookie mistake. “You are going to have some growing pains. He has never been a starter before in college, and they did good job of disguising some stuff,” Tom Allen said. The second interception came after an IU wideout slipped on the turf. Penix wasn’t nervous, but eager to make plays. "Not too nervous, no. Mostly anxious and ready,” Penix said. “I've been preparing. The whole team had been preparing in the film room, so we were mentally prepared and ready to go out and execute."
Penix played a mistake-free second half and paced the Hoosiers to victory. On their first drive after halftime, Indiana scored a touchdown in under three minutes, going 63 yards in just seven plays. Indiana opened the fourth quarter on an eight-play, 65-yard drive capped off with a Stevie Scott touchdown plunge—his second of the day. As Ball State rallied within one score, the Hoosiers sealed the deal. With six minutes left in the game, Penix took off on a 24-yard scramble into Cardinal territory and drove Indiana deep enough for Logan Justus to hit his fourth field goal of the day—this one from 50 yards. Penix described his decision-making process: "I was just going through my reads. If I had to pull a read, I could pull it and I could go. It felt great. It helped keep drives alive and just keep pushing and help the team get points."
Indiana out-gained Ball State through the air and on the ground, totaling 326 passing yards and 148 rushing yards. Michael Penix finished the day with 393 yards of total offense by himself (326 passing, 67 rushing). Allen and the Hoosiers will take an ugly win any day of the week. It wasn’t too long ago that Ball State had defeated Indiana three years in a row. Week one is about teaching moments and now Indiana has 60-minutes of game tape to learn from. Dropped passes can be fixed. Missed blocking assignments can be corrected. Overall, Indiana’s offense showed flashes of what they can become this season.