Indiana Offense Stumbles Against Iowa

Written by Matt Smith

College football made its return Saturday, and for Indiana that meant a season opener in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes. On the offensive side of the ball the Hoosiers made a number of mistakes early that gave all the momentum to Iowa.

Iowa got off to a hot start on offense, scoring on their first drive of the game, while IU began their 2021 football season with an opening drive that ended up with a pass being intercepted by Iowa’s Riley Moss and returned 30 yards for a touchdown.

Many things went wrong for IU on offense during their opening game including the return of quarterback Michael Penix. Penix tore his acl last season in November and his return came with a lot of excitement, however he looked very rusty. Penix was 14-31 with 156 yards and 3 interceptions.

While the first interception was tipped off of the hands of transfer DJ Matthews, Riley Moss returned another one of Penix’s throws in the second quarter when he jumped an out route. Penix then followed that interception with another one in the following drive.

“It was his first game in a while,”  head coach Tom Allen said.  “I felt like he has really practiced well, and I didn’t expect this to happen, that’s for sure.  But the whole (offensive) group has got to execute.  Too many mistakes, too many penalties, and it just got away from us.”

However, the offensive struggles also came from the offensive line, Penix was constantly under pressure after the Hawkeyes’ stout defensive line continuously beat IU’s line off of the snap. 

Another struggle on the offensive side of the balls was penalties. IU continuously delayed drives with false start penalties and offensive pass interference calls as well. The Hoosiers had seven penalties for 66 yards.

“Didn’t play well… just extremely disappointed in so many ways,” Allen said following the loss.

IU totaled 233 yards of offense during the game including only 77 yards rushing. The Hoosiers continually tried to establish a run game but the Iowa defensive line continued to beat out the offensive line on those attempts as well.

Graduate Transfer Stephen Carr was one of the running backs that offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan continued to give touches to, he totaled 19 carries for 57 yards.

“When you’ve got character and you’ve got grit, and you’ve got toughness to you, you will respond,” Allen said.  “So I’m excited to see this team respond.  As much as this hurts, you can’t change what just happened.  You’ve got to figure out why, and we’ve got to fix it, and we’ve got to press on.”