Written By Sammy Jacobs (@SammyJ108)
The Hoosiers had a tough time containing the Cardinals in Week 3
Its finally the weekend, and we have officially passed 6-week mark until kick-off, so crack open a beer and celebrate, or a coke if your under-21, because we absolutely don’t encourage underage drinking in college… We’re almost there, ok maybe not, but kind of!In our third edition of our Throwback To 2012
series we will be taking a look at last years Week Three matchup against Ball
State. Make sure you hide the young ones
as this one might get ugly.
Opponent: Ball State University Cardinals
This marked the seventh time the Hoosiers and Cardinals
have squared off with, Indiana leading the series 4-2. However, recent results did not vouch for
those trends as Ball State had won the previous two meetings by a combined
score of 69-40. The Cardinals finished
the 2011 season with a 6-6 mark placing them 4th in the MAC West
under first year head coach Pete Lembo.
Location:
Saturday
September 15th | 8:00 pm | Memorial Stadium | Bloomington, Indiana
Why They
Played:
The Indiana-Ball State series holds some
potential as an in-state David vs. Goliath match-up. While it had only been played six times,
every game has come after 1997. The
match-up has become more competitive since 2008 when Ball State traveled to
Bloomington and shocked the Hoosiers in impressive fashion to the tune of
42-20. The recent success continued when
the Cardinals defeated Indiana at Lucas Oil Field 27-20 in 2011.
Ball State travels better than the average fan
would expect, as it is a bigger school than most think, with nearly twenty
thousand undergraduate students. While
this is good for the program from the financial side, as a football team having
the stands filled with your opponent’s fans is not something you want
whatsoever.
What The
Game Meant:
This game was supposed to be part pay back and
part litmus test for the Hoosiers, who had fallen to the Cardinals to open
Kevin Wilson’s tenure in 2011. Indiana
was also looking to start 3-0 for the first time since 2010. As a Big Ten team it is never good, and even
flat out embarrassing to lose to a MAC level team, especially one from your own
state. Add to that, the fact that it
happened at Memorial Stadium, and you have yourself a downright disaster.
Top
Offensive Performers:
Cody Latimer, WR, Indiana– The
sophomore receiver was the king of the big play on the day. He hauled in 4 receptions for 115 yards while
scoring two touchdowns. His brightest
highlight was when he broke off a 70 catch and run late in the fourth quarter
to pull the Hoosiers back into the game.
Stephen
Houston, RB, Indiana– Houston
paced the Hoosier running attack on the day, gaining 102 yards on the ground
with receiving just 12 carries. He was
also able to add a touchdown to his totals.
While the Hoosiers did not run the ball particularly well in this one,
Houston had his best game of the season to this point.
Keith Wenning, QB, Ball State– Wenning torched the Hoosiers
defense for 222 yards and 3 scores through the air, and tacked on 40 yards on the
ground for good measure. Wenning even
caught a touchdown pass. Wenning was the
bane of the Hoosiers existence in Week Three.
Willie
Snead, WR, Ball State- The Florida native had a very solid day
racking up 85 yards and a touchdown on six catches.
Top
Defensive Performers:
Greg Heban,
S, Indiana- The Muncie native played his heart out trying to top his
hometown team. The junior safety
accounted for 8 total tackles, including one for a loss, and 2 pass break-ups.
Johnathon
Newsome, DE, Ball State– Newsome wrecked havoc on in
the Indiana backfield compiling 2 sacks and 6 total tackles.
Special
Teams Performance:
Indiana finally put together a complete performance
on special teams in Week Three. Kicker
Mitch Ewald converted all four of his PATs and nailed a 46-yard field goal to
open the scoring on the day. Punter
Mitchell Voss averaged a respectable 37.3 yards on his 7 punts including two
that he had downed inside of the 20-yard line.
Finally the return game came to life with speedster Shane Wynn providing
the juice. He returned 3 kicks for 65
yards.
Key Stat: 9-18
This was the 3rd down conversion rate
for the Ball State offense. The Hoosiers
did a decent enough job of forcing the Cardinals into 3rd down
situations, however that’s where the execution ended. Ball State converted on fifty-percent of their
third-down situations, an unsustainable number for a team trying to win. This kept the explosive Hoosier offense on
the sideline while wearing down an
already subpar defense.
Turning
Point:
The turning point of this one came with just
six seconds left to play in the game.
Indiana had just worked to erase the Cardinals 13-point lead over the
last five minutes. Immediately after
that Ball State signal caller Keith Wenning lead the Cardinals on a 7-play,
44-yard drive, of which the penultimate play was a pass to Willie Snead down
the sideline for 18-yards setting up a Ball State field goal attempt from the
Hoosier 25-yard line with just one-second remaining. Officials reviewed the play, however, they
deemed that there was not conclusive evidence to overturn the ruling on the
field.
The Game
was Over When:
Steven Schott’s 42-yard field goal sailed
through the uprights as time expired and breaking the hearts of Hoosier fans.
Players of
the Game:
Indiana– Cody Latimer, Wide Receiver
The sophomore wideout kick started the Indiana offense
when he took a pass 70 yards for a score to bring the Hoosiers to within six-points
with just over four minutes remaining in the game. Overall he hauled in 6 passes and 2
touchdowns for the game.
Ball State-
Keith Wenning, Quarterback
The Cardinals’ field general made a difference
in all three aspects on offense. He
threw for 3 touchdowns, caught another, and ran for 40 yards on the ground. Wenning made the plays when he had to and
used all of the tools available to him to pull out the victory. It truly was a remarkable performance that
will be talked about for years on the Ball State campus.
Wrap Up:
This defeat broke the hearts of the Hoosier
players and fans alike. While it is
admirable that the players showed their fight and refused to quit at any point,
the fact is that there are no moral victories in college football, especially
not for a Big Ten team playing a MAC foe. This was the first game of the season
in which the Hoosiers had a question mark under center. The most important revelation from the Week
Three loss was that both Cam Coffman and Nate Sudfeld proved they could handle running
the offense, which bode well for the remainder of the 2012 slate.
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
JA
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
JA
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
Make sure you check back next week as we take a
look back at the start of the 2012 Big Ten schedule with games against
Northwestern and rival Michigan State.
Discover more from Hoosier Huddle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.