Game Wrap Up & Reaction: Week 1

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@sammyj108) 

How was that for some opening night
fireworks?  The Hoosiers covered
all the bases both good and bad.
There was a running game and an aerial attack that could not be
stopped.  There was also a defense
that forced two turnovers.  However
there were bad penalties, stupid turnovers, and missed tackles.  The Hoosiers set records for the most
points scored at Memorial Stadium by any team, returned their first punt for a
touchdown since 2006, and scored more points in the first half since 1949.  Overall it was a fun night, but there
are still many aspects that need to be cleaned up.

Opponent: Indiana State Sycamores

Location: Thursday August 29th  /7pm/ Memorial Stadium/ (Bloomington, Indiana)

Why They
Played:  Indiana and Indiana State is a nice in state game for both
teams.  Last year showed that this
game isn’t as much of a lock for the Hoosiers as we thought and it gives IU a
cheap FCS opponent at home.
Indiana State also brings a nice crowd to the Rock, even though Indiana
should not be counting on an FCS team to boost attendance.

What The
Game Meant:

Opening night is always a big deal no matter
the level of competition.  With the
buzz surrounding the Hoosier football team this offseason it was vital that
Indiana start the season with a convincing victory.  Indiana also made a statement by wearing their new state
flag helmets, showing Indiana State that the Hoosiers are the best team in the
Hoosier state.

Top
Offensive Performers:

Tevin Coleman,
RB, Indiana– During most
of the summer the word surrounding Indiana football was that Tevin Coleman was
going to be a force at running back taking over the starting position from
Stephen Houston.  The sophomore
proved the rumors correct as he ran free all night gaining 169 yards on a mere
14 carries and two touchdowns.
Coleman showed the toughness and speed that is necessary to be a number
one back in the Big Ten.

Nate
Sudfeld, QB, Indiana – The true sophomore played the majority of the
game after taking over for Tre Roberson.
Sudfeld threw for 219 yards and four touchdowns, however he also threw
an awful pick six to start the second half.  He definitely put his stamp on the race to be the starting
quarterback after a very solid performance.  Sudfeld, aside for the one interception, made the right
decisions for most of the game and looked in control of the offense.

Shakir
Bell, RB, Indiana State- The scat back did not have quite the stellar
game he had in 2012, but Bell still had 113 yards before leaving the game with
a shoulder injury late in the second quarter.  Bell had several nice runs where he made the IU defense look
as if they were on ice skates.

Top
Defensive Performers

TJ Simmons,
LB, Indiana- The true freshman looks and plays like a linebacker who belongs
on the field in the Big Ten.  The
Florida native recorded 9 total tackles and was all over the field.

Connor
Underwood, LB, Indiana State- Connor put a scare into the
Hoosiers taking the first play of the second half to the house for a pick
6.  He also added four tackles, one
being for a loss of yardage.

Special
Team Performance:

Special teams had some really great moments
while also having some plays where fans wanted to bang their head against the
wall.  Let’s start with the
good.  Shane Wynn recorded the
first Hoosier punt return since 2006 when Tracey Porter took one the distance
against Western Michigan.  Wynn
made several defenders miss and then just simply outran the Sycamores to the
end zone, but whatever mojo the special teams had from that play it lost when
freshman Laray Smith made the mistake of trying to do too much on a kick return
right before the half and fumbled the ball that was recovered in the end zone
for a Sycamore touchdown.  Mitch Ewald
looked solid, even though he only kicked one field goal, as he connected on all
ten extra points.  Erich Toth had a
punt downed inside of the one-yard line as Kofi Hughes made a fantastic play to
down the ball before it bounced over the goal line.  In spite of this, Toth did not have a great night averaging
37.7 yards on three punts.

Key
Stat: 

5-7

Coming into the night we said that one of the
goals the Hoosiers should have is to be improved in their red zone efficiency
when it came to scoring touchdowns.
The Hoosiers entered the red zone seven times last night and came away
with five touchdowns.  The two
missed opportunities came when Indiana settled for a 26-yard field goal and
then when Kevin Wilson decided not to go for 80 points and took a knee.

Turning
Point-

The game started to turn when the Indiana
defense came up with nine straight stops of Indiana State between the first and
second quarters as the Hoosiers built up a 45-7 lead which the Sycamores could
not recover.

I Knew it
was over when…

After a brief scare when Indiana State rattled
off 21 straight points, the Hoosiers settled down and when Sudfeld hit Wynn in
the end zone from three yards out the game was in hand.

Players of
the Game

Indiana– Tevin
Coleman, Running Back- It looks as if the Hoosiers have found their man
at running back.  Coleman ran all
over the mismatched Sycamore defense.

Indiana State– Shakir Bell , Running Back- It is a
shame that the dynamic back was knocked out of the game right before half,
because he was having another great game against the Hoosiers.

What I took
away from the game

While beating a team 73-35 should be a cause
for overreaction that is exactly what I am not going to do.  This Hoosier team could have hung 100
on Indiana State if they really wanted to.  There were some very good things to take away from the
victory.  First of all Tevin
Coleman was a power at tailback running for 169 yards, but its hard not to be
discouraged with the performance of senior Stephen Houston who finished with
just nine yards on eight carries.
Secondly, the young defensive players made impact plays.  Darius Latham and Antonio Allen both
came up with huge defensive plays to stop Sycamore drives.  On the other hand, the defense missed a
lot of tackles.  Of course there
will be some rust and it was great that Indiana got to play a ton of players
last night, but there are spots that need to cleaned up before Navy.  Another aspect of the game that stood
out was the amount of dumb penalties the Hoosiers took last night, as Jake Reed
was ejected for throwing a punch and a kick off return was called back because
two players who were wearing the same number were on the field at the same
time.  In regard to the quarterback
competition, this thing is wide open and not because one guy struggled but
because all three can play.  Even
though Cam Coffman did not have a good game, he has built up enough good will
to deserve a shot at starting.  If
Indiana’s defense can make stops this offense will score, even while rotating
between quarterbacks.  There will
not be a clear number one before the Navy game and it looks like this could end
up being a true two quarterback system.