Game Wrap-up and Reaction: Week 3 Bowling Green

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@sammyj108) 

What a difference a week can make.  After getting torched for 41 points
against Navy the Hoosier defense came out on a mission and did not allow an
offensive touchdown.  The Hoosiers
faced the Bowling Green Falcons with their season in the balance in Week 3 and
proved they can overcome a poor performance in Week 2.

Opponent: Bowling Green Falcons

Location: Saturday September 14th  /12pm/ Memorial Stadium/ (Bloomington, Indiana) 

Why They
Played:  The Hoosiers and Falcons meet for the first time on the gridiron
as part of a home-and-home series. 
Indiana always has had a good relationship with the MAC and plays at
least one school from the conference every year.

What The
Game Meant:

This was a must win game for the Hoosiers.  Not a should win or a could win, but a
real must win game.  After falling
to Navy, the Hoosier’s bowl hopes rested on today’s game against the
Falcons.  Kevin Wilson deemed it a
big enough game to break out the Chrome helmets a week early.

Top
Offensive Performers:

Nate
Sudfeld, QB, Indiana – Sudfeld finally got his first well-deserved
start under center and lead the Hoosiers offense with 335 yards and two
touchdowns through the air.  The
sophomore also added a score on the ground.

Stephen
Houston and Tevin Coleman, RB, Indiana- The Hoosiers got a good look at
how dynamic this offense could be with the running attack getting back to full
steam.  Both backs went over 100
yards on the ground as they combined for 284 yards.  Houston finally broke through with a good performance
breaking off several long runs including a long of 60 yards.

Cody
Latimer, WR, Indiana- The junior receiver showed why he is on the Bilitnikoff
Award Watch List as he set a new career high in receiving yards with 137.  Latimer, who had been held in check
over the first two games hauled in six passes and a touchdown.

Shaun
Joplin, WR, Bowling Green- The Falcons could not muster much on offense
today, but the senior receiver did all he could grabbing seven passes for 104
yards. 

Top
Defensive Performers

Tim
Bennett, CB, Indiana-The junior defensive back put together another solid game as he
recorded seven tackles and three pass break-ups.  The Hoosiers have been lacking in the secondary in the past
few years, but Bennett looks to have put a stop to that as he was all over the
field for the Hoosiers.

Nick
Mangeri, DE, Indiana- The Indiana defensive line applied pressure to Matt Johnson all
day and Mangeri led the way.  The
sophomore picked up a sack and a diving interception in addition to four tackles.

Paul Senn,
LB, Bowling Green- Senn’s biggest impact in this game came on special teams as he
blocked a punt and took it 56 yards for the Falcons only touchdown and
recovered a fumble on another kick return, on top of that Senn had three TFL’s.

Special Team
Performance:

Special teams continue to be a difficulty for
the Hoosiers, as they had a punt blocked and lost another fumble on a kick-off
return.  The blocked punt is
inexcusable as nobody was assigned to block Paul Senn, allowing him to
literally take the ball off Erich Toth’s foot and into the end zone.  Equally as concerning is the kick
return team.  The Hoosiers, once
again, could not get anything going for them in the return game as sophomore
Damon Graham handled the return duties. 
Graham has only averaged 24 yards per return and fumbled away
another.  The upside for the
Hoosiers is that Mitch Ewald connected on all six of his extra points, but did
not attempt a field goal.  Indiana
also attempted an ill-advised onside kick to start the second half, granted the
defense stopped the Falcons, it was an unnecessary risk given the time and the
score of the game.

 Key
Stat: 

335 and 266

The Hoosiers offense showed a lot of balance in
this win as they passed for 335 yards and ran for 266.  One of the keys to the game in our
“Three & Out” piece was for the Hoosiers to get back to having a balanced
offense. 

Turning Point-

The game turned when Bowling Green was stuffed
at the IU 22 yard line on fourth down. 
The Falcons were leading 10-7 and were in field goal range when the
decided to go for it.  IU shut the
play down and never looked back as they took the lead on the next series.

I Knew it
was over when…

Cody Latimer hauled in a 33-yard touchdown
strike from Nate Sudfeld that extended the Hoosier lead to 28-10.  The way that the defense was playing
there was no way Bowling Green was going to make up 18 points on the Hoosiers.

Players of
the Game

Indiana– Nate
Sudfeld, Quarterback- Nate Sudfeld finally got to start a game.  He rewarded the coaching staff with a
terrific performance.  Sudfeld
threw for two more touchdowns and ran one in as well.  More importantly he took care of the ball. 

Bowling
Green– Shaun Joplin, Wide
Receiver- Joplin had a very solid day, but couldn’t help the Falcons reach
the end zone.  Indiana did a nice
job limiting the yards after the catch.

What I took
away from the game

The Hoosiers were in a must-win situation and
they came through swimmingly. 
After an ugly first quarter, where the offense moved the ball well, but
couldn’t finish, and the punt team gave up the only touchdown for the Falcons,
the Hoosiers played a fairly complete game.  The defense showed that they can indeed stop an offense that
was fairly solid and the offense hummed under Sudfeld.  Speaking of the offense, it is quite
clear now that Kevin Wilson is going to use a two-quarter back system as we saw
him insert Tre Roberson in the game in goal line situations.  Sometimes it backfired and other times
it worked.  The offense got backed
to a balanced game plan as they ran the ball well to take pressure off the
passing game.  Both Stephen Houston
and Tevin Coleman had big games on the ground.

The most concerning part of the game was the
coaching.  Wilson gambled on two
early fourth and goals and failed to come away with points.  While it did not end up hurting the
Hoosiers, there were too many points left on the field.  When it comes time to play better teams
some times the Hoosiers will need to take the 3.  Also, Wilson opened the second half with an onside kick.  While, I love the aggressiveness of the
call, it was neither the time nor the game to start breaking out trick
plays.  Overall, it was an
encouraging game for the Hoosiers and sets up a big statement game next week
against Missouri.