Opponent
Old Dominion Monarchs
Location
Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, IN
Why They Played
The Hoosiers and Monarchs met as part of a one off non-conference matchup.
What The Game Meant
The Hoosiers entered the 2025 season with high expectations. Openers are always tricky, but this was an uninspiring effort for the most part.
Top Offensive Performers
Roman Hemby, Running Back, Indiana- In his first game with the Hoosiers Hemby paced the rushing attack that was outstanding between the 20s. He finished with 111 rushing yards on 23 carries.
Kaelon Black, Running Back, Indiana- Black scored once and ran for 92 yards with a long run of 36.
Colton Joseph, QB, Old Dominion– Joseph nearly shocked the Hoosiers single-handedly. He took the first play of the game for a 75-yard touchdown and had another 78-yard touchdown late in the game. He finished with 179 rush yards, but struggled throwing the ball with 96 yards and three interceptions.
Top Defensive Performers
D’Angelo Ponds, DB, Indiana- Ponds finished with an interception and four tackles. He was also one of just three players to record a tackle for loss.
Louis Moore, Safety, Indiana- Moore had a game-high seven tackles and picked off a pass that led to an IU score.
Mario Easterly, Safety, Old Dominion- Easterly led all tacklers with 13. He had one tackle for loss and one quarterback hurry.
Special Teams Performance
Indiana’s special teams was one of the bright spots in the game and turned the tide in the Hoosiers’ favor. The 91-yard punt return touchdown by Jonathan Brady woke the Hoosiers up (for a little bit) and gave them the momentum they needed as it sparked a 27-0 run. Brady finished with 108 return yards and 116 total yards.
Roman Hemby started the game with a 27-yard kick return, which is a good sign of things to come, but no other kicks were returned.
Brendan Franke booted all six of his kickoffs for touchbacks and just missed a 52-yard field goal off the crossbar at the end of the first half.
IU punted twice and used two punters. Transfer Mitch McCarthy punted once for 47 yards and looked like he may have gotten hurt. Quinn Warren had a beautiful 37-yard punt to pin ODU at their own three-yard line later in the game.
Key Stat(s)
4-7
Indiana had seven trips inside the red zone (eight if you count Beebe’s fumble at the 20-yard line) and scored just 20 points. They kneeled out one attempt and were stopped at the goal line two other times. While IU’s play calling was vanilla, this is something to keep an eye on down the road. IU was elite in the red zone last season.
Turning Point
Jonathan Brady’s punt return restored order to Memorial Stadium after ODU landed the first punch. IU settled down and went on a 27-0 run.
I Knew it Was Over When…
Old Dominion kicked it deep after cutting the score to 27-14 with 6:53 left in the game. They never touched the ball again.
What I Took Away From the Game:
Hoooo boy! That is not what anyone expected out of the Hoosiers on Saturday. We knew Old Dominion’s offense could be explosive, but Indiana seemed to be going through the motions at times.
Old Dominion stunned IU on the first play of the game with a 75-yard touchdown run and it never really felt right after that. While IU dominated much of the stat sheet, it still kind of feels like they escaped with a 27-14 win.
IU’s offense put up 502 yards, but only scored 27 points. They ran the ball well between the 20’s, but ran into trouble inside the 10-yard line. The Hoosiers left at least 21 points on the field.
Indiana made mistakes that the team last season just didn’t make. Lee Bebee lost a fumble, Omar Cooper dropped a touchdown pass, Fernando Mendoza struggled with accuracy and there were plenty of penalties. There seemed to be no sense of urgency that has been a staple of Cignetti teams either.
The defense recovered nicely after the first play and oddly enough didn’t allow ODU to run a play in IU territory (it was a weird game). IU allowed 314 yards, but 153 of them came on two plays. Three Indiana interceptions led to 10 points and the Hoosiers held ODU to just 4-10 on third down.
Indiana is 1-0 and while this doesn’t have a triple overtime win over Akron vibe, it was a dud of a game. People expected more and IU should have delivered more. At the end of the day getting the win matters (the SEC still leads in quality losses). IU needs to move on with the season as well. While there are concerns and what I would call “orange” flags, it’s too early to panic. This is why IU schedules the way it does. There is more margin for error.
What’s Next
IU hosts Kennesaw State (0-1) on Saturday September 6th at Noon at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.