After a shaky week one performance against the Old Dominion Monarchs, the Indiana Hoosiers entered Saturday afternoon’s contest against the Kennesaw State Owls looking to move to 2-0 and play to the standard head coach Curt Cignetti has for his program. In the first-ever meeting between the two schools, Indiana accomplished both goals, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead and rolling to a 56-9 victory. Fernando Mendoza was 18-25 for 245 yards and four touchdowns and Elijah Sarratt dominated the Kennesaw State secondary with 97 yards and four touchdowns. In week one, the Owls limited Wake Forest to less than three yards per carry but the Hoosiers had their way on the ground, rushing for 313 yards and averaging eight yards per carry.
The Hoosiers began with the ball but went three and out and had to punt the ball away, giving former IU player Dexter Williams a chance with the Kennesaw State offense. Determined not to suffer a repeat of the early mistakes from the ODU game, IU was locked in right away on defense and forced a three and out. Fernando Mendoza completed first downs to E.J. Williams and Elijah Sarratt and then Omar Cooper made a man miss and turned a short catch into a long run that put the Hoosiers inside the ten-yard line. Three plays later, Riley Nowakowski took a handoff from a fullback position and opened the scoring with a short touchdown. Kennesaw State again went three and out and Clay Conner tipped the punt, setting the IU offense up with great field position at the KSU 48-yard line. Lee Beebe got a pair of first downs on the ground and Mendoza connected with Elijah Sarratt for a nine-yard touchdown to make it 14-0. Kennesaw State switched to Amari Odom at quarterback but it paid no immediate dividends as they went three and out again. The teams traded punts and then Indiana’s drive stalled and they lined up for a 42-yard field goal but a delay of game penalty made Curt Cignetti change his mind and Indiana came up short on fourth down. Kennesaw State used the boost of momentum to find some success on offense and got into scoring territory before settling for a short field goal that made it 14-3. Indiana responded quickly with an impressive drive, moving 75 yards that ended with Lee Beebe scoring from 11 yards out to make it 21-3. The Owls got another field goal before the half and it was 21-6 at the break.
Kennesaw State began the second half with a nice drive as Amari Odom found his rhythm in the passing game and the Owls connected on an impressive 51-yard field goal that cut the margin to 21-9. Indiana’s offense came out firing on all cylinders though, They ripped off a 73-yard drive and Elijah Sarratt scored his second touchdown on a well-designed play to make it 28-9. Jamari Sharpe stripped the ball from a receiver and recovered the fumble and then Omar Cooper scored on a 75-yard reverse on the very next play to extend IU’s lead to 35-9. Louis Moore got his second interception of the season on the next Kennesaw State drive and Elijah Sarratt scored his third touchdown of the day and the route was on as the third quarter ended. A Charlie Becker touchdown was called back for a dubious offensive pass interference penalty but IU was undeterred and Fernando Mendoza found E.J. Williams to make it 49-9. Fernando gave way to his younger brother, Alberto, and IU’s offense kept on rolling. Alberto Mendoza threw a nice ball to Charlie Becker for his first touchdown to make it 56-9 as the Hoosiers poured it on.
Indiana outgained Kennesaw State 593 to 271 yards, were plus-two in turnovers and had a dominant 14 tackles for loss. The Hoosiers improve to 2-0 and will host Indiana State on Friday night before a showdown with Illinois in week four. Hoosier Huddle will have ongoing coverage of this victory.