“Indiana doesn’t beat good teams.” “IU hasn’t proven it against good opposition.” What are they going to say now? The #18 Indiana Hoosiers dominated the #9 Illinois Fighting Illini, controlling every facet of the primetime contest and rolling over the top ten Illini by a score of 63-10.
This was the first ranked meeting between these two teams since 1950 and it was billed as a College Football Playoff “elimination” matchup between the two upstarts in the Big Ten but the expected heavyweight fight turned into a knockout for the home team as Indiana outgained Illinois 579-161 and the Indiana defensive line racked up seven sacks and seven tackles for loss in the rout.
Illinois began with the ball and the two teams traded punts with their opening possessions. The game changed on Illinois’ second offensive possession as they lined up to punt and DeAngelo Ponds swooped in, blocked the punt, snagged the ball off the turf and bowled into the endzone to give Indiana the 7-0 lead. Illinois responded quickly with a three-play drive that ended with a 59-yard touchdown pass from Luke Altmyer to Collin Dixon courtesy of a busted coverage in IU’s secondary. That proved to the high-point for the Fighting Illini as IU hit the acceleration and roared away from Illinois in the ensuing possessions. The Hoosiers converted a fourth and short near midfield and then Omar Cooper turned a slant pattern into a 40-yard catch and run and then finished the possession with an 11-yard physical receiving touchdown to put IU ahead 14-7.
Indiana’s defensive line turned up the pressure on Illinois’ offense and forced a three and out and the Hoosiers took advantage of the good field position with a beautiful 11-yard touchdown pass to E.J. Williams to make it 21-7 at the beginning of the second quarter. The Illini had to punt again after a sack by Mario Landino and Fernando Mendoza executed a perfect tight end screen against a blitz and Riley Nowakowski rumbled for 43 yards to put Indiana in full command at 28-7.
Illinois’ next possession resulted in another three and out and IU’s next possession resulted in another touchdown drive. This one was Kaelon Black bursting a big run and Elijah Sarratt catching a touchdown pass from nine yards away. The Hoosiers nearly made it 42-7 as Devan Boykin dropped what would have been a walk-in interception touchdown and Illinois managed a long field goal at the end of the first half. The Hoosiers had five sacks and Alberto Mendoza was 15-17 for 220 yards with four touchdowns at halftime.
The second half was more of the same as Indiana began with the ball and chose to focus on the ground game, pounding the Illini with the run as Kaelon Black broke free for a 40-yard touchdown to push the score to 42-10. The defensive line continued to dominate the proceedings as Mario Landino and crew racked up more sacks and made life miserable for Luke Altmyer and the Illinois offense.
Elijah Sarratt had his second touchdown reception of the night to make it 49-10 and then Khobie Martin scored two times in the fourth quarter, continuing his impressive play and the Hoosiers went ahead 63-10 as the rain poured down on the gleeful IU faithful Fernando Mendoza’s evening was done after three quarters and he was simply superb, completing 21 of 23 passes for 267 yards with five touchdowns.
IU had four different pass-catchers with receiving touchdowns and they ran the ball for 312 yards while averaging 6.4 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Illinois was limited to only two yards rushing. You read that correctly, Indiana outrushed Illinois 312 yards to two.
The Hoosiers answered every question that was asked of them on Saturday night, dominating the #9 team in the country in primetime. The 63-10 victory is the largest win for the Hoosiers over a ranked team in program history. They are 4-0 and now face their first road test, travelling to take on the 3-1 Iowa Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium next week. Hoosier Huddle will have continuing coverage of this impressive showing from Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers.