The Hoosiers hosted a national TV game on Saturday and showed why they are the second-ranked team in the country with a 56-6 beat down of media darling UCLA. While a 50-point win would be cause for an all stock up report, it is not. Let’s take a look at how IU’s portfolio is doing.
Stock Up
EJ Williams
Williams has been the under-appreciated part of the Hoosiers trio of starting receivers. Saturday was EJ Williams appreciation day as he hauled in five passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, including a 62-yard catch and run. He has been really good all season as he has also stayed healthy. Williams has 321 yards receiving and five touchdowns.
Running Game
The Hoosiers rediscovered their running game on Saturday as well. Roman Hemby scored twice on the ground and Kaelon Black added 70 yards on the ground as IU ran for 262 yards. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza and younger brother Alberto Mendoza got in on the action with 84 yards and two touchdowns combined on the ground. With Fernando not being as sharp as he was against Michigan State, having the rushing attack working made Indiana’s offense nearly impossible to stop.
Turnovers From the Defense
After going without a turnover created against Michigan State, the Hoosiers got three on Saturday against UCLA. The party started with a bang as Aiden Fisher took Nico Iamaleava’s first pass for a touchdown. Isaiah Jones punched a ball out for a fumble that was recovered by Hosea Wheeler and Devin Boykin was rewarded with a pick late in the game.
Stock Down
Injuries
There were two big ones for the Hoosiers on Saturday and Hoosier Nation will hold their collective breath as they await word on All-American linebacker Aiden Fisher and kickoff specialist Brendan Franke.
Franke was injured on the opening kickoff and Fisher left the game early in the first quarter. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti did say that Fisher’s removal was precautionary, but that he would undergo imaging at some point this weekend.
Discipline
Indiana had a couple undisciplined penalties on Saturday as Louis Moore received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and in total IU had four penalties for 45 yards. Cignetti also called out EJ Williams in his postgame press conference as the wide out could have been called for taunting on his 62-yard touchdown. Cignetti and his staff will snuff these things out, but it is the first time in a long time IU had selfish penalties like these.
Hold
Depth
The Hoosiers have been relatively healthy this season, but there have been some key injuries at positions where depth is limited. Aiden Fisher leaving the game very early has everyone on edge. While Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy have played well, IU does not have a ton of depth there.
Tight end Riley Nowakowski has been really good for the Hoosiers as well and he looked banged up at times Saturday. IU has Holden Staes there, but the depth at tight end is not unlimited.
The Hoosiers did empty the bench on Saturday and got many of the backups and even third-stringers in. Freshman Byron Baldwin made his season debut along with Davion Chandler and linebacker PJ Nelson. That is how a team builds depth and if IU wants to get to the mountain top, they’ll need that depth.