How Did Indiana's 2016 Opponents Fare in Week One?

WrittenBy T.J. Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Ball State – 31 – Georgia State – 21

IU’s week two opponent got new head coach Mike Neu off to a winning start in Muncie with a strong second-half performance that led to a 31-21 victory over the Georgia State Panthers. The two sides clashed on Friday night in the Georgia Dome and the Cardinals outscored Georgia State 17-7 in the final 30 minutes to come out on top. Riley Neal struggled, throwing for just 130 yards on 15 of 29 passing with two interceptions, but the running game dominated the day for the Cardinals. BSU’s James Gilbert had 29 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns as they pounded the Panthers for 325 yards on 52 carries. In total, Ball State held the ball for almost 36 minutes (nearly 12 minutes more than GSU) and out-gained the Panthers by nearly 200 yards. The Cardinals had the 105th rushing attack in the country a season ago so it will be interesting to see if this was a one-game fluke or if the BSU running game can give IU problems this Saturday.

Wake Forest – 7 – Tulane – 3

The Demon Deacons offense struggled mightily in 2015 but there were hopes that 2016 would be a different story. If week one was any indication, those hopes are to be dashed and history will repeat itself for the Wake Forest “attack”. Taking on Tulane, under new head coach Willie Fritz, the Demon Deacons mustered only 175 total yards (96 passing and 79 rushing) and only ten first downs. Thankfully for them, the stellar defense did a nice job against the Green Wave and Wake Forest avoided an early “Fritzmas” and escaped with a narrow win. Tulane was only 3-9 a season ago and their defense was near the of the S&P+ rankings so Wake’s offense struggling is not a good sign for there to be a turnaround this season. The Demon Deacons will battle the Duke Blue Devils this week and we’ll see if week one was a minor hiccup in the offense’s transformation or if they are due for another season of, well, offensive offense.

Michigan State – 28 – Furman – 13

IU’s opening Big Ten opponent, the Michigan State Spartans, were by no means dominant in their Friday night opener but they were certainly good enough to get a comfortable 28-13 victory over the FCS Furman Paladins. Michigan State outgained the Paladins 361 to 226 yards but time of possession was nearly identical, the Spartans only had one more first down and MSU wracked up ten penalties for 120 yards. New starting quarterback Tyler O’Connor threw for 190 yards and three touchdowns. In 2015, the Spartans mostly split carries between LJ Scott, Madre London and Gerald Holmes. For at least one night, LJ Scott appears to have taken over as the primary back, garnering 20 carries (for 105 yards and a touchdown) as London only got five and Holmes didn’t receive any. 

Ohio State – 77 – Bowling Green – 10

Yikes. It didn’t take long for the Ohio State Buckeyes to find their footing. Remember, Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes returned only six starters from 2015’s team and they are plugging in a bunch of underclassmen. It was unclear how long it would take them to gel and get used to the college game. Apparently, it took about two minutes of game time as Ohio State exploded for 77 points in a dominant performance over Bowling Green. J.T. Barrett had 349 yards and seven touchdowns and the Buckeyes outgained the Falcons 776 to 244. That’s right, 776 yards! New running back Mike Weber had 136 yards on 19 carries and playmaker Curtis Samuel showed he was ready for his increased role, gaining 84 yards with a score on the ground and 177 receiving yards with two touchdowns. 

Nebraska – 43 – Fresno State – 10

IU’s homecoming opponent overcame a bit of a sluggish start to eventually wallop the Fresno State Bulldogs 43-10. The game was the first since the tragic death of punter Sam Foltz and the Huskers honored him throughout the evening’s proceedings. The most emotional moment of the night came after the Cornhuskers first three and out as Nebraska lined up with ten players and no punter. The play clock wound down and the Huskers took an intentional delay of game penalty to honor the late Foltz as the crowd in Memorial Stadium rose and applauded. Fresno State, for their part, declined the penalty.

It’s difficult to take much from such an emotionally charged evening but Nebraska’s second half was rather impressive. Fresno State’s running game was woeful in 2015 (117th) and the Huskers pounded away for 292 yards on the ground. Devine Ozigbo had 103 yards on 17 carries (with two touchdowns) and Tommy Armstrong had a few more called running plays than he did a season ago. The Huskers threw the ball only 13 times on the night.

Northwestern – 21 – Western Michigan – 22

This was one of the more entertaining games of a thrilling opening weekend of college football. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Western Michigan Broncos forced a late fumble near the goal line and Northwestern was one of only two conference teams to exit the weekend 0-1. Clayton Thorson and the Northwestern offense got off to a rousing start, driving right down the field and scoring a touchdown on their opening drive. Thorson appeared more comfortable and confident and it seemed the Wildcats may actually have a legitimate offense. However, the attack never really replicated the success of their first drive consistently and Thorson was unable to stretch the field with any deep passing threats. Justin Jackson ran the ball for 124 yards and three touchdowns plus 47 receiving yards and Austin Carr looked like a solid receiving threat but the lack of big play receivers is a huge problem. The defense didn’t look as dominant as they did last season and Western Michigan’s balanced attack (198 rushing and 218 passing) kept the ball for nearly 40 minutes and put up 416 yards of total offense. The Broncos were 4-for-4 on fourth down.

The game was decided when Clayton Thorson scrambled to the outside and attempted to score a go-ahead touchdown on a scramble. He was hit at the one and the ball squirted out and bounced into the end zone. Safety Davontae Ginwright recovered the loose ball and bizarrely attempted to throw it back into the field of play but he was ruled out of bounds and Western Michigan took over possession. It was only one week but the Wildcats looked quite vulnerable.

Maryland – 52 – Howard – 13

DJ Durkin’s Maryland tenure got off to a bright start as the Terrapins shellacked the Howard Bison, 52-13. The Terps spread the wealth around, rushing the ball 44 times for 315 yards but with no player getting more than nine carries. Maryland went ahead 35-0 at the half and never looked back as they cruised to the victory. We’ll know a bit more about this team (and about IU’s week one opponent) as they travel to Florida International for a Friday night battle against the Panthers.

Rutgers – 13 – Washington – 48

Besides Northwestern, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights were the only Big Ten team to lose in week one. In Chris Ash’ first contest as the head coach at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights were put to the sword, 48-13, at Washington. The hyped Huskies were ahead 24-0 after one quarter and 34-3 at halftime as they rolled up 380 yards. A couple of positives for the Scarlet Knights: they ended up with 33 minutes of possession and they were only out-gained by 76 total yards as they threw for 168 yards and ran for 136 yards. However, a 5-20 performance on third down and three turnovers, prevented Rutgers from making any kind of game of it in Seattle. The first win for Chris Ash should come this Saturday as Rutgers takes on Howard.

Penn State – 33 – Kent State – 13

The Penn State Nittany Lions and head coach James Franklin absolutely had to win this one and they did enough to take care of the Golden Flashes, 33-13. Kent State came into this game returning nearly as much experience as anyone in the country. However, they had one of the worst offenses in 2015 and they aren’t expected to be a whole lot better on that side of the ball in 2016. The Flashes had 279 yards of offense (129 passing, 150 rushing) as Mylik Mitchell and Justin Agner split time at quarterback but a trio of Kent State turnovers prevented the MAC school from threatening PSU. 

New starting quarterback Trace McSorley was only 16-31 for 209 yards but he made smart reads and didn’t turn the ball over. Saquon Barkley had 22 carries for 105 yards but no other running back had positive yards on the day (only Andre Robinson even received a carry). The Nittany Lions take on the Pitt Panthers in a very interesting rivalry game this coming Saturday at noon.

Michigan – 63 – Hawai’i – 3

Can we take anything from this? Michigan is vastly superior to the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors plus the visiting team was drained after a trip to Australia. The Wolverines rolled them up 63-3 and it could have been whatever Michigan wanted it to be. Wilton Speight got the start at QB and went 10-13 for 145 yards with three touchdowns and one interception (Shane Morris went 4-4 and John O’Korn 3-3). Former Ben Davis Giant, freshman tailback Chris Evans, was the leading rusher on the day as he gained 112 yards on eight carries with two touchdowns. No Wolverine had more than nine carries and eleven UM players registered carries in the box score. Michigan had 512 yards to Hawai’i’s 232 yards.

Purdue – 45 – Eastern Kentucky – 24

Wins haven’t come often for Darrell Hazell at Purdue so a victory, even one over an FCS opponent in which the Boilermakers surrendered nearly 400 yards, is worth celebrating for Purdue fans. The Eastern Kentucky Colonials put themselves in a hole right away with a couple of costly turnovers and they would end up with four giveaways at the end of the day. Purdue’s offense was very effective, gaining 512 yards against the Colonials outgunned defense. David Blough was 25-43 for 245 yards and Markell Jones carried the ball 24 times for 145 yards with a touchdown. Brian Lankford-Johnson emerged as a potential change-of-pace, big-play running back and the Boilers have some good options at receiver with “Domo” Young, Cameron Posey and DeAngelo Yancey but the defense is a concern because EKU moved the ball really well and should have had another 7-10 points. We’ll soon know much more about whether or not Purdue has made improvements as they take on Cincinnati this Saturday at noon.