Dominant Hoosiers opener suggests times are changing
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Maybe things really are different after all. The Indiana Hoosiers opened what they hope is a statement season with a statement victory. And their three-headed quarterback monster was right in the middle of it.
The staggering numbers: 10 touchdowns, 632 total yards, 10.6 yards per pass, 5.8 yards per carry and the second-most points in school history. Oh, and 49. That’s the scope of Indiana’s improvement from its 24-point showing against Indiana State in the 2012 opener. The Hoosiers barely scraped by that night with a seven-point win. This time, it was domination.
“We got some numbers that look cool,” coach Kevin Wilson said. “We’re a young team that has a chance.”
The Hoosiers followed the pregame fireworks with a show of their own. But with a chance to match or surpass their scoring record of 76, set in 1901 against Franklin, and with some fans chanting “We want 80,” Wilson ordered Nate Boudreau to kneel three times and accept a delay of game. The Hoosiers had the mark if they wanted it. They were at the Sycamore 5. But they decided their poor opponent from the Football Championship Subdivision, who lost star running back Shakir Bell to a separated shoulder in the second quarter, had suffered enough.
In inflicting that pain, Tre Roberson took the stage first, Nate Sudfeld was a superb main act and Tevin Coleman shined in his debut as starting running back. On an 87-degree night with 45 percent humidity, the Hoosiers were the only thing hotter than the weather and made big play after big play. Steamrolling hapless Indiana State for 45 points in the first half, the most the Hoosiers have scored in a half since records were kept starting in 1949, Wilson’s crew rode an explosive offense and flying, hard-hitting defense to a 73-35 victory.
Four early touchdowns shook Indiana State’s confidence enough that the Sycamores went for it on fourth down from their own 44 – with 13:15 remaining in the second quarter. Yes, it was over that quickly.
Afterward, the quarterback quandary took another strange twist when Wilson revealed he preferred to start either Sudfeld or Cameron Coffman, and not Roberson. Early Thursday morning, Wilson deferred to an unnamed assistant who recommended Roberson.
“I voted for somebody else,” said Wilson, who was then asked which quarterback he wanted to see first. “I got vetoed. I can’t say.”
What Wilson made abundantly clear with his words is that he has no idea who starts on Sept. 7 against Navy. What his actions made abundantly clear is that Coffman is running a distant third in this strange, hazy derby. Coffman, the junior and most experienced option, entered the game last and played the least. He also performed the worst, finishing 2-of-7 for 29 yards with an interception.
Sudfeld joined the INT club – his was a pick-6, in fact – but made his misread a misnomer in the sense of his larger performance, brilliant as it was. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound talent completed 12 of 17 throws for 219 yards and four touchdowns. More than anyone else, he turned the game into a runaway.
Shane Wynn literally ran away from about everyone in blue. He scored on a 43-yard pass from Roberson in the first quarter, a 58-yard punt return in the second and a 3-yard flick from Sudfeld in the third. His night took a frightening turn with 8:45 left in the third quarter while fielding a punt. Indiana State’s Carlos Aviles leveled Wynn with a vicious hit as Wynn was crouching to catch the plummeting football. Officials deemed the act a flagrant foul and ejected Aviles.
Wilson did not see it as a dirty play, saying, “Sometimes it just happens.”
But in the second quarter, Indiana offensive lineman Jake Reed was thrown out for throwing a punch, and Wynn had burned the Sycamores all night. Several teammates felt, for one reason or another, Wynn was targeted. He required treatment after the game for an undisclosed injury sustained on the blow, which left Wynn lying on the ground for about a minute as trainers examined him.
“I was mad,” fellow wideout Kofi Hughes said. “My best friend got knocked out in front of my face. But you can’t fight them. I talked to a few Indiana State guys. They say he does that in practice. I heard they tried to hurt (Wynn) before. Seeing that I (had) no respect, man.”
Roberson worked all but the final two plays of the first quarter and never returned. Wilson said Roberson bruised a rib and was held out simply as a precaution. The ballooning lead, which reached 45 at one point, had a lot to do with that. Roberson was 3-of-6 for 71 yards and two touchdown passes. He also scrambled for 19 yards on five carries, one of those a designed rush out of a four-wide set which gained eight yards through a soft middle.
Indiana’s defense, with the exception of one series, was anything but soft and stretchy. Four sacks, seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage, a forced fumble, an interception, five passes defensed and innumerable quarterback hurries made the Hoosiers seem as fast and talented as they have in a long time. Often four or five red shirts swarmed the ball, a phenomenon Wilson cheered afterward.
Freshman T.J. Simmons started his first college game at middle linebacker, moving David Cooper to the outside, and was in on a team-leading nine tackles. Starting defensive end Nick Mangieri was credited with 1.5 sacks. Generally, Indiana state quarterback Mike Perish was under duress all night. He finished 11-for-29, threw a no-chance prayer to the right sideline that was snagged by Indiana’s Michael Hunter and nearly had another pick on a shovel pass blindly sent into a horde near the line of scrimmage.
On their second series of the game, the Sycamores moved 75 yards in 10 plays to tie the game at 7. Their next eight possessions looked like this: punt, fumble, interception, punt, turnover on downs, punt, punt, punt. Bell was hurt on a 45-yard dash, but subtracting that long run, had 68 yards on 17 carries. At 4 yards a tote, Indiana will live and let die.
Not that Wilson sang his team’s praises afterward. He griped about “a boatload of negatives” and missed tackles and freshman mistakes (Laray Smith certainly fumbled away his chance of playing meaningful snaps any time soon) but circled back around to how intensely his team competed.
“I appreciate the effort,” Wilson said. “We played hard across the board. The defense was significantly better. It was a great defensive (first) half for us. We got a really good ‘W.’”
Wilson used the opener to get nearly everyone’s feet wet. On defense especially, outside of Greg Heban’s safety spot, players came and went almost as frequently as fans in the stands, which were sparsely filled early, fairly packed around quarter two and varying degrees of vacant in the second half. The announced attendance was 40,278.
Those who stopped by saw a sleek machine, one perhaps in need of fine-tuning, but which possesses the parts to do big things.
“I like having fun,” Wilson said. “We kept saying have fun. Don’t lose focus. You mess up and everybody starts laughing at your team again, saying, ‘Here we go.’”
No one was chuckling tonight. In fact, the Hoosiers left an impression just the opposite. Hughes gave a speech before the game in which he asked, “How bad do we want it?” The Hoosiers answered that question.
At quarterback? Not so much. The suspense continues into Week 2 of the regular season.
“We’re kind of used to it,” Sudfeld said. “It’s kind of how it worked out last year with me and Cam (after Roberson was lost to a broken leg). We’re all different. When one guy’s hot, we’re going to ride the hot hand. As long as we’re winning games, we’re all for it. We trust in Coach.”
Sudfeld may be fine – for now – with mix-and-match, and both he and Coffman strongly informed Wilson they had no desire to redshirt. But eventually the Hoosiers will need to come up with a plan and stick to it. Coleman is explosive, but he can’t pull off 169 yards and two scores on 14 carries every weekend.
A small fire is starting to burn in Bloomington. For all of the improvements elsewhere on the roster, the quarterbacks are the keeper of that flame.
