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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

IU run attack dominant in 49-24 win

Junior running back Tevin Coleman runs with the ball during IU's game against North Texas on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

IU faced third-and-six from the North Texas 47-yard line.

Senior running back D’Angelo Roberts got the handoff, cut up the middle and spun off a North Texas defender before carrying the ball to the end zone.

It was the longest run of his career and one of his two touchdowns Saturday.

It gave IU a 21-point advantage en route to a 49-24 win against North Texas at Memorial Stadium.

After the game, senior wideout Shane Wynn, who led all receivers with 127 yards and two touchdowns, said he saw the play only because he got caught looking in the backfield when he was supposed to be blocking his man.

“It was pretty good,” Wynn said. “I’d never do a spin ’cause I don’t know what’s on the other side of the spin move and I don’t like getting hit.”

The Hoosiers finished the game with 363 rushing yards. Roberts and junior running back Tevin Coleman carried the bulk of the yards with a combined 252 on 31 carries.

Coleman followed Roberts’ run with a 74-yard carry of his own in the fourth quarter, dragging a defender with him for the final 10 yards.

With a touchdown in the first quarter, Coleman extended his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown to 14.

It was his seventh-straight game with more than 100 yards, which leads the nation.

The way IU Coach Kevin Wilson described his team Saturday was atypical of his offense.

“The nature of this team is so run-oriented,” he said. “As we threw it, it helped the run game come.”

While Wilson has been known to run a typically pass-oriented offense, the Hoosiers are relying much more heavily on the run this year.

Saturday, the Hoosiers used their advantage on the ground to open up a passing game that couldn’t find its rhythm in a loss to Maryland last weekend.

“We have to make it hurt on the outside for the defense,” junior quarterback Nate Sudfeld said. “People are going to have to stop our run game because we got phenomenal backs and our O-line is doing a great job.”

Entering the year, Coleman said he wanted a 1,000-yard season.

Through five games, he has 841 yards.

With an average of 168 yards per game, Coleman is well on his way to surpassing that mark only halfway into the season.

Sudfeld said that while Coleman has gotten the attention, Roberts is an equally big part of the success of the run game this season.

“He’s a great player,” Sudfeld said. “He doesn’t get as much respect as he should because obviously Tevin’s a phenomenal back, but D’Angelo’s a workhorse for us, and he did a great job today.”

The win gave IU a final 3-1 record in non-conference play on the year.

The Hoosiers have yet to win in back-to-back weeks.

Wilson said Saturday was a step toward sustaining the consistency they’ve been lacking.

“We’re not going to make a big deal of going back-to-back,” he said. “We’re going to make a big deal of when you play hard, you can play with a lot of people.”

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