After Southern Illinois’ 49-yard field goal was blocked on the opening drive, the Hoosiers pushed their way on a seven-play drive to the 13-yard line.
This put the team in prime position for a pass from their returning senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld, possibly to a 6-foot-5 tight end or 6-foot-4 receiver in the back of the end zone.
But they didn’t put the ball in Sudfeld’s hands.
Instead, they handed it off to sophomore running back Devine Redding, who found a seam between the left tackle and guard and trotted his way untouched into the endzone for an early 7-0 lead.
“I was just thinking, ‘Score. Score. Score,’” Redding said.
Suddenly, the ground attack became a reoccurring theme for the Hoosiers, as they went on to defeat the Salukis 48-47.
Jordan Howard rushed for the Hoosiers’ next two touchdowns, from 23 yards and four yards respectively, before IU finally scored through the air on a 57-yard pass to junior wide receiver Ricky Jones in the third quarter.
In fact, IU scored all four of its red zone touchdowns on the ground, two for each back, and Howard’s final touchdown run, a walk-in from one yard out, gave IU the lead 48-41 late in the fourth quarter.
“We started out fast, and I kind of got into a rhythm,” Howard said, “They brought me here for a reason. I just wanted to pay them back.”
Howard, a UAB transfer who came to IU after the Blazers’ program was shut down, rushed for the 13th most yards in the nation in 2014 with 1,587, and Saturday was his first game in a Hoosier uniform.
Redding, a third string running back for the Hoosiers in 2014, found himself as the most experienced back on the roster coming into 2015, after Tevin Coleman and D’Angelo Roberts left the program.
Howard took 20 rushes for 145 yards and three touchdowns, while Redding added 16 carries for 57 yards and two touchdowns.
“The inside zones and the stretches were working,” Howard said. “The o-line was really good, the tight ends, and the receivers with the downfield blocks.”
The stretches, the areas between the tackles and guards on both sides of the offensive line, were the main point of attack in the first half for the Hoosiers in the running game.
IU ran for 113 yards with three rushes longer than ten yards in the first and second quarters.
Once Sudfeld found his stride in the second half, though, passing for 219 yards in the second half, compared to his 130 yards in the first half, the running game found the center of the line of scrimmage open.
The Hoosiers ran for 133 yards in the second half behind Sudfeld’s passing game and two deep passes of 57 yards and 71 yards to Jones.
“They were running some weird, funky defenses,” Sudfeld said about the first half. “If you want to be a good team, though, you have to learn to adjust on the fly.”
Redding and Howard were not the only players carrying the ball on the ground though.
Sudfeld, who missed more than half of 2014 with a shoulder injury, ran five times for 46 yards, including 44 yards in the second half and one fourth-down conversion.
“I thought about it for a second on the first one,” Sudfeld said about his carries. “They hit my left shoulder. I should never do that again, but I was glad I got it out of my system.”
The one-two punch of Redding and Howard will be a significant asset for the team this season, Sudfeld said, and the team as a whole will improve before week two.
“That was a good football team,” Sudfeld said. “You always make the most improvement between game one and game two, and I really believe in that theory. I think there’s a lot to learn from, and we will very much improve.”
