A win is a win

With both the season and home openers in the past, IU managed to find one more first for the Kevin Wilson era Saturday afternoon: a win.

The Hoosiers emerged victorious for the first time in 2011, defeating South Carolina State 38-21 at Memorial Stadium to give Wilson his first victory as a college head coach.

“It feels good to get that first win,” sophomore wide receiver Kofi Hughes said. “Hopefully it’s just going to jump start more wins to come.”

IU never trailed in the game and led by at least 10 points for 54:20 of the contest.
Despite the score, the Hoosiers’ performance was marred by a team-record 20 penalties. Wilson said he is not necessarily discouraged by the seemingly careless nature of the team’s play.

“You could pull up a lot of conference champions that have 12 penalties because they’re aggressive, they’re assertive, and things just happen,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to be that way. I’m not justifying it. I’m not condoning it.”

Many of the penalties were false start calls on IU offensive linemen, particularly senior left tackle Andrew McDonald and freshman right tackle Peyton Eckert.

Eckert was one of three true freshman to start on the offensive line Saturday for the Hoosiers, joining guards Bernard Taylor and Collin Rahrig.

“As we got into Tuesday, we thought those guys were playing harder so we went with them, and as we went through the week they actually practiced even better as they saw that they were going to play, and the other guys didn’t respond well,” Wilson said. “It’ll be interesting to see again if a guy’s got some fiber and a guy’s got some pride. He’ll come back scratching and fighting.”

One notable penalty not on the offensive line was an intentional grounding penalty on sophomore quarterback Dusty Kiel in the fourth quarter that cost the Hoosiers 12 yards on second down. The drive did not get better, with an incomplete pass and then a punt.

Though Kiel played several plays, sophomore Edward Wright-Baker started for the third consecutive game.

Statistically, it was his strongest effort as quarterback — completing 21 of 27 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns. The first of Wright-Baker’s touchdowns was a 30-yard strike to sophomore wide receiver Duwyce Wilson.

“I did better in the first half — throwing the deep ball, getting it up to Duwyce on the fade and the post route,” Wright-Baker said. “There is still a lot to improve on, but the game is getting slower to me now.”

Duwyce Wilson finished with six receptions for 101 yards to lead the team.

On the ground, true freshman running back D’Angelo Roberts ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

“My line did very well, so everything was in place, and I just did what I needed to do with the ball,” Roberts said. “I just felt comfortable out there. Everything started kicking in together, and everyone meshed together as a team. We just worked from there.”

On the third-quarter touchdown drive that ended with a seven-yard Roberts run for a touchdown, the Bloomington North High School product carried the ball on eight of the drive’s 10 plays for a total of 47 yards.

“He has some energy,” Coach Wilson said. “He does have a lot of fire, and he does have a lot of passion. He’s a tough dude, and that’s something we need, and it’s nice to see him transfer that into some plays.”

Coach Wilson viewed the first win for the new coaching staff as a useful benchmark that proves the team is on the right path.

“To get some Saturday reward is something deeply needed, and so hopefully that will continue,” he said. “You keep trying to go to the well and ask them to keep working hard and have a great attitude and coming to work. When you have a couple of hiccups and end up on the wrong side of the ledger, you worry about that in the coaching
transition.”