IU falls to Ball State, 27-20

No one on the IU football team is blaming Saturday’s upset to Ball State on the element of surprise.

Players said they knew what was coming and simply were beat up in the trenches.
“They beat us up front, I guess, and they played better than us,” senior middle linebacker Jeff Thomas said. “We knew what was coming, and we prepared well. We just didn’t go out there and execute.”

Despite leading at the half, the favored Hoosiers opened the Kevin Wilson era Saturday with a 27-20 loss to the Cardinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Hoosiers were efficient during their opening drive, gaining 76 yards on 15 plays in 6:04, including five runs apiece in the IU debuts of sophomore running back Stephen Houston and redshirt freshman running back Matt Perez. Perez capped it off with a nine-yard run for a score.

After their second drive stalled, the Hoosiers again found success with speedy offense on the third drive, ending with a 65-yard bomb from sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker to senior wide receiver Damarlo Belcher for a the second score.

“It was just an all-go,” Wright-Baker said. “I see him one-on-one. It’s the best player on the field. I’m going to throw it to him.”

From that point on, the IU offense gradually slowed down. A second-quarter drive ended with a field goal in Ball State territory and would prove to be IU’s last lengthy drive until a garbage-time drive ended with another field goal.

In his first game as IU’s starting quarterback, Wright-Baker was 20-of-32 for 271 yards and a touchdown. However, he was often forced to scramble out of the pocket and misfired on several passes to slow down drives in the second half.

“I think I did well,” Wright-Baker said. “It’s my first game, my first starting game. I think I did all right. I think I can improve. Everyone can improve. I need to get the ball to Damarlo more, work on my footwork, work on fakes. I can improve on everything.”

Wright-Baker emerged from a lengthy preseason battle to start the game, but Wilson was reluctant to name him as the certain starter for the rest of the year.

“I just think the last couple weeks — with ball security, taking care of the ball, throwing it in the right place — he had just been cleaner,” Wilson said. “I think a couple times he looked the wrong way, got bluffed and took off scrambling where he didn’t need to. First true game under his belt, he’ll grow from that.

“Tre (Roberson) and Dusty (Kiel) have been doing awfully good and they’ll keep plugging and keep pushing and we’ll see how it plays out. (Wright-Baker) played tonight. I guess he’s the starter.”

Belcher noted the quarterback’s play came despite being frequently forced to run from blitzing defenders.

“The line didn’t get the block well enough,” Belcher said. “Every time I looked back he was scrambling, probably a breakdown in our line. The line’s got to give him a little bit more time to get the ball out. We need to get better at that.”

Junior center Will Matte said he thought Wright-Baker played well as the starter, but said the offensive line, including him, did not adequately protect him.

“Ed had some good poise in there, but we didn’t protect for him very well,” Matte said. “He controlled the ball game for most of it and made a great throw to Damarlo for the touchdown. We’ve just got to do a better job as an o-line.”

After IU’s initial offensive success early, Matte said Ball State brought pressure that was not unexpected but was still effective in defeating IU’s offensive line and chasing Wright-Baker out of the pocket.

“Ball State adjusted well,” Matte said. “They threw in a lot more blitzes. We had prepared for that. Honestly, it just came down to us, at least as an o-line, not doing the fundamentals that we’ve been practicing. That’s the disappointing part. It was just that simple, and we didn’t do it right.”

Most notable among the Hoosiers’ offensive woes in the second half was a fourth-and-3 situation on the Ball State nine-yard line early in the final quarter with IU trailing 24-17. Wilson elected to go for the conversion after consulting with his defensive assistants, but Wright-Baker’s pass fell incomplete.

“We can’t go out and play afraid,” Wilson said. “We can’t go out playing scared. We can’t worry about worst-case scenarios. We’ve got to be aggressive. We’ve got
to be smart.”

Meanwhile, in the second half, Ball State continued to power through the middle of the IU defense with quarterback Keith Wenning throwing for 173 yards and two touchdowns while also gaining 62 yards and an additional score with his feet.

IU will return to Bloomington for its home opener against Virginia on Saturday.

Both Wilson and his players said they remain optimistic about the rest of the season because of their offseason training, despite Saturday’s loss.

“We worked hard all summer, put a lot of work in, a lot of time,” Belcher said. “This ‘L’ don’t mean anything. We’ve just got to come back next week, get better and prepare for Virginia.”