Although IU won through four quarters, 36-22, the team put up just 439 yards with no touchdowns from the backfield, after scoring five last week.
At halftime, IU was down by one point, trailing FIU 14-13, even though it had recorded 254 total yards, while FIU had 165.
“We sputtered a little bit past the 50,” senior quarterback Nate Sudfeld said.
Through the third quarter, Sudfeld and the offense had crossed midfield eight times and only scored on four drives, as they missed a field goal, punted, turned the ball over on downs and threw an interception — all in FIU territory.
And two of the four scoring drives ended in field goals inside the 20-yard line.
The Hoosiers made some poor calls on third down opportunities, IU Coach Kevin Wilson said, which caused a lot of the sputtering, but Wilson took responsibility for the stalled drives.
“We moved the ball really well,” Sudfeld said. “It was just execution. Most of the time the plays were great. We just need to make plays as players, and that’s something we can really clean up.”
IU started every drive of the first half in its own territory and did not force any turnovers, but it crossed midfield four times, racking up yardage and burning time off the clock. The second half, however, was a different story.
The defense forced three turnovers, two fumbles and an interception returned for a touchdown, sparking the advantageous field position and momentum the IU offense needed to finish its drives in scoring fashion, as it scored 20 of its 23 second- half points off of turnovers.
“Turnovers is one thing because our turnover ratio has never been, in my three or four years here, very good,” Wilson said. “Turnovers are big plays, and they’re huge in games, but right now we’re fortunate to be on the right side for two weeks.”
Highlighting the turnover plays was freshman cornerback Jameel Cook’s interception.
As FIU was driving in the fourth quarter with the score 29-22, IU found itself in a position similar to last week, when the Hoosiers allowed the Salukis to score a touchdown late in the game and go for a two-point conversion.
FIU was facing fourth-and-goal on the two yard line when quarterback Alex McGough took the snap, ran from pressure and threw a pass right into Cook’s arms. He took the ball 96 yards for a touchdown, the fourth-longest return in school history, and gave the Hoosiers a 14-point lead, which sealed the fate of the game.
“We came out, pocket got some penetration, couldn’t get the ball off and we just tried to make a play,” FIU Coach Ron Turner said. “They made a better play on it than we did.”
Repeating his efforts from last week, junior running back Jordan Howard ran for 159 yards on 27 carries, averaging 5.9 yards per carry in a matchup containing the strength of the FIU defense, stopping the run.
In their upset victory over Central Florida in week one, the Panthers allowed just 46 yards on 30 carries as a team, but they allowed nearly that many yards in one of Howard’s runs, as his longest was 32 yards.
“Coach has us write goals down for every week,” Howard said, “and my goal was to just stay consistent.”
Howard has shown his consistency by running for more than 100 yards in his last six games and for the 13th time in his career Saturday, and by running for 15 more yards this week against a tougher rushing defense.
Though he did not score a touchdown against FIU, Howard had 10 rushes for more than five yards, all but three being outside of the red zone.
“I knew what they were coming with since I’ve played them twice before,” Howard said about FIU. “I kind of knew what to expect.”
Once again, Sudfeld spread the ball around to eight receivers against FIU, but the leading receiver wasn’t junior Ricky Jones. It was senior tight end Michael Cooper, who caught three balls for 66 yards.
The only touchdown thrown wasn’t to Jones either.
It was to junior receiver Mitchell Paige, who caught his first touchdown of his career.
“The O-line did a great job,” Sudfeld said. “I had all day to throw. But we are very deep, and there are guys who could get more touches in their own right. We’re going to keep spreading it around.”
Even though it took three quarters to finish drives consistently, the Hoosiers have combined for 1,034 yards and 84 points in their first two weeks and are now 2-0.
“I thought our guys played hard, a good win,” Wilson said. “I think that’s a really good defense.”
