IU set the tone for itself on the first play of the 2019 season: junior kicker Nathanael Snyder’s opening kick sailed out of bounds, giving Ball State University an early field position advantage.
Mental mistakes quickly became a theme for the Hoosiers in their season opener. Time after time, IU shot itself in the foot on numerous occasions throughout the game.
The Hoosier defense was the main culprit. Whether it was missed tackles, penalties or coverage busts, Kane Wommack’s defense was sloppy all day. Junior defensive back Marcelino Ball made freshman mistakes with a pass interference penalty, an unsportsmanlike conduct on an extremely late hit and a use of illegal hands to the face penalty. In all, Ball piled up 45 of IU’s 65 penalty yards.
“I don’t get it,” Allen said. “It’s just stupid, selfish penalties, and that’s why I took him out and ripped his tail. We’ll have a nice little week with him for that, he’ll never do it again.”
But Ball was far from the only issue for the Hoosiers defensively. Sophomore defensive back Devon Matthews had a pass interference on a pass that was unlikely to be caught to gift the Cardinals a first down on a third and 13. Freshman linebacker Micah McFadden had Ball State's Walter Fletcher contained to a short gain; however, McFadden failed to wrap up the Cardinal receiver, and Fletcher broke the tackle and ran for a 45 yard touchdown.
“We didn’t tackle very well at all,” Allen said. "That’s the really big thing that sticks out to me. I think it was terrible.”
While the tackling was the biggest mess for the Hoosiers, the IU offense had issues as well. Freshman quarterback Michael Penix Jr. had a very impressive debut as the starting quarterback, throwing for 326 yards and a touchdown. But the freshman also threw a pair of interceptions, with the first of the two coming as a terrible decision. Penix did not have any receivers open, yet tried to force the ball to fifth year wide receiver Donavan Hale instead of scrambling or throwing the ball away, which resulted in the pick.
Penix also did not get much help from his receivers. Junior wide receiver Whop Philyor dropped a pair of passes on back-to-back plays, the first on a corner route that would have been a touchdown, the second on a slant that would have had IU convert a third and seven try. Fifth year wide receiver Nick Westbrook also dropped a deep ball that he was wide open on, that would have been at minimum a 50 yard gain and possibly could have resulted in a touchdown.
“It’s just focusing,” Westbrook said. “A lot of it was just first game. Everything was coming a little faster, and we just need to slow down as a receiver group.”
Yes, I know it’s week one. Every team is bound to have to knock off rust in the opening game of the season. Just look at the mess that was the University of Florida and the University of Miami last weekend. False starts, blown assignments and other easy miscues happen when a team plays a game for the first time in nine months. But IU had such a monumental amount of mental blunders that it would be risky to chalk the issues up as just being rusty.
“Everything today that was a mistake was correctable,” fifth year linebacker Reakwon Jones said. “We can go back and get it on film and coach the guys up. There’s going to be mistakes every game, nobody’s perfect. [We] just have to make sure guys' confidence is up and they’re ready to learn and bounce back.”
The Hoosiers were lucky their miscues did not cost them against Ball State. But if IU wants to accomplish any of the goals Tom Allen’s squad set out for this season, it will need to be a much cleaner brand of football.
