No. 22 Indiana football is set to host Indiana State University with an opportunity to finish non-conference regular season play with a 3-0 record for the second consecutive year at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers defeated Old Dominion University and Kennesaw State University in weeks one and two, respectively. Despite the pair of victories, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti expressed areas of improvement for his team, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
“But we missed tackles at linebacker more,” Cignetti said Monday. “We had some misfits. Safeties were out of position quite a few times. Got to get lined up quicker. Communication has got to be cleaner. There needs to be a little bit more attention to detail in our preparation in the back end.”
Indiana looks to clean up these errors as it prepares to face Indiana State, a team that has averaged 39.5 points per game across its first two matchups, tying for 12th in the FCS.
Despite winning just four games in 2024, the Sycamores have opened this season with a 2-0 record in head coach Curt Mallory’s ninth campaign with the program.
Mallory is the son of former Indiana head coach Bill Mallory, who led the Hoosiers to 69 wins across 13 seasons at the helm from 1984-1996, making him the all-time winningest coach in program history.
Indiana State redshirt sophomore starting quarterback Elijah Owens suffered a collarbone injury in the team's 38-14 victory over Eastern Illinois University on Sept. 6, and will rejoin the program later in the season, Mallory announced Monday.
With the loss of Owens, redshirt junior quarterback Keegan Patterson is set to start for the Sycamores on Friday.
Patterson filled in for Owens following the injury that occurred in the second quarter against Eastern Illinois, completing 11-17 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Patterson also led the Sycamores in rushing with 78 yards on the ground.
After sitting out his entire freshman campaign at the University of Southern California, Patterson transferred to Northwest Mississippi Community College in 2023.
In his lone season at Northwest Mississippi C.C., Patterson led the team in passing with 1,983 yards and 14 touchdowns across nine games. However, he struggled in limited playing time in his first season with Indiana State last season, completing 6-9 passes for just 12 yards.
On Sept. 8, Indiana State redshirt senior defensive lineman Logan Wilson earned Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. Wilson controlled the line of scrimmage, recording nine tackles, three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks against Eastern Illinois.
Wilson and the Sycamore defense look to slow down an Indiana rushing attack that has been one of the best in the nation so far this season.
In their first two games, the backfield trio of redshirt seniors Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, and redshirt junior Lee Beebe Jr. has propelled Indiana to 311 rushing yards per game, which ranks third in the nation.
“I feel like it definitely reflects the work we’ve put in,” Hemby said Tuesday. “It's still early, there's still a lot of things we haven’t been able to do that we’re still working to get. It shows the grit and the resilience that we kind of have as a room. We put one each other in positions to be successful.”
Indiana also carries momentum in the passing game heading into its matchup against the Sycamores following its 56-9 win over Kennesaw State on Sept. 6. The victory moved the Cream and Crimson up one spot in the Associated Press’ college football rankings.
Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns in his second regular season game as a Hoosier. The University of California, Berkeley transfer showcased improved chemistry and timing with his receivers after failing to throw a touchdown in his Indiana debut.
Indiana State and Indiana first faced off against each other on Sept. 13, 2003, in Bloomington, where the Cream and Crimson notched a 33-3 victory. Friday’s game presents the seventh meeting between the interstate colleges, with the Hoosiers owning a 6-0 record in the all-time matchup.
Indiana aims to continue this trend in its final non-conference game of the regular season, with an opportunity to begin conference play boasting a 3-0 overall record. The game will be streamed on the Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
