Loneliness is generally undesirable — unless, of course, you play wide receiver.
Senior wide receiver Elijah Sarratt stood alone in the crimson-painted north end zone of Memorial Stadium before snagging his third touchdown of Indiana football’s 56-9 win over Kennesaw State University Saturday afternoon.
The 20-yard throw, delivered by redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza, capped off Sarratt’s nine-reception, 97-yard performance against the Owls.
“I was glad to see him get going a little bit,” Cignetti said in his postgame press conference. “He didn’t have a ton of catches in the first game either. So, I was glad to see him bust out and those two hook up a little bit.”
Sarratt wasn’t targeted a single time during the first half of the Hoosiers’ 27-14 win over Old Dominion University on Aug. 30. However, he had nine targets in the first half against Kennesaw State.
The Hoosiers’ game plan was clear — get the ball into their best players’ hands. Due in large part to the improved play of their quarterback, it worked.
While Mendoza’s stat line — 18 of 25, 245 yards and four touchdowns — won’t break any records, his complete performance showed just how high Indiana’s offensive ceiling is.
“All these new quarterbacks, they build on their successes early in the season,” Cignetti said. “You win, they play well, they build on it. Same thing happened last year with Kurtis.”
Former Hoosier quarterback Kurtis Rourke transferred from Ohio University to play under Cignetti last season. Despite a mediocre opening performance, he quickly became comfortable in offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s scheme and led Indiana to a College Football Playoff berth while earning second-team All-Big Ten honors.
Mendoza — a University of California, Berkeley, transfer — had an equally underwhelming Hoosier debut by failing to record a single touchdown through the air in last week’s win over the Monarchs.
Still, if Rourke’s progression is any indication, Indiana has incredible potential with Mendoza leading the charge. That’s especially evident when dissecting what he did so well against Kennesaw State.
Rourke’s success came when he learned to trust the players around him to make big plays. Mendoza did just that against the Owls and the Hoosiers scored eight touchdowns.
“They’re fantastic athletes for a reason,” Mendoza said about his receivers. “I’m just trying to be a point guard of that offense, passing the ball, and give all of our great playmakers and offensive line a fantastic chance to win.”
Sarratt headlined the receiving core with his three-touchdown performance, but redshirt junior Omar Cooper Jr. and sixth-year redshirt senior E.J. Williams Jr. were similarly productive. Cooper took a well-designed reverse handoff 75 yards to the house in the third quarter and Williams scored his first touchdown since Dec. 19, 2020, with an eight-yard reception early in the fourth quarter.
“We’re getting better each and every day,” Cooper said. “Just making sure that when we practice we’re always on the same page, getting the relationship with the quarterback better so that we can continue growing.”
As Mendoza’s relationship with his receivers grows stronger, Indiana’s offensive ceiling grows taller.
The former Golden Bear’s first passing touchdown with the Cream and Crimson came late in the first quarter on a back-shoulder fade to Sarratt right in front of a roaring student section — a throw where timing is key. Those types of throws were routine in the Hoosiers’ air attack Saturday afternoon.
“We really put in that extra work to get that timing,” Mendoza said. “Really had more intentionality this week.”
In addition to the passing game, Indiana’s ground attack improved upon its already impressive week one performance. Eight different Hoosiers carried the ball a combined 39 times and produced 313 rushing yards. Redshirt junior running back Lee Beebe Jr. led the way with 11 carries for 90 yards.
The run game ultimately opens up the field for Mendoza and company to take shots on explosive plays. Without a run game, Indiana won’t have success in the air. Fortunately for the Hoosiers, they lead the Big Ten in rushing yards through the first two weeks of the season.
“All those guys are capable, and it starts up front with the tight ends and then the receivers too,” Cignetti said. “Those guys run hard and break tackles, and it just helps when you can be balanced on offense and run it and throw it.”
Indiana’s offense totaled 593 yards against the Owls, 313 of those were on the ground and 280 came through the air — about as balanced as balanced can be.
Although the dominating display of offense produced a lopsided final score, the Hoosiers certainly made mistakes.
Early in the second quarter Mendoza overthrew freshman receiver Lebron Bond on a bootleg that would’ve given the speedster a field of green grass to work with. On Indiana’s first drive of the second half, Mendoza was nearly intercepted after forcing the ball to a double-covered Sarratt.
Those are mistakes the Hoosiers can afford to make against Kennesaw State, a luxury that won’t exist against high-end conference opponents. Still, the positives that can be taken out of a 56-9 win far outweigh the negatives.
It’s a result that will have many Hoosier fans relieved after a less-than-convincing win against Old Dominion one week ago. That same feeling does not apply to Indiana’s second-year head coach who shared some behind the scenes on his gameday routine following the win.
“I'm never relieved,” Cignetti said. “I'm going to be relieved when I go up in my office and crack a beer. But on the field, I'm never relieved because you've got to keep the pedal to the metal. You're trying to really teach habits, right? And how you do something is how you do everything, and you're either improving or you're getting worse.”
Against the Owls, Mendoza and Indiana’s offense took a big step forward — its ceiling continues to grow.
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.
