I consider myself a pretty good bowler. My highest all-time score is 218. I accomplished that feat in my freshman year bowling class. To roll a score like that, everything must click. You have to find a rhythm, catch the right breaks and execute when you need to.
Like me on my best day at the lanes, Indiana football found its groove Saturday night, racking up plenty of points in a 47-15 blowout win. Rutgers, meanwhile, couldn’t buy a spare.
It was that way from the beginning.
When the Scarlet Knights took the field at SHI Stadium in their all-black uniforms with LED strobe lights flashing, the roaring, color-coordinated crowd overflowed with anticipation. They didn’t know it yet, but Rutgers had dressed for its own funeral.
Fast forward to halftime.
As both teams ran off the field to their respective locker rooms, the scoreboard read Indiana 23, Rutgers 0. “Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoosiers” chants echoed through the increasingly empty stands evident from the Big Ten Network broadcast.
Even some Indiana fans were waving bye to the defeated Scarlet Knight faithful heading to the exits. The once-energized home crowd was now completely lifeless.
It was the fourth-straight game the Hoosiers’ defense pitched a first-half shutout. In the first two quarters, Indiana held junior wide receiver KJ Duff to three catches and 63 receiving yards, while junior running back Antwan Raymond had only 29 rushing yards on nine carries.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said leading up to the contest, he didn’t know what environment the Scarlet Knights’ crowd would bring. Even with the initially raucous spectators, the Hoosiers didn’t commit a single penalty.
"That was the thing that was the unknown about this week,” Cignetti said postgame. "It was a sellout, a blackout. I was concerned about false starts, penalties. Before you win the game, you can’t lose it.”
Despite holding a 70% completion percentage heading into the contest, Indiana redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover was scrutinized for his missed throws in the first four weeks.
But in offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s run-pass option offense, the Heath, Texas, native looked much more comfortable Saturday. The Hoosiers’ offense ran 15 plays during the first two drives, throwing the ball 11 times.
Hoover felt like a point guard in basketball, spreading the ball to open players along the sideline. He completed his first 10 passes of the game for 142 yards and a touchdown.
After the first two drives, junior wide receivers Nick Marsh and Charlie Becker combined for nine catches and 140 yards. Becker also caught the first touchdown of the contest.
Cignetti said Hoover had a “lot of success” in the RPO before Rutgers changed its coverage in the second half, leading to even more explosive plays in the deep passing game.
Hoover said it was “important” for the offense to start quickly after not scoring a touchdown until the second quarter against Northwestern last week.
“I felt like I was in rhythm [the entire game],” Hoover said postgame. “Guys were making plays.”
Defensively, the Hoosiers dialed up the pressure time after time, not letting the Scarlet Knights’ trio of quarterbacks — senior Dylan Lonergan, junior AJ Surace and sophomore Sean Ashenfelder — sit in the pocket. As a result, fifth-year defensive lineman Stephen Daley had a team-high two sacks while redshirt senior Tobi Osunsanmi collected a team-high two tackles for loss alongside Daley.
Throughout the second half, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano wore the exact same blank expression on his face with his hand clamped firmly over his mouth.
Schiano was searching for any answer to what Indiana had thrown at them in the first half on both sides of the ball, but the solutions simply weren't there.
Even though Indiana’s defense allowed two touchdowns, it didn’t matter — the final score was basically a formality at that point.
Indiana’s run game poured it on during the final two quarters. Junior running back Turbo Richard had 13 carries for a career-high 204 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt senior running back Lee Beebe Jr. posted 122 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.
Indiana hasn't just established the run through two Big Ten games. It's bludgeoned teams with it. The Hoosiers have outgained their opponents 600 to 91 in rushing yards over their first two games of Big Ten play.
Well, that stat is impressive, to say the least.
In the passing game, Hoover didn’t need to be perfect Saturday. He just needed to look comfortable. For perhaps the first time this season, he did.
Hoover finished 20 for 27 in a performance that yielded 251 yards and four passing touchdowns. Two of them were to Becker. One was to Marsh. The other was pulled in by sophomore wide receiver Davion Chandler.
The Hoosiers finished with 593 total offensive yards. It was the most total yards Indiana has had against a Power Four opponent in the Cignetti era.
As seventh-year quarterback Grant Wilson took one final knee while the game clock hit triple zeros, Rutgers' blackout game was officially over. The Hoosiers had turned out the lights in Piscataway.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season
