After a somewhat shaky start, Indiana football took care of business today, outscoring Kennesaw State 35-3 in the second half to run away with a 56-9 victory. This was the kind of performance many expected to see in week one, though there’s still room for improvement.
Because I’m going to spend the rest of the blog talking about the many things that went right for Indiana, it’s worth mentioning now that the defense needs to stop giving up big plays. With the talent on that side of the ball, it’s confounding
how often it’s been happening, both on the ground and through the air.
Bryant Haines’ unit improved over the course of the season last year though, and with the offense playing like it did today, he will have time to get them right.
Here are Three Things we learned:
Fernando Mendoza
Yeah guys, he’s going to be fine.
In just a little over three quarters of action, Mendoza went 18/25 for 245 yards and four touchdowns, including three to Elijah Sarratt. More on him later. Mendoza also showed off his mobility with a 13-yard run for a first down that drew a late hit penalty and brought his brother Alberto into the game.
The biggest thing for me was how much more comfortable he looked this week compared to last week. Even when the Owls sent pressure, he was able to evade pressure and either scramble for a few yards or throw off his NFL-caliber arm.
Had the running game not also excelled today, it’s easy to see how he could have had an even more eye-popping stat-line. With the weapons that Indiana has in the backfield, Mike Shanahan simply hasn’t had to rely much on the passing game to get things done on the offensive side of the ball.
As he continues to progress within the offense and develop chemistry with his receivers, Mendoza looks poised to live up to the massive preseason hype surrounding his transfer to Indiana.
Elijah Sarratt
A big part of why Mendoza looked so good today was how unstoppable Elijah Sarratt looked against Kennesaw State’s secondary. As our friend Taylor Lehman of Bite Sized Bison pointed out, this connection was especially important early on for Mendoza:
Three of those nine receptions were for touchdowns, by the way.
What made this performance even more impressive was the lengths that the Owls were going to shut him down. He was being mugged on every route, blindsided by defensive backs well after incomplete passes, and not getting any help from the referees.
He finished the game with 97 yards on those nine receptions, and the three touchdowns to go along with it, before Mendoza eventually ventured out to his other targets.
Like Mendoza, his performance last week was somewhat underwhelming, so it was good to see him go out and show off his pre-season All-America talent to help Indiana dominate a lesser opponent.
The Running Game
Alongside Mendoza and Sarratt, Indiana’s running backs shined today, combining for 211 yards and a touchdown from Lee Beebee Jr.
As opposed to last week, when Beebee Jr. had noticeable fewer carries than his teammates, the distribution of rushing attempts between him, Roman Hemby, and Kaelon Black was more even this week. The trio had 11, nine, and 10 carries, respectively.
Beebee Jr. led the way with 90 yards and 8.2 per carry, but once again, Indiana took advantage of the fact that they have three more-than-capable backs. All three had carries of over 20 yards, and the staff was quick to sub in a fresh back when needed to continue punishing Kennesaw State’s defense on the ground.
With the passing game finally clicking and the running game continuing to keep defenses on their heels, Indiana’s offense looks set to carry the team while Haines gets his unit up to standard.
