Running wild

On Aug. 6, IU senior offensive lineman Isaac Sowells did something his head coach didn't appreciate. He guaranteed an IU win over Kentucky.\n"I told him not to do that again," IU head coach Terry Hoeppner said. "Unless you can back it up."\nSowells and the Hoosiers did exactly that Saturday, rushing for more than 300 yards and passing for four touchdowns en route to a blowout win over interstate rival Kentucky, 38-14. \nThe game marked the Hoosiers' second victory over the Wildcats in their last 11 tries, and their first since 2001. \nIU's formerly one-sided offense added the benefit of an explosive running game and capitalized on the balanced approach.\nSowells said his team was out to make a statement. \n"People said that we couldn't run the ball," the Louisville, Ky., native said. "We wanted to come out and commit to doing that this game, and we did."\nIU wasted no time establishing itself on the ground, as senior running back Chris Taylor set the Hoosier tone early with several long runs. He finished the first quarter with 91 yards rushing and had 155 by the end of the first half, \nalready setting a career high. \nTaylor credited the offensive line with providing generous running room. \n"Every time I looked up for the hole, it was huge," he said. "I could find it every time and get through it right away." \nWhile Taylor ate up yardage on the ground, sophomore quarterback Blake Powers used play action, finishing two drives with touchdown passes to his two tight ends, junior Matt O'Neal and sophomore Nick Sexton.\nPowers added two more touchdown passes in the second half, finding redshirt freshman James Hardy for the fourth time this year, and hitting freshman Brandon Walker-Roby on a lob in the corner of the end zone. \nThe spread system continued to benefit the young quarterback, allowing him to complete passes to seven different receivers Saturday. His touchdowns brought his total to 11 through the first three games of the season. By contrast, IU's former quarterback, Matt LoVecchio completed 13 all of last season. \n"We have a very talented receiving corps," Powers said. "Our weakness was running the ball, and we came out and did that. It just shows that when you get better every day, good things will happen."\nHoeppner was equally approving of his developing quarterback.\n"Blake is really improving every week," Hoeppner said. "He's really turning into a good quarterback." \nHaving exorcised their Kentucky demons, Hoeppner and his squad will look toward a bye week for rest, relaxation and studying. \n"We've been going hard since August," Hoeppner said. "This week we're going to hit the books and get healed up, and do some recruiting"