Just like a closer in baseball, short memories are essential to kickers. \nAfter having two PATs blocked in the first half of Saturday's 39-20 victory over Western Michigan University, sophomore kicker Austin Starr forgot about them.\n"You have to put it behind you," Starr said. "If you dwell on it, it'll mess you up the rest of the game. You're only as good as your last kick."\nAs a freshman in the 2005 season, Starr played in all 12 games for IU but only as a kickoff specialist. He averaged 57.2 yards on 40 kickoffs.\nThis season, Starr is kicking field goals along with kickoffs after last year's kicker, sophomore Joe Kleinsmith, moved to defensive back in the offseason.\n"Last year, doing kickoffs helped me get into the game mentally because I got playing time and built some experience," Starr said. "This season, I'm happy to be doing kickoffs and field goals."\nIn Saturday's win, Starr was perfect on two field goal attempts, from 28 and 27 yards, while also hitting three of five PATs.
Bennett's big play\nSenior receiver Lance Bennett and junior cornerback Tracy Porter made it look easy. \nIn the third quarter of Saturday's win, Bennett fielded a Western Michigan punt, and while many fans were focused on a flag downfield, the senior handed off the ball to Porter.\nBennett said in order to execute the handoff, he had to focus and take the play as it came.\n"If you try to rush the handoff sometimes, you're not focusing on catching the ball," said Bennett. \nWestern Michigan limited Bennett to 2 yards on two punt returns and 18 yards on two kickoff returns, but his biggest contribution was the handoff.\n"They were just trying to keep good field position," Bennett said. "I don't know if they were avoiding me (getting the ball). They were just trying to avoid any big return."
Hep asking for more offense\nEven with three offensive touchdowns and more than 300 yards of total offense, IU coach Terry Hoeppner wants to see more out of his offense. \n"We need to make more big plays," Hoeppner said in his weekly press conference Tuesday. "We didn't make the big plays on offense Saturday night."\nWhile the defense contributed to the scoring effort, the offense made several key plays of its own.\nThe Hoosiers made several key plays in their offensive drives, including a 34-yard strike from quarterback Blake Powers to sophomore receiver James Hardy and a 30-yard touchdown hookup between backup quarterback Graeme McFarland and runningback Marcus Thigpen.
