Hoosiers win opener 55-7 over Sycamores

For a moment, it appeared as if Indiana State had a chance against the IU football team Saturday.\nNot only did the Sycamores win the coin toss, but junior kicker Austin Starr’s opening kickoff went out of bounds, placing the ball on the 35-yard line. After an opening five-play drive, however, ISU’s slight elation ended when sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis and junior wide receiver James Hardy began to hook up for what amounted to be three times for 153 yards and two touchdowns. The duo led the Hoosiers to a 55-7 win and a debut victory for IU coach Bill Lynch. \n“It was a good win for our guys,” Lynch said. “It was an emotional period of time leading up to the game. These kids have really worked hard and they’ve endured a lot, but we kind of sensed all week that they were ready to play and I’m really happy for them.”\nThough there were celebrations all around after the Hoosier’s took the first step to “playing 13” – their mantra over the past two years – the team took a moment to honor late head coach Terry Hoeppner.\nIn a moving pre-game ceremony, IU President Michael McRobbie escorted the Hoeppner family to applause and chants of “Ter-ry Hoepp-ner” in honor of the Hoosier’s late coach. Following a short moment of silence, Jane Hoeppner wiped away multiple tears as she watched a video at midfield along with her family and a crowd of 34,715, highlighting the memorable moments of her husband’s two-year career at IU.\n“Before the game it was very emotional,” said senior fullback Josiah Sears. “They showed us the tape last night, so we’d be prepared for it, but it was hard not to be emotional. But you know, I knew what to expect and, personally, once the emotional part was over, it was time to play football, and you had to re-adjust your focus.”\nYet even with melancholy beginnings, it didn’t take long for the IU offense to give its fans something to cheer about.\nLewis, who completed 12-21 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns, exploited an Indiana State defense that allowed 45 points a game last season. As Lewis scrambled for yards and connected to receivers Hardy, junior James Bailey and sophomore Ray Fisher, all ISU coach Lou West could do was watch as his team fall to 1-22 since he became the head coach in 2005.\nAfter opening with a seven-play, 73-yard drive for a touchdown, Lewis decided to turn to the deep ball as he hit Hardy on a 58-yard strike to give the Hoosiers a 14-0 lead. On the ensuing drive, however, ISU scored its first and last points on a 3:08 minute drive – mostly on runs and a shovel pass – that took advantage of holes in the Hoosier defensive line to cut the deficit in half.\n“They give you a lot of different looks and do a lot of different things,” Lynch said. “But I really think (after that) our defense set the tone.”\nFollowing the Sycamore touchdown drive, Lynch’s defense did settle down. The Hoosiers sacked ISU quarterback Reilly Murphy five times for 37 yards, while forcing two fumbles and picking off two of his passes – one of which caused senior safety Joe Kleinsmith to come up limping at the end of the play. IU, on the other hand, put the ball on the ground six times throughout the game, turning the ball over once.\n“They made excellent play calls to get that drive going,” said senior cornerback Tracy Porter. “But I think our coaches countered that and they settled the defensive line down, settled the linebackers down, and they put us in the right position by making the right play calls, and we just went from there.”\nOn their first possession of the second half, Lewis and Hardy connected for their second touchdown of the night on another one-play drive. This time, however, Hardy scampered for 79 yards.\nIronically enough, Hardy said throwing deep wasn’t even a part of the game plan.\n“Actually coming into the game, we thought we were going to go all short (passes),” Hardy said. “On the film, they were playing so far back that we honestly thought there was no chance of us getting any big plays, but it ended up happening.”\nThat would be just the beginning of the Hoosier’s route over the Sycamores. Starr would connect on a 34- and 41-yard field goal, the latter coming at the end of the third quarter, while Sears rushed for a touchdown. Lewis would then rush for a touchdown, extending the lead to 38-7. By that point, Lynch had subbed in his second-team replacements to secure the victory.\nNow with a 1-0 record and an abundance of momentum, the Hoosiers will take their high-octane offense to Kalamazoo, Mich., where they will play a Western Michigan team that lost 62-24 at West Virginia on Saturday.\n“Now the Broncos really don’t have anything to watch but long plays,” Hardy said. “And we’ve been practicing with the short ones, so it’s really an advantage for us. It just happened like that.”