Kellen Lewis plays well in fresh start

All Western Kentucky saw was a blur. All the Hilltoppers heard from the Memorial Stadium crowd was a joyous celebration.

Kellen Lewis was back.

“Butterflies in my stomach,” Lewis said after the game. “It’s kind of the same feelings I had last year, but it’s kind of magnified.”

The junior quarterback, who was suspended from the team for several months after breaking unspecified team rules, took the field Saturday and with two spectacular touchdown runs removed any questions as to why he was given the starting job over sophomore Ben Chappell.

But Chappell was not the only IU quarterback Lewis sprinted past Saturday. With Lewis’ second-quarter connection to junior wide receiver Ray Fisher, the quarterback surpassed Hoosier great Antwaan Randle El for most touchdown passes in school history with his 43rd career aerial strike.


      SLIDE SHOW: IU vs. Western Kentucky


Lewis finished the game completing 17-of-27 passes with two touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for 185 yards and two more scores, good enough to award him co-Big Ten Offensive Player of Week honors — the fifth time he’s earned that distinction in two years.

Lewis’ versatility adds another dimension to his team’s offense, said IU coach Bill Lynch.

“One of the things that he does is third-down situations, where if something breaks down he has the ability to make something happen,” Lynch said.

But that didn’t surprise him.

“It’s not like he burst on the scene today,” Lynch said. “He’s been a pretty good player.”

Within a matter of minutes of the start of IU’s first football game, Lewis made his presence known. Unable to move the Hoosiers in three plays during their first possession, Lewis put together another three-play drive four minutes later — except this one was capped with a 75-yard sprint to the end zone.

“He’s pretty quick,” Lynch said. “He hasn’t been caught too often.”

Two drives later, Lewis led the Hoosiers on an 85-yard drive that took four minutes to complete, when he hit Fisher on the record-breaking score. He added one more passing touchdown when he connected with freshman Damarlo Belcher in the third quarter.

With Lewis in the game, Western Kentucky looked confused defensively. While having to stop the running backs and the passing game, the Hilltoppers had to keep looking out of the corner of their eyes to make sure Lewis stayed in the pocket.

Sure enough, when they took their eyes off him for the second time, he made them pay.

Recognizing the Hilltoppers were playing the pass and only using three down linemen, Lewis audibled the pass protection at the line of scrimmage. The junior signal caller didn’t even drop back - he didn’t have to. Lewis immediately ran to his right, past his offensive line and 62 yards later, he had his fourth touchdown of the day.

Lewis saw the Hilltoppers had loaded up the left, so he made one cut to his right and sprinted past the defensive line.

“You’ve just got to run as fast as you can after that,” he said.

Not bad for a player who little more than a month ago wasn’t even on the team.

“I felt like I had been away from football for two years,” Lewis said. “I had a very rough off-season, obviously. But today, we just went out there and played pretty hard.”