Hoosiers click after early stumbles, beat WKU

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- A speedy start gave way to a brief sense of concern on the IU sideline before the Hoosiers righted the ship and cruised to a 38-21 victory Saturday night at Western Kentucky after a 16-day layover from the season opener.

"You can practice all you want," IU head coach Bill Lynch said. "But it's different when you play the game."

Senior quarterback Ben Chappell passed for three touchdowns and a career-high 366 yards on 32 completions, and added another score when he dove into the end zone for his seventh career rushing touchdown in the third quarter.

It was the quarterback's fourth career 300-yard game through the air, and moved him to sixth on IU's all-time passing yardage list with 4,504 yards.

"It was good. Coming in to the game, we thought we would be able to throw it on them," Chappell said. "We executed the passing game."

A big reason for Chappell's aerial success was his ability to find his receivers. Most notable was junior Damarlo Belcher, who used his six-foot, five-inch height advantage to pull down several passes over a WKU secondary that lacked any player over six feet tall.

"They've got trees over there, and we've got grass," WKU first-year head coach Willie Taggart said of the height differential.

Belcher caught a touchdown pass early in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7, and finished with a career night both in catches (10) and total yards (135). His 100th career catch in an IU uniform also translated to the first time he crossed the 100 yards gained as a Hoosiers.

"That was definitely the game plan," Belcher said of the height advantage. "We were going to make them stop us. We practiced it all week."

The return of junior Tandon Doss to the Hoosier wide out corps proved productive on the very first play. Receiving the opening kickoff at the goal line, Doss quickly found a seam through the middle and bolted downfield until he was tackled out of bounds at the WKU 13 yard line -- an 87-yard return that put the Hoosiers in scoring position nearly immediately.

Two plays later, though, a botched handoff between Chappell and junior running back Darius Willis fumbled the ball into the arms of WKU defensive end Quanterus Smith. The Hilltoppers, charged with momentum from the play and playing in front of the second-biggest crowd in stadium history, then marched down field on the back of star running back Bobby Rainey.

Ten plays, 91 yards and 4:45 later, Rainey scored on an 11-yard rush -- one of six carries the running back had on the drive in which he totaled 62 rushing yards -- to light the scoreboard in the Hilltoppers favor.

The next possession for IU managed more yards, but redshirt freshman kicker Mitch Ewald missed on a 38-yard field goal attempt. WKU, though, drove just 10 yards before punting away again to Chappell and company.

This time, they wouldn't look back -- scoring 31 consecutive points before WKU scored on a Rainey rush to start the fourth quarter. Rainey, after the strong 62-yard effort on the ground on the Hilltoppers' first drive, would manage just 43 more yards the rest of the game. It was enough to give Rainey his third consecutive 100-yard rushing game of the young season.

Comeback hopes were dashed, however, as the once-packed stadium began to empty following Chappell returning to the field to lead the offense on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that cumulated in a Nick Turner 24-yard run to the end zone.