Chappell, IU offense out of rhythm Saturday

IU’s last-ditch effort for life in the closing seconds of Saturday’s game against Northwestern proved fruitless as an onside kick by redshirt freshman kicker Mitch Ewald failed to reach the minimum 10 yards, handing possession and the win to the Wildcats.

IU senior quarterback Ben Chappell, meanwhile, took a seat at the far-right end of the offensive team bench — a hobbled left leg extended straight out. He grimaced, stared at the sky and then shook his head as fans filed out behind him.

Another loss.

Chappell finished Saturday’s game with 308 passing yards — a school-record eighth time he’s crossed the 300-yard threshold — but this was a different, no fun way to do it.

“Nah, definitely not,” Chappell said about if his performance felt like it should afterwards, shaking his head left to right with his voice trailing off.

IU (4-4, 0-4) fell 20-17 to Northwestern (6-2, 2-2) at Memorial Stadium. It was the Hoosiers’ ninth consecutive Big Ten loss.

It was the fifth time this season Chappell has thrown for more than 300 yards. IU is now 3-2 this year when the Bloomington native throws for such a number, both losses coming by a combined 10 points.

Saturday, though, didn’t look similar to the rest of Chappell’s statistics-heavy performances.

There were passes overthrown, underthrown and otherwise not easily catchable by the receivers he targeted. Statistically, Chappell recorded his most single-game incompletions of the season (24) with his second-worst completion percentage (55.6 percent) of 2010.

Only last week — he threw three interceptions and totaled 26-of-48 for a passing percentage of 54.2 percent at Illinois — was worse in the completion average department.

IU coach Bill Lynch, though, did attribute some of Chappell’s inaccuracy to the weather conditions. According to the National Weather Service, nearby Monroe County Airport listed sustained winds during the game between 14 and 17 miles per hour, with gusts reaching 25 miles per hour.

“The wind had a bearing on it,” Lynch said of Chappell’s incompletions, saying that at times the wind was swirling within the stadium. “The other thing is, they’re pretty good. In coverage, and particularly in third down, they have a really good third down package.”

Possibly waxing poetic about the Hoosiers’ consistent uphill battle during the game, Chappell said the day’s weather could have factored into his statistical performance.

“I feel like we were going in the wind the whole game,” Chappell said. “That’s just an excuse we’re not going to put out there, though. We just didn’t play well enough again
on offense.”

IU took the lead just twice and otherwise trailed for three-fourths of the contest.

Third downs proved especially difficult for the Hoosiers, as they were just six-of-16 on the conversion plays — markedly below their season average of 48 percent.

“We just got to pull it together,” junior wideout Damarlo Belcher said. “We make mistakes. At the end of the game when we’ve got to make plays, we just didn’t. That killed us.”

Belcher led the team with 11 catches for 87 yards, but he also stood helplessly nearby when Ewald’s onside attempt went out of bounds short of the 10-yard requirement.

The 17 points scored mark the third-lowest of the season for the once high-flying Hoosier offense. The offense has now piled together just 30 points in the last two losses, the lowest two-game total of the season by 14 points.

Through the first four games of the year, IU averaged nearly 40 points per game.

“Obviously, we didn’t execute,” Chappell said. “It’s just going to be a matter of going back to film and taking a look at what we’re not getting done throwing, catching, running and blocking.”

Four Big Ten games remain for IU, and the team needs two wins to become bowl-eligible for just the second time in Lynch’s tenure.

“We have to move on to the next one because that’s all we can do, really,” Chappell said.

The Hoosiers, now riding a streak of nine straight losses in conference play, meet No. 15 Iowa Saturday at Memorial Stadium.