Run game a bright spot in loss to Wisconsin

The potent Wisconsin offense came out strong against IU, jumping to a 28-0 lead halfway through the second quarter.

But when sophomore running back Stephen Houston received the ball on his 10th carry of the day, he saw a hole and ran through it.

“I just run,” Houston said. “After I got past the safety, I just had tunnel vision. It was like a dog chasing me. I wasn’t planning on getting caught.”

The Badgers couldn’t catch Houston, and he rumbled 67 yards to what would be IU’s lone score in its 59-7 loss in Madison, Wis.

Houston finished the game with 135 rushing yards, the most of any IU running back this season.

Houston said he had been frequently missing holes prior to that run, but it was clear to teammates, such as Kofi Hughes, Houston was running hard all game.

Hughes said Houston has made strides in the last two weeks of practice.

“I was kind of the same way,” Hughes said. “We couldn’t really get Stephen to really practice hard, and I wasn’t really practicing hard. In the past two weeks, we’ve been practicing hard, and I think you see in the game that Stephen is obviously taking over.”

Houston was the standout on the offensive side of the ball, but the running game as a whole showed progress in front of 80,732 fans on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.

Helped by Houston’s big run, the Hoosiers ran for 163 yards in the first half, more yards than they had amassed in the first two games of Big Ten season combined.

The final total was 223 yards on the ground, the most IU has had against a Division I-A opponent this season. The Hoosiers ran for 257 against South Carolina State.

They played against a Wisconsin defense that allowed just 103.2 rushing yards per game this season prior to the IU game.

“By far, this was the offensive line’s best week,” Houston said. “I give the offensive line all the credit, because if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have even gotten to the linebackers.”

Along with the play of the offensive line, the offensive coaching staff threw a bit of everything at Wisconsin. IU Coach Kevin Wilson has had the offense practicing a diamond formation in which there are four players in the backfield.

“We probably caught them a little off guard as far as lining up,” Wilson said. “Houston ran really well and followed his pads. I thought the line came off the ball a little bit better.”

Even though using the formation again might not catch future opponents by surprise, Houston said to look for it in coming weeks.

“Coach Wilson put it in, and we just ran with it,” Houston said. “It works, for the most part. We’ve just got to trust it more and critique it more. After that, it will become part of our regular run game.”

Another new aspect of the run game was Hughes coming onto the field as a quarterback in a Wildcat-type formation. Hughes, who played quarterback for Cathedral High School in Indianapolis,  ran the ball seven times for 31 yards
Saturday.

Improvement might have occurred in terms of the rushing attack, but players and coaches said they aren’t satisfied, especially after a 52-point loss.

“My standards are very high as an individual, and I have standards high as a teammate,” Houston said. “I’m nowhere near where I want to be, and I know the team is nowhere near where we want to be.”