Coffman, passing offense shows improvement

Even with the losses during the past two weeks to Big Ten opponents, sophomore quarterback Cameron Coffman has displayed two very difference performances.

At Northwestern, Coffman completed 13 of 23 passes with 109 passing yards and one interception.

During Saturday’s loss to the Spartans, the Peculiar, Mo., native completed 33 for 48 with 282 passing yards and three touchdowns.

Yet the defenses Coffman played against hadn’t been accustomed to giving up statistics like these during this season.

The Wildcats are last in the conference in pass defense, giving up an average of 288 yards per game.

The Spartans ranked fourth, allowing 186 yards per game.

At Ryan Field against Northwestern last week, IU Coach Kevin Wilson pulled Coffman in favor of freshman quarterback Nate Sudfeld during the second half.

This was not the case against the Spartans, as Sudfeld didn’t play.

“The only reason we went with Cam was that he was slightly better on Wednesday and Thursday,” Wilson said.

But even though Coffman showed improvement in his stats from last week, he, along with the IU offense, fell off during the second half Saturday.

During the first half, Coffman completed 23 of 30 passes along with three touchdowns.

On the Hoosiers’ first drive of the game, Coffman and the offense marched down the field 75 yards on seven plays, capping it off with a 19-yard touchdown pass to junior running back Stephen Houston.

After a four-and-out drive, Coffman responded on the next drive and left junior kicker Mitch Ewald a 32-yard field goal to increase IU’s lead to 10.

“We got in a rhythm offensively, a rhythm play of calling,” Wilson said. “We were attacking, and there was some energy.”

The Hoosiers had possession of the ball four more times in the half, scoring on three of them for 17 more points to boost their halftime lead to 13 at 27-14.

The second half was a different story.

“We hit a couple of shots in the first half, and we just didn’t make them in the second half,” Coffman said.

IU failed to score during the final 30 minutes, as Coffman completed 10 out of 18 passes for a total of 26 passing yards.

But even with his struggles, Coffman showed that against the higher ranked Spartan pass defense, he has made some improvements this season.

“We just need to keep chipping away, keep getting better every single day at practice, and it’s going to happen,” Coffman said.