Indiana football cruised to a 52-14 win in its season opener against North Texas this past Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.
Savor it. For the first time in months, we have real deal football to talk about instead of transfer portal rankings, incoming recruits and all the other offseason hallmarks that keep the conversation going until gameday. With that spirit, here’s a handful of stats that jumped off the stat sheet when I took a peek at the box score.
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I’m a bit surprised at just how much Indiana ended up targeting Becker.
Becker led Indiana in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, making the kind of acrobatic, improbable catches he’s become known for in the process. He’s an outstanding receiver whose skill makes that volume understandable, but I’d figured going into the game that Indiana would hunt for looks from down further on the depth chart.
Nick Marsh brought in just a pair of receptions for 17 yards and an incredible one-handed touchdown grab, but I’m not too surprised at that. He’ll be working his way into a new role at Indiana and I wouldn’t be at all shocked if it takes a bit of time for him to see more targets.
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LeBron Bond, one of the younger members of the room, saw no catches while Davion Chandler hauled in a long one for 42 yards and a score that drew Cignetti’s ire when he spiked the ball after running through the endzone. There’s plenty of time to go in non-conference play, but I’d expected to see more out of those two early.
Think of Becker as something of a guarantee. You know exactly what you’re going to get and he was a go-to option at the most dire moments last season. He wasn’t a bread-and-butter type guy and was usually the big play option to punish defenses that committed too much to stopping the run, something North Texas did.
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I’m really interested to see his usage through the rest of non-conference play.
North Texas actually outgained Indiana on the ground, 152-134, with the Mean Green keeping drives going while generating more than a few explosive plays through the run.
That’s not to sound alarmist or anything, I don’t think it’s cause for concern at all. It felt like North Texas was playing to maximize possessions and hold onto the ball on offense while trying to keep Indiana’s running game from generating consistent, efficient gains on defense.
It’s a surprising stat because it’ll stand out on a stat sheet and, naturally, get blown up by people who didn’t watch the game. It’s not concerning because, while North Texas succeeded in the sense that it gained plenty of yards, it still got blown out despite playing to not have that happen.
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Indiana kept running into that North Texas run defense because it could and it all left room for Josh Hoover to tee off on the Mean Green secondary.
This, like the above instance, is another case where the stat is surprising but still unconcerning.
Indiana’s vaunted defense brought Tayven Jackson to the turf just once when Tyrique Tucker overpowered his blocking and surged into the backfield.
