BLOOMINGTON — In a matchup with an FCS opponent, anything less than domination for Indiana football would’ve been considered problematic.
So IU’s 73-0 victory over Indiana State on Friday at Memorial Stadium is less a historic, eye-popping display, and more a team taking care of business as expected. This game looked like a matchup between varsity and JV, but that’s how a contest between the No. 22 team in FBS and an FCS team — aside from a select few, perhaps — is supposed to look.
IU head coach Curt Cignetti used Friday to continue preparing his players mentally for the start of Big Ten play.
“The message today to the coaches and the team: Mental intensity and urgency equals energy,” Cignetti said after the game. “We wanted to play one play at a time like it was a game on the line, regardless of the competitive circumstances. But urgency and mental intensity. And that it would come from the coaches. If it came from the coaches at all times, the players would feed off of it. So I think we got better week two, (and) I think we got better week three.”
Indiana (3-0) did rack up some gaudy numbers along the way to the big win. The Hoosiers out-gained Indiana State 680-77, and picked up 33 first downs. The defense totaled 16 tackles for loss, with 12 different players contributing, and allowed the Sycamores (0-2) to convert only five first downs — they didn’t move the chains for the first time until late in the second quarter.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza lit up the Sycamores to the tune of 270 yards on a 19-for-20 clip, with five passing touchdowns; the Cal transfer also rushed for 19 yards and a touchdown on six attempts. Wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. had a career day, with 10 receptions for 207 yards and four touchdowns, tying a program record for single-game receiving touchdowns.
But this game was just as much about Cignetti and his staff continuing to drill his aforementioned mentality into his players as it was about anything on the stat sheet. That’s what games like this are for.
“I think when (Cignetti’s) talking about maturity like that, I think it’s not seeing a bunch of teeth on the sideline, a bunch of smiling and things like that, especially while we’re up. Just staying tuned into the game, honed in, locked in the whole game,” defensive end Kellan Wyatt said. “The start of the season is where you try to ingrain stuff like that.”
But now, the real tests begin for Indiana. The non-conference tune-up games are out of the way. No. 9 Illinois comes to Bloomington in a week, and none of IU’s dominance on Friday is predictive of anything for that matchup.
Cignetti liked the attitude he saw from his Hoosiers against Indiana State. Their 77-3 victory over Western Illinois last year set the table for the strong run they made the rest of the season.
The Illinois game will be the first opportunity for this IU team to show if this blowout win should be viewed similarly.
“I thought we did tonight what we wanted to do, and I was pleased to see that. And I didn’t see anybody relaxing at any point in the game, coaches or players,” Cignetti said. “Coaches could use a day off. They’ll get one tomorrow. Players will get an extra day and then we’ll pick it up for the next one.”
Extra points
- Running back Lee Beebe Jr. exited the game in the third quarter with an injury, limping off with a trainer into the medical tent and then the locker room. Cignetti said the redshirt junior suffered a non-contact injury, and the program will know more information about his status on Sunday or Monday.
- Redshirt senior Zen Michalski started at right tackle over Kahlil Benson, who’d started the first two games for IU. The sixth-year returned to the starting offensive line for the second half, however. Cignetti said Benson was unavailable for the first half due to a “violation of team rules and regulations.”
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