IU football: Three quick reasons why the Hoosiers beat Kennesaw State 56-9

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana defeated Kennesaw State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium by a final score of 56-9

Below are three quick reasons why the Hoosiers won, along with highlights and final stats. For Curt Cignetti postgame, GO HERE.

Indiana (2-0) will host Indiana State on Friday.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the game from The Daily Hoosier.

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THREE QUICK REASONS WHY INDIANA WON

1. Fernando and Sarratt find a rhythm, another 300 yard rushing game. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza completed 18-of-25 passes for 245 yards and four touchdowns. Nine of his completions, 97 of the yards, and three touchdowns went to veteran star receiver Elijah Sarratt. Neither player had a big performance in week one, but both were on point as the IU offense got things rolling. In total the Hoosiers amassed 593 yards, and for the second straight week they went over 300 yards rushing. Lee Beebe, Jr. led the way with 90 yards, and four players had at least 57 on the ground.

2. The defense gets penetration. There were some shaky first half moments for the IU defense as KSU kicked field goals on three straight first half drives, but the Hoosiers never let Kennesaw State in the end zone. Indiana was able to stop most of the Owl drives by forcing negative plays. In total IU had 14 tackles for loss, led by Kellan Wyatt and Aiden Fisher with 2.5 apiece. The Hoosiers also had two sacks and two takeaways.

3. Much better in the red zone. The story of week one was Indiana’s inability to finish drives once they got inside the opponent’s 10-yard line. There were no such struggles on Saturday. Indiana was a perfect 7 of 7 with seven touchdowns in the red zone on Saturday. They scored a total of eight touchdowns on 12 drives, including scores on five straight drives in the second half to put the game away. IU had six drives of 63 yards or more.

HIGHLIGHTS