Takeaways, Running Game Shine in Victory
9/23/2017 10:19:00 PM | Football
By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana's Hoosiers know how to play those "Statesboro Blues."
That's the sorrowful 1928 composition by Blind Willie McTell. And the leadoff track for the 1971 Allman Brothers classic live album, "At Fillmore East."
And perhaps the state of mind for Georgia Southern's Eagles after a long, hot football Saturday.
Georgia Southern was dispatched back to Statesboro after absorbing a 52-17 shellacking during which the host Hoosiers scored the first 31 points.
It's sometimes tough to accurately gauge results from an apparent mismatch, in terms of where the Hoosiers truly stand at 2-1 after waxing a winless foe.
But this was as dominant an overall performance as Indiana has posted in quite a while – perhaps since a 73-35 romp against Indiana State in 2013 (though the visiting Sycamores at least scored their share of points).
And some aspects of it definitely stood out.
IU tallied in all three phases of the game, with J-Shun Harris II's 70-yard punt return accounting for the Hoosiers' second TD and cornerback Andre Brown Jr.'s 22-yard strip-and-score creating their last.
Indiana's offense scored five TDs and had already amassed 401 total yards with 10:42 left in the third quarter while building a 45-7 bulge.
Then offensive coordinator Mike DeBord basically, and understandably, put the ball in deep-freeze and chilled for the duration.
The IU defense, which terrorized the Eagles early, sprang a few leaks after a while as it rotated personnel liberally. But it also created its first three takeaways of the season, causing and recovering a pair of other fumbles to go with Brown's play.
Perhaps the biggest revelation was a previously lackluster Hoosier running game clicking for 282 yards, 186 supplied by Morgan Ellison, the fourth-highest total Indiana ever for a true freshman.
Coach Tom Allen said IU missed on a linebacker while putting together its 2017 recruiting class and decided to fill that spot with Ellison, who had sustained broken legs both his sophomore and junior years of high school.
"We felt like he was a big body that you could utilize and said, 'He, if he's not a running back, he could be a linebacker,' " Allen recalled post-game. "That was our thought process. (And) I wanted to see what he could do healthy.
"… But he came into camp with an edge about him and a mindset about him and really, from day one, has been a guy (who) really was a better player than I thought. Sometimes you take a chance on a kid and he ends up being a special one. So I think he's going to be that kind of guy."
IU quarterback Richard Lagow concurred. "He wants to be great, which is awesome," Lagow said of Ellison. "He's so physical at a young age. A lot of guys aren't wired like that, especially coming straight out of high school."
And IU is obviously happy to again deploy Harris as a punt returner again after he missed both of the past two seasons with ACL knee injuries. He and Rob Turner are the only Hoosiers ever to have punt-return TDs in back-to-back games.
Harris' 44-yard scoring return was part of a superb special teams day in the 34-17 win Sept. 9 at Virginia, and special teams had another very solid showing Saturday.
It wasn't particularly a day to evaluate IU's quarterbacking situation, other than to say the status quo seemed fine.
Fifth-year senior starter Lagow had a misfiring first series but then settled in nicely. He finished 8-of-13 for 130 yards and a TD. The score was a 71-yard bomb to tight end Ian Thomas with 14:21 left in the third to make it 45-7 – during which Lagow took a low, late hit to his legs that drew a flag and ended his day.
Allen said Lagow, had it been deemed necessary, could have returned to action.
But redshirt freshman back-up Peyton Ramsey also threw for a TD and, as the more mobile runner, it made sense for him to stay in with IU wanting to keep the ball on the ground and run clock for the balance of the second half.
And Allen was concerned by what he felt was a somewhat "sloppy" finish.
"I've got a headache right now because I was on edge the whole game," Allen said, warming to the topic. "I do not want us ever to let up. I know that's the temptation. That's what teams do – teams that aren't mature and can't handle leads do that.
"I want these guys to finish. If the situation doesn't draw it out of you, you have to draw it out of yourself … that's what great teams do. They perform to their standard. If you can't play to our standard, we're going to run right over you. That's what I want. We haven't always done that in the past."
But, with a few imperfections, especially late, that is still essentially what Indiana did Saturday.
And while Georgia Southern entered 0-2, that was the first time the Eagles had started that way in 23 years. They have a proud program, counting six NCAA Division II national titles between its inception in 1982 and its shift to Division I play.
But Saturday became a blowout. And stayed a blowout.
IU did what good Big Ten teams are supposed to do when presented with a home field mismatch against a Sun Belt foe:
Make the opposition sing the blues.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana's Hoosiers know how to play those "Statesboro Blues."
That's the sorrowful 1928 composition by Blind Willie McTell. And the leadoff track for the 1971 Allman Brothers classic live album, "At Fillmore East."
And perhaps the state of mind for Georgia Southern's Eagles after a long, hot football Saturday.
Georgia Southern was dispatched back to Statesboro after absorbing a 52-17 shellacking during which the host Hoosiers scored the first 31 points.
It's sometimes tough to accurately gauge results from an apparent mismatch, in terms of where the Hoosiers truly stand at 2-1 after waxing a winless foe.
But this was as dominant an overall performance as Indiana has posted in quite a while – perhaps since a 73-35 romp against Indiana State in 2013 (though the visiting Sycamores at least scored their share of points).
And some aspects of it definitely stood out.
IU tallied in all three phases of the game, with J-Shun Harris II's 70-yard punt return accounting for the Hoosiers' second TD and cornerback Andre Brown Jr.'s 22-yard strip-and-score creating their last.
Indiana's offense scored five TDs and had already amassed 401 total yards with 10:42 left in the third quarter while building a 45-7 bulge.
Then offensive coordinator Mike DeBord basically, and understandably, put the ball in deep-freeze and chilled for the duration.
The IU defense, which terrorized the Eagles early, sprang a few leaks after a while as it rotated personnel liberally. But it also created its first three takeaways of the season, causing and recovering a pair of other fumbles to go with Brown's play.
Perhaps the biggest revelation was a previously lackluster Hoosier running game clicking for 282 yards, 186 supplied by Morgan Ellison, the fourth-highest total Indiana ever for a true freshman.
Coach Tom Allen said IU missed on a linebacker while putting together its 2017 recruiting class and decided to fill that spot with Ellison, who had sustained broken legs both his sophomore and junior years of high school.
"We felt like he was a big body that you could utilize and said, 'He, if he's not a running back, he could be a linebacker,' " Allen recalled post-game. "That was our thought process. (And) I wanted to see what he could do healthy.
"… But he came into camp with an edge about him and a mindset about him and really, from day one, has been a guy (who) really was a better player than I thought. Sometimes you take a chance on a kid and he ends up being a special one. So I think he's going to be that kind of guy."
IU quarterback Richard Lagow concurred. "He wants to be great, which is awesome," Lagow said of Ellison. "He's so physical at a young age. A lot of guys aren't wired like that, especially coming straight out of high school."
And IU is obviously happy to again deploy Harris as a punt returner again after he missed both of the past two seasons with ACL knee injuries. He and Rob Turner are the only Hoosiers ever to have punt-return TDs in back-to-back games.
Harris' 44-yard scoring return was part of a superb special teams day in the 34-17 win Sept. 9 at Virginia, and special teams had another very solid showing Saturday.
It wasn't particularly a day to evaluate IU's quarterbacking situation, other than to say the status quo seemed fine.
Fifth-year senior starter Lagow had a misfiring first series but then settled in nicely. He finished 8-of-13 for 130 yards and a TD. The score was a 71-yard bomb to tight end Ian Thomas with 14:21 left in the third to make it 45-7 – during which Lagow took a low, late hit to his legs that drew a flag and ended his day.
Allen said Lagow, had it been deemed necessary, could have returned to action.
But redshirt freshman back-up Peyton Ramsey also threw for a TD and, as the more mobile runner, it made sense for him to stay in with IU wanting to keep the ball on the ground and run clock for the balance of the second half.
And Allen was concerned by what he felt was a somewhat "sloppy" finish.
"I've got a headache right now because I was on edge the whole game," Allen said, warming to the topic. "I do not want us ever to let up. I know that's the temptation. That's what teams do – teams that aren't mature and can't handle leads do that.
"I want these guys to finish. If the situation doesn't draw it out of you, you have to draw it out of yourself … that's what great teams do. They perform to their standard. If you can't play to our standard, we're going to run right over you. That's what I want. We haven't always done that in the past."
But, with a few imperfections, especially late, that is still essentially what Indiana did Saturday.
And while Georgia Southern entered 0-2, that was the first time the Eagles had started that way in 23 years. They have a proud program, counting six NCAA Division II national titles between its inception in 1982 and its shift to Division I play.
But Saturday became a blowout. And stayed a blowout.
IU did what good Big Ten teams are supposed to do when presented with a home field mismatch against a Sun Belt foe:
Make the opposition sing the blues.
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