Indiana University Athletics
INDIANA DEFEATS BALL STATE, 21-9
9/4/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Contact: Todd Starowitz, Football Media Relations Director
September 4, 1999
INDIANA DEFEATS BALL STATE, 21-9
Indiana University opened the 1999 football campaign in Bloomington today with a 21-9 victory over Ball State before 32,727 fans at Memorial Stadium. Indiana lead 21-0 at halftime but Ball State scored nine unanswered points in the second half. The victory was the Indiana's fifteenth consecutive win in a home opener dating back to 1984.
The Antwaan Randle El-Versie Gaddis combination was the deciding factor for the Hoosiers as the two combined for two touchdowns, the latter a Memorial Stadium record-breaking 81-yard touchdown pass. Gaddis, a junior wide receiver from Atlanta, Georgia, finished the game with three catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns. Randle El, the 1998 Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Year, rushed 22 times for 118 yards and one score and completed nine of 12 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns.
Indiana opened the scoring late in the first quarter when Randle El capped of a ten play, 80-yard, drive with a five-yard touchdown run with 2:20 remaining in the first quarter. Sophomore tailback Levron Williams (4-33-21LG) got Indiana into scoring position when he found the open field off a Randle El handoff and scurried 21 yards down the field to the Ball State 35-yard line. True freshman Jeremi Johnson would answer with a big play of his own when he made his first collegiate reception, a 10-yard pass across the middle from Randle El, on a third-and-four play to prolong the drive.
Indiana would increase its lead to 14-0 with 5:00 minutes remaining in the second quarter when Randle El threw a 21-yard bullet to Gaddis. On the second play of its next drive, Randle El scrambled to his right a found Gaddis along the sideline and Gaddis ran away from the defender to tally on an 81-yard reception. The pass completion was the longest in Memorial Stadium history.
Ball State would score twice in the second half. The Cardinals cut the lead to 21-3 with 1:47 remaining in the game when K Kevin Williams connected on a 34-yard field goal to cap a 10-play, 53-yard, drive. With 8:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, quarterback Brian Conn 9(30-17-149-2-1TD) found Jermaine Jordan for a four-yard touchdown pass. After an Indiana fumble, Ball State started a drive its own 42-yard line but Conn was intercepted by redshirt freshman DE Derek Barnett at the IU-37. Barnett was playing in place of senior defensive end Adewale Ogunleye who had left the game with an ankle injury. The game came to a close with Indiana on the Ball State five-yard line.
Junior defensive tackle Paul Mandina paced the Indiana defense with three sacks.
Game Notes:
Indiana is now 76-38-7 in opening games and is 26-14 in openers at Memorial Stadium. Indiana has won its last 15 home openers.
Versie Gaddis' 117 receiving yards was a career high. He had touchdown receptions of 21 and 81 yards.
The 81-yard pass play from Randle El to Gaddis is the sixth longest pass play in IU history.
Randle El's 118 rushing yards was the fifth time has has surpassed the century mark in his career.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Todd Starowitz, Football Media Relations Director
