Indiana University Athletics
IU Football Notables
10/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 10, 2005
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Coming off its first Big Ten victory under head coach Terry Hoeppner, Indiana (4-1, 1-1) heads to Iowa (4-2, 2-1) on Saturday, Oct. 15. Kick off is set for 11 a.m. CDT on ESPN Plus Regional at Kinnick Stadium (70,397).
The Hoosiers earned their first Big Ten win of the season with a 36-13 trouncing of Illinois. Sophomore quarterback Blake Powers threw four touchdown passes against Illinois, raising his season total to 18, and moving him past Antwaan Randle El into first on IU's all-time list of single-season touchdown passes.
• Wide receiver James Hardy is a leading candidate for Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. The 6-7 redshirt freshman, who is also a walk-on forward on the IU basketball team, has caught 34 passes for 541 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He has four 100-plus yard receiving efforts in his first five games, and he is the first IU wide out since All-American Ernie Jones (1987) to catch at least one touchdown in the first five games of a season. Hardy has four 100-plus yard receiving games in his first five contests. He is the first Hoosier receiver since Courtney Roby (2002) to have four 100-plus yard receiving efforts in a season. Since 1980, no IU wide receiver has had more than seven 100-plus yard receiving efforts in a season (Ernie Jones, 1987). In fact, here is a breakdown of the single-season century mark receiving efforts in a game since 1980:
7 - Ernie Jones , 1987 (four 100-plus yard efforts in his first six games)
5 - Thomas Lewis, 1993 (four 100-yard plus yard efforts in a six game stretch from 9/24-11/12)
4 - James Hardy, 2005 (four in his first five games)
4 - Kenny Allen, 1985 (three in his first four games)
• Among the 22 NCAA Division I-A football programs that made coaching changes prior to the start of the 2005 season, Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner is currently one of three with at least four victories.
Urban Meyer, Florida 5-1
Terry Hoeppner, Indiana 4-1
Charlie Weis, Notre Dame 4-1
Les Miles, LSU 3-1
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State 3-2
Kyle Whittingham, Utah 3-3
Bill Cubit, Western Michigan 3-3
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina 3-3
Entering the 2005 season, only six players on the Indiana roster (Jahkeen Gilmore, Rhett Kleinschmidt, Chris Rudanovic, Josiah Sears, Chris Taylor and Yamar Washington) had ever caught a pass in a college game, a collective total of 76 receptions.
Through the first five games of this season, true freshman Brandon Walker-Roby (3), redshirt freshmen James Hardy (34), James Bailey (12) and Marcus Thigpen (11), redshirt sophomore Nick Sexton (2) and juniors Matt O'Neal (4) and Ryan Skelton (2) already have 78 receptions among them.
