Report Card: Up-and-down Hoosiers back up against Connecticut

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Taking care of business was the goal in the nonconference portion of Indiana’s football season, and that’s exactly what the Hoosiers did Saturday in beating Connecticut 38-3 at Memorial Stadium.

The Hoosiers are on to their conference schedule now, winning all three of their nonconference games over Ball State, Eastern Illinois and UConn. The last two were by a combined 90-3 score. This was a nice bounce-back after the blowout loss to Ohio State, and my grades reflect it.

Here’s how the Hoosiers graded out in my fourth Report Card of the season:

Rushing offense: B-plus

Indiana’s offense has been struggling to run the ball so far this season, but it showed a noticeable improvement Saturday against UConn. The Hoosiers had a season-high 178 yards on the ground, averaging 4.5 yards per carry.

Stevie Scott led the way with 97 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown. Considering Scott only had 118 yards total in the first three games, this was nice to see. Still no explosive plays from Scott, though. His longest run was only 10 yards.

Passing offense: B

Peyton Ramsey got the call at quarterback for the second straight week with Michael Penix Jr. still out with an injury, and he played much better than he did a week ago in the loss to Ohio State. He was 23 of 27 passing for 247 yards and 3 touchdowns, finding Whop Philyor, Ty Fryfolge and Nick Westbrook for scores.

The passing game was effective all day, which is evident from Ramsey’s 85.1 completion percentage. The only blemishes were a fumble by tight end Peyton Hendershot early in the first quarter and a fourth-quarter interception by Ramsey. Two turnovers in a game is never good.

Rush defense: A

Indiana came into the game looking to clean up some of its run fits and work hard to wrap up better on tackles, and it did exactly that. UConn rushed for only 51 yards on 22 carries, a very impressive 2.3-yard average. Reakwon Jones and Jamar Johnson led the way with six tackles each.

After getting gashed by Ohio State, it was nice to see Indiana bounce back so well and win those battles in the running game.

Pass defense: A

Indiana always preaches turnovers, but they’ve been hard to come by so far this season. That changed a little big Saturday when Cam Jones picked off a pass from UConn quarterback Jack Zergiotis and returned it to the house for a 44-yard touchdown. That’s the type of play they’ll need to continue to make once the Big Ten season kicks in.

UConn attempted 30 passes, but gained only 94 yards through the air, which is impressive. A lot of that was because of all the pressure the defensive front delivered, the best heat they’ve shown all year. That, too, needs to continue.

Special teams: A-minus

Special teams weren’t very busy on Saturday, but they were solid after having a bad game against Ohio State. Logan Justus made his only field goal (27 yards), and Hayden Whitehead’s only punt went for 57 yards.

Coaching: A

What you want to see after a bad loss is your coaching staff fixes what ails you. Indiana did that on Saturday, and did it well. The running game was much better, and tackling was better, too.

What I liked most was using Ramsey in a more effective way to take advantage of his skill set. Indiana fell behind early last week by taking shots deep down the field, which isn’t Ramsey’s game because he doesn’t have a strong arm and he’s not all that accurate on long balls. But the short stuff was great Saturday, and IU’s receivers are good after the catch. It was a good adjustment by offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer.

Intangibles: A

Not a lot to say in a 35-point rout, but since it was coming off a bad loss, it was nice to see the Hoosiers play with a lot of intensity and emotion. They took care of business in the nonconference, winning all three games, and now it’s time to go win some conference games.

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