Indiana bounced back in a big way after a opening loss to Iowa, taking down Idaho at home 56-14.
The Hoosiers move to 1-1 with a matchup against a top-10 Cincinnati team next week.
Below are the full game notes.
TEAM
• The Hoosiers and Vandals met for the first time.
• Tonight marked IU's first meeting against a Big Sky Conference foe.
• Indiana has won seven of its last eight home games, including an unblemished 3-0 mark in 2020, and are 8-2 at Memorial Stadium since the start of 2019.
• The Hoosiers are 44-18 in Memorial Stadium openers with wins in 18 of their last 20 and 35 of their last 40.
• IU is 15-8 since the start of the 2019 season.
• Indiana head coach Tom Allen reached career-win No. 25 in his 48th career game. He is the third-quickest coach in program history to 25 wins, trailing only James M. Sheldon (40 games) and James H. Horne (46 games).
• The Hoosiers scored 56 points, tied for the 10th-most points scored in a single game in program history. IU last posted 56 points in a 56-36 victory over Purdue on Nov. 30, 2013.
• The 42-point margin of victory is the largest for an Indian team since the Hoosiers shut out Eastern Illinois, 56-0, on Sept. 7, 2019. The win is the third under Allen of 40-plus points.
• Sophomore Javon Swinton recorded a receiving and blocked punt return touchdown, the first Hoosier since Mitchell Paige (punt return, receiving) against Western Kentucky on Sept. 19, 2015, to reach the end zone on special teams and offense.
• Idaho won the coin toss and elected to receive.
• The team voted wide receiver Ty Fryfogle, tight end Peyton Hendershot, linebacker Cam Jones, husky Marcelino McCrary-Ball, linebacker Micah McFadden, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. season captains.
OFFENSE
• Graduate transfer Stephen Carr (USC) posted his first 100-yard rushing game as a Hoosier and the second of his career with 118 yards on 22 carries (5.4 average) and one touchdown.
• He posted Indiana’s first touchdown of the season on a 2-yard rush in the first quarter. It marked Carr’s first TD as a Hoosier and the 13th of his career.
• IU’s first touchdown drive covered 18 plays, the team’s longest since a 19-play drive against Murray State on Sept. 6, 2008.
• Redshirt junior Michael Penix Jr. went 11-of-16 for 68 yards with a pair of passing scores and a 1-yard rushing touchdown, the fifth of his career. He moved into a share of 10th on the school’s career passing TD list with 27.
• Penix improved to 11-3 as a starter, recorded his eighth career multi-passing score game, and his fourth with at least one passing and one rushing touchdown.
• Sophomore tight end AJ Barner hauled in his first career touchdown on a 76-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter. The scoring play was the first 70-yard receiving touchdown for the Hoosiers since Nick Westbrook corralled a 75-yard touchdown on Aug. 31, 2019 against Ball State.
• Senior wide receiver Ty Fryfogle hauled in his first TD of the year with a 9-yarder in the second stanza. Fryfogle made five receptions for 29 yards and shares 10th on the program’s career receiving scores list with 14.
• Sophomore Javon Swinton recorded his first career touchdown, a 9-yarder, in the opening quarter. He finished with three receptions for 33 yards.
• Redshirt junior running back Davion Ervin-Poindexter totaled three carries for 17 yards and his first career rushing TD.
• Junior Matthew Bedford made his first career start (17th overall) at right guard.
• Redshirt senior offensive tackle Caleb Jones made his 20th career start.
• Graduate transfer wide receiver Camron Buckley (Texas A&M) made his first career start at Indiana and fifth overall.
DEFENSE
• Senior linebacker Micah McFadden forced a fumble on his first sack of the season (8.5 career) and graduate transfer defensive tackle Weston Kramer (NIU) recovered it in the first quarter to give Indiana a takeaway in 38 of their last 41 games, and 17 of their last 18.
• Kramer’s recovery was the first of his career.
• Senior linebacker Cam Jones added the Hoosiers second sack of the night, his first of 2021 and the sixth of his career. He finished the night with five stops.
• Junior cornerback Tiawan Mullen led the Hoosiers with a career-best nine total tackles. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native also set a career-high with seven solo stops.
• Redshirt senior husky Marcelino McCrary-Ball recorded five tackles, while graduate transfer Ryder Anderson (Ole Miss) tallied four stops and a TFL, the third of his Hoosier career and 18th of his collegiate career.
• Redshirt sophomore safety Josh Sanguinetti made his first career start. He made three tackles and broke up one pass in his debut start.
• Junior defensive tackle Demarcus Elliott made the 20th start of his career.
• Senior safety Raheem Layne made the 15th start of his career.
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Indiana recorded a blocked punt return and a punt return for a score, marking the first time the Hoosiers have scored a pair of special teams touchdowns in a game since Sept. 20, 1969, at Kentucky (2 punt returns).
• Redshirt junior defensive back Noah Pierre blocked a punt and sophomore wide receiver Javon Swinton picked it up and scored from four yards out to put the Hoosiers up 21-0 in the first.
• It marked the program’s first blocked punt return for six points since Buster Larkins (37 yards) at Michigan on Sept. 27, 2003.
• Sophomore tight end AJ Barner added a second blocked punt in the fourth quarter, which redshirt junior running back Davion Ervin-Poindexter recovered.
• IU’s last blocked punt came from former defensive tackle Jerome Johnson in the 2021 Outback Bowl on 1/2/21.
• Graduate transfer D.J. Matthews Jr. (FSU) collected his first punt return touchdown as a Hoosier and the second of his career, from 81 yards, to cap the team’s scoring in the first half. The 81-yarder is the 10th-longest in program history.
• Redshirt junior kicker Charles Campbell converted all six of his PAT attempts.
• Redshirt freshman kicker Chris Freeman scored his first collegiate point with a made PAT in the fourth quarter.
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