How it Happened: No. 22 Indiana dismantles Indiana State 73-0 to wrap up non-conference play

On a beautiful Friday night at Memorial Stadium, Indiana dominated Indiana State 73-0 to move to 3-0 on the season.

From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, the Hoosiers outplayed the Sycamores in every facet of the game. IU outgained Indiana State 680-77, giving the home team more total points than the visitors had total yards.

Fernando Mendoza, Omar Cooper Jr. and the rest of the passing game were on point from the very beginning, while the rushing attack came on late when Indiana held a 50-plus point lead, eventually surpassing 300 yards once again. Seventy-three points is obviously 73 points, but the Indiana offense just looked great, as it executed exactly what it set out to do in every aspect.

For as good as the offense was, Indiana’s defense may have been even more impressive. The Hoosiers’ front four were too much for Indiana State to keep up with, resulting in ISU looking lost every time it took the field on offense.

Even considering the quality of the opponent, Indiana impressed. Obviously, any time you win by 70-plus, that’s great, but a lot of great individual football went into the Hoosiers’ beatdown of Indiana State on Friday night, so here’s how it happened:

Fernando Mendoza starts out firing on all cylinders

It took until his 15th passing attempt for one of Mendoza’s throws to fall incomplete, as the Indiana quarterback showed up and showed out to begin Week 3.

He went 3-for-3 on the Hoosiers’ first drive, finishing it off with a 7-yard touchdown run. On Indiana’s second offensive series, Mendoza completed all six of his passing attempts, including a 13-yard strike to Omar Cooper Jr. for Mendoza’s first passing score of the night.

It was déjà vu on IU’s third drive, as Mendoza found Cooper Jr. for a 13-yard touchdown once again, doing so on another flawless drive. This one went 3-for-3 to give Mendoza a perfect 12-for-12 mark after three series for the Hoosiers.

On Indiana’s fifth drive, Mendoza finally faltered with an incompletion, but he didn’t let that affect him, as he completed his final five passes of the first half, three of those being of the touchdown variety.

He found Holden Staes in the end zone for his first receiving touchdown of the season, while he did the same with Jonathan Brady on the ensuing drive. On Indiana’s last full drive of the half, Mendoza connected with Cooper Jr. once more, this time on a 31-yard score. This was probably Mendoza’s best ball of the night, as he fit in his throw between three defenders exactly where Cooper Jr. needed it to be.

This ended Fernando Mendoza’s night, as to begin the second half, Alberto Mendoza entered the game. Fernando’s final line included 19-for-20 passing, 270 yards and six total touchdowns (five passing, one rushing).

Omar Cooper Jr. posts historic night

Fernando Mendoza had a sensational night at quarterback, but he may have been outshined by just how incredible Cooper Jr. was against Indiana State.

The wideout totaled 10 receptions for 207 total yards and four touchdowns. He became the ninth Hoosier to surpass 200 receiving yards, while Cooper Jr. tied the program record for receiving touchdowns in a game.

For the nine drives that Cooper Jr. was on the field, he caught a pass in eight of them and, interestingly enough, they all resulted in touchdowns. The only drive where Cooper Jr. didn’t have a reception was the only drive where the Hoosiers didn’t score a touchdown, although they settled for a field goal.

As mentioned, Cooper Jr. caught three touchdown passes from Fernando Mendoza, but his fourth score came when Alberto Mendoza was under center. This went for his longest touchdown of the night, as he went 58 yards to make it 52-0 Indiana early in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for anyone hoping Cooper Jr. could stand alone in the record books with five touchdowns, his night was over after his 58-yard score. It was a performance to remember, though, as his 207 yards, as well as 13-yard, 13-yard, 31-yard and 58-yard touchdowns allowed for a truly dominant and emphatic Indiana victory over Indiana State.

Indiana’s defense dominates the Sycamores

From start to finish, Indiana’s defense was simply too big and too strong for Indiana State.

The Hoosiers were a force to be reckoned with on the defensive line, with Tyrique Tucker, Stephen Daley, Mikail Kamara and Dominique Ratcliff making their presence known from the very beginning.

In the first half, Indiana State managed just one first down, as Indiana forced five three-and-outs, accompanied by one four-and-out that included a well-defended fake punt. Through four drives, the Sycamores totaled minus-2 yards, as Indiana managed to not only prevent any offense, but push back ISU into the negatives.

Because of how dominant Indiana was at the line, its secondary didn’t have much work cut out for it, and that was no problem at all. The Hoosiers allowed just 10 passing yards in the first half, while the second half saw similar dominance out of the Indiana defensive backs.

When it was all said and done, IU allowed just 77 yards, its lowest since 67 yards allowed last year against Purdue. The Hoosiers totaled five sacks and 16 tackles for loss in what resulted in the largest shutout victory in program history and the second-largest margin behind only last year’s 77-3 win over Western Illinois.

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