Inside the Hall logo

Instant recap: Indiana 63, Illinois 10

  • 1h ago
 

IU's D'Angelo Ponds celebrates a touchdown.

Quick thoughts on IU football’s 63-10 blowout win against No. 9 Illinois at Memorial Stadium in front of 56,088 fans:

Three key plays in IU’s win

D’Angelo Ponds sets the tone early with special teams play – All-American defensive back D’Angelo Ponds got IU on the board first as he blocked a punt by Keelan Crimmins, scooped the ball and returned it for a touchdown.

Ponds has a knack for making big plays and he put the IU crowd at Memorial Stadium into a frenzy with the blocked punt and score at the 9:26 mark of the first quarter.

Fernando Mendoza finds E.J. Williams for a two-score lead – Indiana’s second passing touchdown of the game came early in the second quarter as Mendoza finished a 56-yard drive with a touchdown pass to E.J. Williams.

Earlier in the drive, Illinois safety Miles Scott was ejected for a targeting play on wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., who caught the first touchdown pass of the game for the Hoosiers in the first quarter.

The second-quarter connection between Mendoza and Williams gave the Hoosiers a 21-7 lead at the 11:05 mark. At that point, Mendoza had completed seven of nine passes for 113 yards.

Kaelon Black opens the second half scoring with a long touchdown run – The IU offense picked up right where it left off in the second half.

Running back Kaelon Black finished a seven-play drive with a 40-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 42-10 with 11:38 to play.

Mendoza’s efficiency

Mendoza was efficient in the first half as he completed 15 of 17 passes for 220 yards and four touchdown passes.

The Hoosier quarterback found four different targets – Cooper Jr., Elijah Sarratt, Williams and Riley Nowakowski – for first-half touchdowns. Mendoza’s quarterback rating at intermission was 274.6.

Mendoza was pulled after the third quarter with the Hoosiers leading 49-10. He completed 21 of 23 passes for 267 passing yards and five touchdowns.

Ground game punishes Illinois defense

Illinois entered Saturday’s game with one of the top 15 rushing defenses in the country. The Fighting Illini had given up an average of 74 yards per game through three contests.

The IU backfield made it look easy in Memorial Stadium.

Khobie Martin rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Kaelon Black finished with 89 yards and a touchdown. Roman Hemby amassed 65 yards on the ground. Indiana finished with 312 rushing yards.

Defense puts together a dominant performance

Indiana’s defense set the tone in the first half with the consistent pressure it put on Illinois quarterback Luke Altmeyer.

The Hoosiers had five sacks and seven tackles for a loss in the first half. Outside of a blown coverage from the IU secondary that led to a 59-yard pass from Altmeyer to Collin Dixon, it was a dominant opening thirty minutes for the Hoosier defense.

Indiana held the Fighting Illini scoreless in the third quarter. Illinois went three-and-out on both of its third-quarter possessions and had negative yardage.

Even after the Hoosiers pulled several starters, Illinois failed to score a point in the fourth quarter.

What’s next for the Hoosiers

Indiana will be back in action next Saturday at Kennick Stadium against Iowa.

The Hawkeyes are 3-1 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten play. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.

See More: Football