Indiana football: Reaction from ugly win against Idaho on Saturday night

Things were not pretty on Saturday night in Bloomington, from weather to game play, Indiana football failed to score against FCS opponent, Idaho, in the first half, but pulled out an ugly win with strong offense in the third quarter.

Though barely any of my bold predictions and betting tips came to fruition, a win is a win. Connor Bazelak, who looked like a fish out of water controlling the offense in the first half, did finish with 150+ passing yards (197), and two touchdowns, but could not exit early because of the Hoosiers trailing 10-0 at halftime. Shaun Shivers, on the other hand, shined on the offensive side of the ball. He finished with 155 rushing yards on 20 carries and one touchdown (46-yard run in the fourth quarter).

The shining star of the entire game for Indiana football had to be freshman linebacker, Dasan McCullough, who finished with five total tackles, two sacks, and two tackles for loss. In all of 2021, no Indiana football players recorded two sacks in a single game. Without McCullough, the Hoosiers likely would not have been able to hang close to Idaho in the first half where the Indiana football offense could not produce anything.

Despite Tom Allen’s defense allowing the lesser-talented Vandals’ offense to score 22 points against them, there were shining moments. But on the offensive side, nothing turned on for the Hoosiers until after halftime. After forcing a three-and-out for Idaho, Bazelak, Shivers and the Indiana football’s offense marched down the field to score their first points of the game in less than three minutes.

Not even minutes later, Bazelak throws a dime to A.J. Barner for a 43-yard touchdown reception to give the Hoosiers their first lead of the game. Then, to keep the momentum going in the third quarter, Indiana football gets the ball back and scores in under two minutes with a Bazelak 26-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Matthews Jr.

To basically seal the victory for the Hoosiers, Shaun Shivers bursted out of the backfield for a 46-yard touchdown run with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining, which should give Indiana football fans some hope as Shivers can lead this backfield to something in the coming weeks.

All in all, let’s just erase the first half of Week 2 from our memories and move forward with the Hoosiers’ season. 2-0. Onto Week 3 against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.