Connor Bazelak threw two touchdown passes and Indiana snapped out of the doldrums with a sizzling start to the second half to overcome visiting Idaho in Saturday night’s 35-22 victory at Bloomington, Ind.
Bazelak completed 16 of 29 passes for 197 yards with an interception and running back Shaun Shivers gained 155 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown.
Quarterback Gevani McCoy of Idaho threw three touchdown passes among his 204 passing yards on 13-for-23 passing.
Receiver Donaven McCulley finally put the Hoosiers (2-0) on the board with a 4-yard run off a direct snap with 10:31 to go in the third quarter. A safety less than a minute later added to Indiana’s momentum and then Bazelak passes of 43 yards to AJ Barner and 26 yards to D.J. Matthews sent the Hoosiers to a 23-10 edge.
Barner’s go-ahead touchdown came when he bounced off two defenders at the Idaho 25 and from there went untouched to the end zone.
That was 23 points in less than six minutes after putting up 23 total points in a season-opening win against Illinois before failing to score in the first half against Idaho.
Idaho’s first three possessions of the second half resulted in minus-2 yards of offense and a safety for Indiana. The Vandals had a punt, safety, another punt and turned the ball over on downs on a failed fourth-and-8 play from its own 41.
Then the Hoosiers built their lead on Josh Henderson’s 8-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
But Idaho (0-2) struck back with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended on McCoy’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Roshaun Johnson with 7:38 to play. A two-point conversion failed.
Idaho’s onside kick didn’t work. Shivers ran 46 yards for a touchdown on the next play.
Idaho scored first on McCoy’s 1-yard pass to Jordan Dwyer with 13:18 left in the second quarter. The Vandals added to the lead at the 2:19 mark of the second quarter on Ricardo Chavez’s 29-yard field goal.
Indiana managed only 110 yards of total offense in the first half.
The game started after more than a 30-minute weather-related delay.
–Field Level Media
