Indiana 31, Western Kentucky 13.

IU didn't produce the overwhelming win that many might have wanted to see, but IU did show some positive signs in a 31-13 win over Western Kentucky, a team in the second year of its transition to Division I-A. Here's the box score.

The overall numbers look reasonably good. IU outgained WKU 450 to 282. IU averaged an impressive 6.3 yards per play to WKU's 4.1, and punted 4 times to WKU's 7. Each team had one turnover in close succession. Kellen Lewis threw an interception, but WKU gave it back with a fumble just a few plays later. WKU quarterback KJ Black completed 19 of 31 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown. IU's two QBs combined for a similar completion percentage but managed only 153 yards in the air, albeit with two touchdowns. The difference was on the ground. IU ran for 297 yards and averaged 7.2 yards per carry. WKU ran for 63 yards and only 2.0 yards per carry. Even setting aside Kellen Lewis's two long TD runs, for a combined 137 yards on two carries, IU still averaged a solid 4.1 yards per carry.

As to individual performances:

The good:

• Kellen Lewis became IU's career touchdown passing leader with his first half pass to Ray Fisher. Lewis completed 63 percent of his passes and threw one interception.
• IU used Ben Chappell in certain short yardage and goal line situations. Chappell was 1-3 for 9 yards. Most encouraging was one of the incompletions: when IU was pinned back on its ~2 yard line, Chappell was under pressure and threw the ball away. Yes, I'm still stuck on the Northwestern game from last year.
• Andrew Means, IU's leading returning receiver, led the team with 6 catches for 63 yards.
• Terrence Turner, who caught only 1 pass before a season ending injury in 2007, caught 4 passes for 38 yards.
• Deja vu: 6-5 freshman Demarlo Belcher, from Fort Wayne, caught only one pass for 5 yards, but it was for a touchdown on the patented Hardy fade. If the oversized Belcher can provide just partial replacement of Hardy's production, it will be a huge help to this offense.
• As promised, freshman tight end Max Dedmond did line up in the slot and caught a pass for five yards.
• Bryan Payton ran for 57 yards and 6.3 per carry. Demetrius McCray ran for 38 yards on 9 carries.
• Jammie Kirlew, moved to the right end to replace the suspended Greg Middleton, recorded two sacks.

The bad:

• Marcus Thigpen ran for only 18 yards on 8 carries. Against Western Kentucky. I like Thigpen. He should be on the field as much as possible. But what is the coaching staff seeing that suggests that Thipgen is capable of being the starting tailback for what we hope will be an average to above average Big Ten team?
• Our new starting corners didn't record an interception or a broken up pass, although Black's numbers were held a bit below his 2007 averages (based on completion percentage).

The ugly:

• It's not often that a punter gets the hook, but after opening with a 57 yarder, redshirt freshman Chris Hagerup followed up with a 12 yarder, a 35 yarder, and a fumble. Joe Kleinsmith kicked the last punt of the game, a 50 yarder.

It was an opener, and while the pass defense and non-Kellen rushing games are concerns, IU has time. After next week's game against Murray State, IU has a bye week before playing Ball State and beginning the Big Ten season against Michigan State.

More on Western Kentucky.

First, here's a blog about WKU football written by the beat writer for the Bowling Green Daily News. And here's a link to WKU's depth chart (pdf). Some personnel highlights:

• KJ Black and Notre Dame transfer David Wolke split time last year, and Black is listed as the starter this year. Last year, it was a fairly even split: Black had 134 attempts, Wolke 124; Black had 1007 yards, Wolke 922; each had an excellent completion percentage (65.7/62.1), but WKU gained most of its yards on the ground. Of the two, QBs, Wolke was the superior runner, averaging 5.1 yards per carry and scoring five rushing touchdowns.
• At the running back position, the Hilltopper return lots of experience and productivity. Tyrell Hayden and Steven Willis, the starter and backup, were WKU's leading rushers last season. Hayden gained 1134 years and scored 10 touchdowns while averaging 5.5 yards per carry; Willis gained 438 yards and averaged 7.8 yards per carry and scored 6 touchdowns.
• WKU returns less experience at fullback, or at least less production: starter Jared Johnson carried the ball 11 times last season, and David Miller caught one pass and had no carries.
• WKU certainly isn't a pass-first team, but is #2-#4 receiving leaders from last year--Jake Goebler, Quinterrence Cooper, and Jessie Quinn, return at WR.
• WKU runs a 3-4 defense, and all three of its starting linemen (Dan Cline, Jon Belcher, Robert Clark)had significant playing time last year (although WKU's two sack leaders are gone).
• WKU returns three linebackers who received substantial playing time last year (Blake Boyd, Alonzo Higgins, and Ben Sowders) but Darvis McBride played little.
• Senior cornerback Marcus Minor, a product of Arlington High School in Indianapolis, was second in tackles on last year's team. His corner counterpart is a redshirt freshman (Trent Calhoun).
• Every Hilltopper who intercepted more than one past last year is gone.

The most recent odds list IU as about a 20 point favorite. Still, the breadth of WKU's rushing attack, in light of IU's 2005 near-miss against Nicholls State and the 2006 loss to Southern Illinois, concerns me a bit.

An initial look at Western Kentucky.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
2007 record: 7-5.
2007 Sagarin: 118
Conference: none (joining Sun Belt in 2009).
Coach: David Elson (6th season, 37-22).

Series: First meeting.

Official site.

Western Kentucky is in the second season of its gradual transition to Division I-A.* The Hilltoppers will join the Sun Belt Conference in 2009 but are an independent this year. WKU was a I-AA power in its last few years at that level; WKU made five straight playoff appearances from 2000 through 2004 and won the I-AA national championship in 2002 under the direction of Jack Harbaugh. As noted above, current coach David Elson has a solid record in his first five seasons at WKU. Elson is an Indianapolis native and graduated from Butler University and Cathedral High School. As this article from the Criterion, the newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, notes, IU coach Bill Lynch and Elson both hail from Christ the King parish/school on the north side of Indianapolis, and although Lynch is quite a bit older than Elson, they know quite a few people in common.

I haven't looked much as WKU's personnel yet (check back later in the week), but the Hilltoppers have gone 0-13 against members of BCS conferences (WKU is 12-19 against Louisville and 2-0 against Miami, but all wins came long before major conference affiliation). The only reasonably competitive game that the Hilltoppers have mounted against such an opponent was a 27-13 loss to Kansas State in 2004.

Of course, WKU is known best for basketball, but in general the school's mascot has been a regular on ESPN SportsCenter commercials, most famously in this classic:

*No, I will not use the silly FBS/FCS labels. I'm going to keep saying I-A and I-AA until the NCAA changes them back.