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South Carolina State came to Indiana on a mission to win Saturday.
The Bulldogs never got a chance.
After giving up 21 points in the first quarter, the Bulldogs hung around long enough to scare the school's first-ever Big Ten opponent before losing 38-21.
''We didn't do quite as much offensively in the first half, we couldn't keep it away from them,'' coach Oliver ''Buddy'' Pough said. ''They wore our defense down pretty good. They didn't really come out and blow us out the second half, but we were able to survive.''
The Bulldogs (1-2, 0-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) got some help from the Hoosiers (1-2).
Quarterback Edward Wright-Baker blew one scoring chance when he lost a fumble, and Indiana committed a school record 20 penalties, three more than the previous mark set in 1962 and matched in 1998.
Meanwhile, quarterback Derrick Wiley kept the Bulldogs close. He finished the game 15 of 30 for 216 yards with two touchdowns and ran 14 times for 63 yards, which was enough to keep the Bulldogs in it, but not enough to pull off the biggest upset in school history.
''We were better,'' Pough said when asked about the passing game. ''You can tell there's a possibility of some sign of life there. We get back to our level, hopefully, we'll play better then.''
Edward Wright-Baker threw two touchdown passes, and the Hoosiers rushed for 279 yards and three more scores, giving coach Kevin Wilson his first career victory.
In some ways, Saturday's game went just the way Indiana drew it up -- playing fast and scoring points by the dozens.
In other ways, it was exactly the opposite of what Wilson wanted. The two teams combined for 31 penalties, which was so many that even the statisticians couldn't even keep track.
And they weren't the only ones confused.
After Indiana's backup quarterback Dusty Kiel was called for intentional grounding on a first-down play late in the fourth quarter, the chain gang flipped the marker to third down. The officials never corrected the mistake, forcing the Hoosiers to punt on what should have been third down.
It didn't affect the outcome, but the continual errors helped South Carolina State stay close and gave the Hoosiers something to work on.
''There's no reason to have that (many) penalties. I'm not justifying it, I'm not condoning it, we've been OK,'' Wilson said. ''The (illegal) procedures need to get out. We'll look at it, we'll talk about it. We'll definitely need to get penalties out of our football.''
Wright-Baker was 21 of 27 for 273 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Freshman D'Angelo Roberts ran 19 times for 102 yards, scoring his first career touchdown in his first 100-yard game. Receiver Duwyce Wilson caught six passes for 101 yards and the game's first score.
Indiana's defense forced seven punts, and although South Carolina State (1-2, 1-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) hung around until the fourth quarter, Indiana finally managed to put the Bulldogs away in their first game ever against a Big Ten foe.
Despite scoring three touchdowns and 221 yards in the first quarter, salvaging the victory was not easy.
Wright-Baker got things started with a 30-yard TD pass to Wilson. The officials on the field ruled Wilson juggled the ball before going out of bounds, but a replay review overturned the call. On Indiana's next possession, Stephen Houston scored on a 2-yard TD run to make it 14-0 fewer than six minutes into the game.
South Carolina State needed only one play to strike back. Derrick Wiley threw a nifty flanker screen to Tyler McDonald, who cut inside the three Indiana defenders and outran them for a 69-yard TD. Wiley was 15 of 30 for 216 yards with two touchdowns and ran 14 times for 63 yards.
The Hoosiers were just warming up.
Matt Perez scored on a 1-yard TD run before the 57-minute first quarter ended, and Indiana got a short field goal to make it 24-7 at the half.
It could have been worse.
''We got behind big, gave up a couple of deep balls,'' Pough said. ''From that point on, we got a little better.''
The Bulldogs got the break they needed midway through the third quarter -- a short field -- and wasted no time in ending the 38-yard drive with a 5-yard TD pass from Wiley to Caleb Davis.
But the Hoosiers got a 7-yard TD run from Roberts and a 40-yard TD pass from Wright-Baker to Hughes, who tiptoed down the sideline, and South Carolina State challenged after Hughes' score with 9:46 left.
''We were looking to shake some things up after losing some games, don't like the outcome and when you come out to practice and you don't get the energy out of the starting group, you go to the next guy,'' Wilson said. ''We did run the ball better and we did come off the ball. We did fight and battle.''
