When Indiana University quarterback Kellen Lewis entered last year's game at Ball State University in the second quarter, a proverbial weakness was exploited in the Cardinals' defense.
Trailing 23-7 at halftime, Lewis led the Hoosiers' offense to 17 second-half points and a one-point victory. In doing so, Lewis carried the ball 12 times for a team-high 88 yards, and helped create the belief that the Cardinals' front seven can't defend a mobile quarterback.
"Kellen didn't start the game last year, and I think their original starter was out and their backup was starting the game," Cardinal senior linebacker Mike Dorulla said. "Their backup got injured and Kellen Lewis came into his first collegiate game and never looked back."
The Cardinals' propensity to struggle against mobile quarterbacks has stayed consistent through their most recent game, when Ball State allowed University of Illinois quarterback Juice Williams to rush for 99 yards on 17 carries. Though it was the third time this season a quarterback has tallied at least 99 yards on the ground, senior captain and outside linebacker Cortlan Booker said the team still believes it can defend a quarterback that prefers to use his feet.
"Just because a team has a mobile quarterback, it doesn't get us shaking and things like that," Booker said. "Playing a mobile quarterback is not something a defense does everyday, so it is a little bit harder to defend. But we've got confidence that we can do what we need to do."
After more than a year of exploitation, the Ball State team will face the same quarterback again on Saturday in Bloomington. Dorulla said there will be different challenges for the Cardinals' defense this week compared to last week against Illinois.
"They run two different types of offenses," Dorulla said, comparing the Illini and Hoosiers. "IU does a lot more with their passing game than Illinois. Most of Juice's rushing yards against us came off of designed runs. I remember when we played IU last year, a lot of Lewis' runs came off passes where he scrambled and was able to find some yardage."
With Indiana's preference to throw the football, Dorulla said Ball State will use a linebacker to spy the quarterback more than it did against Illinois. Senior safety Eddie Burk said another key against Lewis will be to switch defenses to confuse Lewis as much as possible.
"The goal is to try to make Lewis confused with what defense we're running and move around a lot before the snap," Burk said. "I have confidence that coach Hoke and the coaching staff will come up with a good scheme and we'll be able to do that."
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