BLOOMINGTON | Matt Ernest got lucky. Well, that's his story anyway.
With his team up 24 points and looking for the knockout punch against overmatched Towson, Indiana's new starting cornerback sat on a hitch route, a gamble that paid off 56 yards the other way.
Ernest, a Crown Point native, returned his first career interception in his first career start for a touchdown that cemented what would eventually finish as a 51-17 Indiana win Thursday night.
Ben Chappell led the way offensively for the Hoosiers, throwing two touchdown passes.
"The quarterback pretty much just took a one-step, and I was just in my short read and got lucky really," Ernest said. "He ran a hitch, and I just kind of jumped it and, luckily, caught it."
Ernest's early impact pleased Indiana coach Bill Lynch, who is 4-0 in home openers.
"I think I reacted on the phone to the defensive guys when he was taking off. I said 'That's why we moved him there,'" Lynch said. "He has great ability and good ball skills. That was a huge play for us."
Indiana's offense hit the ground running full steam to open the game, with quarterback Chappell particularly potent.
The Bloomington native was 16-of-23 passing against a Towson defense that generated little to no pass rush. His 182 yards and two touchdowns, combined with two scores from running back Darius Willis and another from backfield mate Trea Burgess, led the Hoosiers into the locker room with a 38-14 halftime lead.
The Tigers moved the ball well in the second quarter, thanks largely to mobile quarterback Chris Hart's 164 all-purpose yards in the frame. Hart cut open Indiana's defense for a 42-yard run that led to Towson's first score and found receiver Hakeem Moore for a 64-yard touchdown pass on a slant route on the Tigers' next possession.
Those plays, however, would comprise the majority of the questions Towson would ask of an Indiana defense that did look shaky, particularly in coverage, but was eventually more than adequate to the task of shutting down the Tigers.
Hart also threw two interceptions in the first half and found comparatively little success gaining yardage in any form in the second half, as the Hoosiers walked away winners of their home opener for the ninth straight season.
