Indiana Hoosiers vs Florida International Panthers Match Player Stats On Sep 01, 2018

Peyton Ramsey tossed three touchdown passes to lead the Indiana Hoosiers past the host FIU Panthers 38-28 on Saturday night.

Ramsey, a sophomore making his fifth career start and his first in a season opener, completed 20 of 27 passes for 156 yards.

Two of Ramsey's TD passes were to wide receiver Donavan Hale, who arrived at Indiana as a quarterback before switching positions. Hale is the cousin of star Hoosiers safety Jonathan Crawford, and both of them were making homecomings of sorts since they are from Largo, Fla.

Crawford, who started his 39th collegiate game, was the contest's defensive star. He intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown and also forced a fumble. He has nine career interceptions.

For FIU, senior running back Anthony Jones had a strong game, rushing 15 times for 88 yards and a career-high two touchdowns.

FIU's starting quarterback was James Morgan, a Bowling Green graduate transfer who made his Panthers debut. Morgan completed 11 of 20 passes for 90 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Panthers also gave snaps to backup quarterback Christian Alexander, a junior who completed 6 of 8 passes for 67 yards.

FIU opened the scoring on Jones' two-yard run up the middle with 7:42 left in the first quarter. Jones, who barely crossed the plane on a score that was upheld by video review, capped an 11-play, 66-yard drive that was set up by safety Dorian Hall's interception and 14-yard return.

Indiana tied the score less than three minutes later as Ramsey hit Hale with an 18-yard touchdown.

The Hoosiers closed the first-quarter scoring on Crawford's 33-yard interception return. It was Indiana's first pick-six since it had two of them against FIU exactly two years ago.

Indiana took a 28-14 lead into halftime after Ramsey threw a pair of short TD passes -- 3 yards to Peyton Hendershot and 2 yards to Hale on a fourth-down play -- and Jones put FIU on the board again with a 36-yard run.

The teams traded TDs in the third quarter. Hoosiers backup quarterback Michael Penix Jr., a true freshman making his Indiana debut, tossed a 9-yard TD pass to Mike Majette.

FIU then got a 1-yard TD run from Shawndarrius Phillips.

Logan Justus' 36-yard, fourth-quarter field goal stretched Indiana's lead to 38-21.

FIU capped the scoring with Morgan's 7-yard TD pass to Maurice Alexander.

--Field Level Media