Bizarre play just part of the fun for Indiana

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Kellen Lewis was so good and so fast against Iowa that he even threw a touchdown pass to himself.

Well, sort of.

Lewis was credited with a TD pass when he ran 71 yards after picking up a teammate's fumble after a completion and added 2 conventional scoring passes in leading Indiana past reeling Iowa 38-20 on Saturday.

The Hoosiers (4-1, 1-1) came back strong after losing to Illinois a week ago, building a 21-0 lead and then answering whenever Iowa threatened to make it a game.

"It was the best we've played for 60 minutes," Indiana coach Bill Lynch said. "We've had some games when we played well, but we had periods in them when we had lulls, and I didn't think we had that today."

On a day when he made several big plays, Lewis' biggest was a fluke. He just happened to be in the right place to make it.

With Indiana leading 14-0 in the second quarter, Lewis completed an 8-yard pass to Josiah Sears, who fumbled when he got hit. The ball squirted toward the left sideline and Lewis, who had been trailing the play, swooped in.

He scooped up the ball on a dead run at his own 29, sprinted down the sideline and somersaulted into the end zone, drawing a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Because his run came on the continuation of a pass play, Lewis was credited with a touchdown pass.

"I thought he was down at first," Lewis said. "Then I saw the ball pop out, so the first instinct was to just grab it. I was thinking about diving on it, but it took a funny bounce and popped up into the air about knee high, so I just scooped it and ran."

Lewis is one of the fastest quarterbacks around and with his head start, he was safely on his way to the end zone before the Hawkeyes (2-3, 0-2) realized what happened.

"I've never seen a quarterback that could take it 80 yards like that," safety Adam Shada said.