No. 20 Indiana’s secondary suffers blow with season-ending knee injury to Bryson Bonds in opener

Indiana’s secondary depth took two hits in Saturday’s season-opening 27-14 victory over Old Dominion, coach Curt Cignetti confirmed Monday.

Cignetti said defensive back Bryson Bonds suffered a season-ending right knee injury and defensive back Byron Baldwin Jr. also got hurt though his undisclosed injury is “more day to day.”

Bonds did not win a starting job in his sixth college season but was expected to play a key role again this season for No. 20 Indiana. He had appeared in 37 of 38 games since returning from another season-ending injury early in the 2021 season. He played high school football in Fort Worth, Texas.

Bonds was injured late in the first half of Indiana’s ninth straight home win, 27-14, under Cignetti. Bonds stayed down after the play as trainers examined his right leg and eventually was taken straight to the locker room.

While the Hoosiers rushed for more than 300 yards and controlled most of the final three quarters, Cignetti found plenty to critique starting with the offense’s red zone struggles while the defense allowed Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph to score on runs of 75 and 78 yards, the first coming on the first offensive snap of the game.

“We probably left 35 points out there on offense with six possessions inside the 10 (yard line), had a dropped touchdown pass and overthrew a touchdown pass, fumbled going in or we would have had the game in total control,” Cignetti said. “We won time of possession, 30-10 first downs, had 310 yards rushing, won the turnover battle 3-1. We had two bad plays on defense. We’ve got to get better, and we should get much better this week.”

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