Friday night, Indiana had possibly the toughest game they have played in the past two years. The normally hapless Northwestern Wildcats came in to Bloomington with a 2-0 record having blown out Colorado and Deion Sanders last Saturday, 41-7. It’s no longer a secret that Northwestern is a well-coached, very tenacious opponent, whose quarterback is very good. This team is no longer hapless. They gave IU all they wanted in this game and played intensely right up to the last second. The final score was Indiana 29-Northwestern 23–way too close.
IU started the game with back-to-back illegal procedure penalties. Before they snapped the ball, consecutive penalties put them 10 yards back from where they had run back the kickoff. Their first play was from 1st and 20. Right away, they got a 33-yard run from Turbo Richard, but they stalled out, and went for it at 4th and 5. The amazing Charlie Becker made another clutch pass reception for a 1st down. IU advanced the ball to the one-yard line, but couldn’t get it in the end-zone on 4 tries. Ball to the Wildcats!
From their own one yard-line, NW’s quarterback, Aidan Chiles, was standing in the end-zone. On the first snap, he fumbled the ball, fell on it, and was down in the end-zone—SAFETY! IU led 2-0. Northwestern kicked off to IU, and Becker made another circus catch fumbling the ball but hanging on for a 20-yard gain. But IU QB, Josh Hoover, went brain dead and couldn’t pass the ball anywhere near his receivers. They weren’t open, any way, so no harm done.
In the first quarter, IU gained 80 yds to Northwestern’s 1. NW’s run game was shut down by IU’s D line and linebackers. Then in the second quarter, IU transfer running back, Turbo Richard, suffered a right leg injury when he was tackled out-of-bounds. It was a tackle worthy of a penalty flag, but the refs failed to react. Richard was carried to the locker room never to return to the game.
With 5:04 left in the first half, Hoover managed to pass it to Nick Marsh for a touchdown. The halftime score was 12-0. Statistically, IU dominated the first half with 243 total yds to Northwestern’s 57. The Wildcats had minus five yds rushing.
Then in the second half, NW QB Aidan Chiles announced to the B1G conference he’s a force to be dealt with. He was the better QB. If he couldn’t find a receiver, he ran the ball, picking up crucial first downs. Plus his passing was on target because his receivers were always open—again and again. IU’s pass defense was terrible allowing Chiles to complete 22 of 29 passes for 276 yds and two touchdowns. Hoover was 19 for 29 for 201 yds. and 1 TD. But he was thoroughly unimpressive. He often had to rush throws to receivers who were well-covered. IU receivers were rarely wide open. It was frustrating and embarrassing.
With running backs Turbo Richard and Khobe Martin both out with injuries, Lee Beebee Jr., the only remaining RB, became the focus of the IU offense. He ran for 201 of IU’s 272 rushing yards, most of which were in the second half when IU was trying to keep a slim lead. He had several breakaway runs to pick up first downs to keep drives alive. Despite a lot of errant passes from Hoover, and a stellar performance from Aidan Chiles, IU managed to prevail. Timely penalties and clutch plays helped the Hoosiers beat a Northwestern team, that was 21-point underdogs, by only 6.
Several troubling things have become obvious from this nail-bitingly close game.
- Josh Hoover is NOT Fernando Mendoza.
- The defensive secondary desperately misses DeAngelo Ponds.
- Khobe Martin and Turbo Richard need to get well, fast!
- IU’s run defense is awesome—held NW to 33 yards rushing.
- IU’s pass defense is terrible. There were more wide open receivers in the Northwestern game than all of last year.
- Penalties, penalties, penalties!
- Missed tackles on most plays
- This is not your Indiana football team of ‘24 or ‘25.
Friday night’s game was the most nervous I’ve been about an IU game since 2023 BC—Before Cignetti! This season we could easily lose 3 games (maybe 4)—Ohio State, Michigan, USC. I certainly hope not, though. We must play better than we have so far. Better tackling, more precise and more accurate passes, attention to detail and avoiding making stupid mistakes are all aspects that need attention right away. Unless they start playing better, I think we can kiss being in the playoffs good bye. However, I have faith that Coach Cignetti can fix all these problems and get IU playing disciplined football again.
The Next game is Saturday, October 3rd at 5:00 pm Eastern time (2:00 pm AZ) at RUTGERS.
STATS:
Rushing yds: 272 (IU), 33 (NW)
Beebee—203
Richard—68
Sawchuk—26
Receiving: IU—201
NW—293
Becker (IU) 7/98 yds 0 TD’s
Dehnicke (NW) 7/140 yds
Wilde (NW) 6/56 2 TD’s
Total yards: IU—473
NW—326
