Bloomington, Ind. — No. 5 Indiana had little trouble putting away Howard on Saturday, turning its home opener into another dominant performance as the defending national champions cruised to a 55-0 victory in a game shortened to 55 minutes.
Quarterback Josh Hoover continued his impressive start to his Indiana career, throwing four touchdown passes, including three to wide receiver Charlie Becker. Hoover completed 6 of 11 passes for 145 yards and has now thrown four touchdown passes in each of his first two games as a Hoosier.
The performance also pushed Hoover over 10,000 career passing yards.
Becker finished with 81 receiving yards and nearly matched Indiana’s single-game record for touchdown receptions. His three scoring catches helped Indiana build a commanding advantage before halftime.
Neither Hoover nor Becker returned after the break as Indiana emptied its bench and the two coaching staffs agreed to reduce the fourth quarter to 10 minutes.
“It was a better taste in our mouth after this one,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said after the game.
The victory gave Cignetti another reason to be pleased with his team’s response following last week’s performance.
“We got the shutout on defense, played a lot of people, emptied the bench, shortened the fourth quarter,” Cignetti said. “We started to dominate up front. It started on offense and defensively it got to the point where they really couldn’t block us.”
Indiana controlled the game from the opening possession and finished with 510 total yards, including 301 on the ground.
Lee Beebe Jr. and Turbo Richard each surpassed 100 rushing yards as the Hoosiers repeatedly found room against the Howard defense.
The victory extended Indiana’s winning streak to 18 games, the longest active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Hoosiers also won their 17th consecutive game at Memorial Stadium.
Cignetti remains undefeated at home, and his 28-2 record through his first 30 games at Indiana ranks second in FBS history. Only Michigan’s Fielding Yost had a better start, opening his tenure with a 29-0-1 mark.
Indiana wasted little time establishing control.
Hoover found Becker for a 34-yard touchdown on the Hoosiers’ opening scoring drive and connected with him again for a 6-yard touchdown on Indiana’s second possession.
Hoover then delivered another big play through the air, hitting Shazz Preston for a 39-yard touchdown to push the lead to 20-0 before the end of the first quarter.
Becker struck again in the second quarter, hauling in a 41-yard touchdown pass to complete his three-score afternoon.
Indiana’s defense joined the scoring party shortly before halftime when Rolijah Hardy intercepted Howard quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins and returned the pick 19 yards for a touchdown.
Richard then added a 14-yard rushing touchdown as Indiana took a 41-0 advantage into halftime.
Howard struggled to generate anything offensively after moving the chains on its opening two possessions.
The Bison finished with only 57 total yards, including just 13 rushing yards. Scroggins completed 8 of 15 passes for 43 yards and threw one interception.
Howard’s loss was its second straight following a 1-2 start. The Bison’s only victory over an FBS opponent came in 2017 against UNLV.
Cignetti said the decision to shorten the game was discussed because of the heat and the length of the contest.
“The officials mentioned it before the game, just in case,” Cignetti said. “I brought it up after the third quarter and they went and talked to their coach. We got it done in less than three hours and got everybody out of the heat.”
Weather Again Becomes a Factor
For the second consecutive week, weather conditions affected the atmosphere inside Memorial Stadium.
Excessive heat forced many fans to leave Indiana’s season opener early, with field temperatures reaching 152 degrees.
Saturday brought a different challenge as rain moved into the stadium shortly before the two-minute timeout in the first half. Temperatures were 75 degrees at kickoff, while humidity reached 88%.
McAteer Handles Kicking Duties
Indiana also entered the game without its regular kicker, Nico Radicic, who was sidelined with a lower-back injury.
Cignetti said Radicic woke up Thursday with stiffness in his back and was ultimately unable to play.
That opened the door for Paddy McAteer, an Ireland native, to handle the kicking duties. McAteer did not attempt a field goal but missed an extra-point attempt wide left in the second half.
Takeaways
Howard: The Bison managed two first downs to open the game but struggled to move the ball afterward. Howard was overwhelmed statistically, being outgained 510-57 overall and 301-13 on the ground.
Indiana: The Hoosiers addressed two areas Cignetti wanted to see improve — the rushing attack and defense. Indiana’s ground game produced 301 yards, while the defense recorded a shutout and forced punts on Howard’s first six possessions. Hardy’s interception touchdown came after pressure forced Scroggins into a mistake.
Up Next:
Howard travels to Rutgers on Sept. 25.
Indiana returns to Memorial Stadium next Saturday to host Western Kentucky.
