Indiana football dropped one spot in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the second consecutive week. The Hoosiers now rank No. 6 in the nation, while receiving one first-place vote.
The Hoosiers’ slide comes after a close victory over Northwestern in its Big Ten opener Friday night. The Wildcats brought the deficit to within two points in the fourth quarter, but the Cream and Crimson held on to notch a 29-23 win.
Redshirt senior running back Lee Beebe Jr. led Indiana’s offense, rushing for 203 yards and a touchdown. With his performance, Beebe became the first Indiana running back to rush for over 200 yards in a game since 2018.
Five Big Ten teams join Indiana in the Week 4 poll.
After sliding in the rankings over the past two weeks, Ohio State jumped Indiana in this week’s poll. The Buckeyes moved up two spots to claim No. 5 following a 42-19 win against Illinois over the weekend.
Oregon and Iowa also improved in the Week 4 poll. The Ducks secured a 41-27 win against USC to leap five spots to No. 15, while the Trojans fell six slots to No. 18 with the loss.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes scored a last-second touchdown to defeat Michigan 20-19 and improve to No. 14. The Wolverines’ loss dropped them out of the Top 25. Penn State also fell out of the rankings entirely after an upset defeat to Wisconsin on Saturday.
UCLA, which received Top 25 votes last week, dominated Maryland 54-3 over the weekend. With the win, the Bruins climbed into the rankings at No. 23.
Indiana will take on Rutgers in its first road contest of the season at 8 p.m. Oct. 3 at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
