At the end of the first quarter, the scoreboard inside Memorial Stadium in Bloomington read the same score for Indiana and Western Kentucky University: zero.
The Hoosiers had the ball inside their own 15, having tallied 54 yards of total offense compared to the Hilltoppers’ 77. The difference in time of possession was substantial as well, with Indiana having the ball for only five minutes and two seconds of the opening period.
It was the first time Indiana had been shutout in the opening quarter at home since it played Maryland on Sept. 28, 2024, and a scoreless opening quarter wasn't part of Indiana's plan.
Yet, it didn’t matter.
Indiana ran away with the Saturday contest in the final three quarters, securing a 38-0 victory over Western Kentucky. It marked the first time since 1993 that the Hoosiers held their opponent scoreless in back-to-back games.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said postgame that Western Kentucky played “well” early but he liked his team’s response in the second half.
“I just talked to them and I was like, ‘Hey let’s play our game, let’s relax,” Cignetti said. “We still made some mistakes in the second half ... but you know we still made progress.”
But similar to Indiana’s first two games, there were flaws that stood out.
Indiana redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover finished the day 18 for 24 with 273 yards and two touchdowns. He had time to work through his progressions with the offensive line allowing zero quarterback hurries.
On paper, Hoover appeared to have had an efficient day with a 75% completion percentage. But the Texas Christian University transfer had several inaccurate passes to receivers who were open, costing Indiana chances to capitalize further in the first half.
With Indiana beginning conference play Sept. 25 against Northwestern, Hoover acknowledged his passing accuracy needs to get better.
“There were a couple of throws I missed,” Hoover said. “For me, it’s a process of trying to be accurate. I know I'm an accurate guy. I know I’m going to make those adjustments on third down to prolong drives.”
In the middle of the second quarter, the Hoosiers were driving with a 7-0 lead. Then, on a third-and-5, Hoover threw an incomplete pass behind graduate student wide receiver Shazz Preston.
Cignetti called a timeout before deciding to send the offense back on to the field on fourth down. Hoover had junior wide receiver Nick Marsh open, but his pass was a little out of reach.
“I would love to have that fourth down back,” Hoover said. “It was a vertical I threw off Nick’s fingertip. I thought I could have put it out a foot further and could’ve had a chance to score.”
Moments later, the Hoosiers’ defense made up for Hoover’s missed opportunity.
Redshirt senior linebacker Isaiah Jones jumped in front of the Western Kentucky wide receiver, intercepting Hilltoppers redshirt junior quarterback Brock Glenn.
Jones returned the ball to the Western Kentucky 3-yard line. Two plays later, redshirt senior Lee Beebe Jr. made it 14-0 with a rushing touchdown.
Even after recording his first interception of the season, Jones — the leader of the defense who wears the ‘green dot’ as the middle linebacker — wasn’t satisfied with the overall performance from his unit.
“We didn’t play to our standard,” Jones said. “We didn’t get off the field on third down. That can give an offense going to an opposing place life and energy. We had a few missed assignments, but I love how the team responded.”
But the biggest moment of the game? That happened in the first quarter.
After a 54-yard missed field goal by redshirt senior kicker Paddy McAteer, the Hilltoppers got the ball back. They drove it inside the Hoosiers’ ten-yard line, then on fourth and goal, Western Kentucky opted to go for it. The decision was unsuccessful with the Hoosiers forcing a pass breakup to end the drive.
Indiana’s defense stood strong. It bent a lot, but it didn’t break.
Jones said the defense “took it personal” when the Hilltoppers offense returned to the field on fourth down.
“We didn’t want to let them get points on the board fast,” Jones said. “We just stood up and didn’t let them get in ... we don’t want anyone in our endzone.”
In the first half, Indiana's rushing attack had 55 total yards on 16 carries. The Hoosiers finished with 233 total rushing yards.
Junior running back Turbo Richard paced Indiana with 15 carries for 149 yards and one touchdown.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, native said the Hoosiers “made adjustments” based on how Western Kentucky’s defense was playing them in the first half.
“We showed that our team is going to play hard,” Richard said. “In the second half, we ran more play-action before going to the run plays.”
Junior wide receiver Charlie Becker — who reeled in a 79-yard touchdown in the third quarter — echoed Richard’s statement, saying the Hoosiers must start faster.
“We came out slow, slower than what we wanted to,” Becker said. “But we’ll watch the film and get better.”
As we saw last year in their championship run, the Hoosiers had to face adversity.
Indiana struggled at Iowa and Penn State, squeaking out hard-earned wins that formed it into a championship group.
Although Western Kentucky isn’t on the same level as the Hawkeyes or Nittany Lions, the slow start for Indiana shouldn’t be worrisome. In fact, the response to the scoreless first quarter should be encouraging.
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
