Five takeaways from IU football’s win against Western Kentucky

• Ian Plaskoff

• 1h ago

 

Indiana wrapped up its non-conference schedule with a commanding 38-0 win against Western Kentucky to move to 3-0.

Here are five takeaways from the Hoosiers’ final game before conference play:

Indiana’s defense is settling in nicely

The Hoosiers completed their second consecutive shutout on Saturday. It is the first time Indiana has shut out opponents in back-to-back games since 1993.

It was not the prettiest start. The Hoosiers allowed 137 yards in the first half as Western Kentucky looked fairly comfortable moving up and down the field.

An Isaiah Jones interception with a minute left in the half flipped the script. It not only let Indiana take a 14-0 lead into the half and double dip on the other side, but it also sparked defensive momentum for the rest of the game.

Indiana allowed only 49 total yards and 16 rushing yards in the second half. Western Kentucky only had two first downs in the final two quarters and was 1-for-7 on third-down conversions.

The Hoosiers finished the day with seven tackles-for-loss, a sack and an interception and were all over WKU quarterback Brock Glenn with nine quarterback hits.

The back-to-back shutouts have been more than convincing, especially in the second halves of both games. Obviously, doing it against Howard and Western Kentucky is different from doing it against Big Ten opponents.

It is still positive momentum Indiana can take into conference play.

Turbo Richard is emerging as a reliable lead-back

With Khobie Martin’s injury that will keep him out until midseason, Indiana had to increase the workloads for both Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. to fill the void. Both had unanswered questions coming into the season. How would Richard translate his skills from Boston College? How would Lee Beebe Jr. look in his return from a torn ACL?

Both have shown they are more than serviceable options. They have shown their capability to break big gains at any moment and power forward on important short-yardage situations.

Richard has done it more consistently. That was especially the case on Saturday.

Richard ran for 149 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown. He was responsible for seven first-down conversions and had six rushes of 10 or more yards. He built on an 11-carry, 108-yard, touchdown-scoring performance last week against Howard.

Over the last two games, Richard has averaged 128.5 yards per game on 9.9 yards per carry. He has done it on fewer carries than Beebe Jr.

Don’t count out Beebe Jr. either. He rushed for over 100 yards last week and scored two touchdowns on Saturday. It is still a “1-1” punch. Richard is just emerging as the 1A.

Josh Hoover looked solid, but has plenty of room to grow

Through three games, Hoover has looked really impressive. He has taken care of the football. He has been a touchdown machine. He has been ultra-efficient.

But he has underthrown key passes. He has had incompletions in dangerous spots. He can still play cleaner.

Hoover was 18-of-24 passing for 273 yards and two touchdowns against Western Kentucky. While he only had six incompletions, they were all of concern. One would have been a sure touchdown with an on-target throw. One was lucky it was not intercepted. Two forced Indiana to punt or turn that ball over on downs.

Those mistakes don’t impact the outcome when Indiana is up big on inferior opponents. They will hurt big-time in the Big Ten.

Indiana’s top receiving duo can be one of the best in the nation

For the third week in a row, Charlie Becker has looked like one of the best receivers in the country. The junior recorded five catches for 127 yards and his sixth touchdown of the year.

He was not the featured wideout to begin the game.

Nick Marsh was responsible for six of Hoover’s first 11 completions on Saturday. He finished with seven receptions for 81 yards on the day. It was his most productive game as a Hoosier.

Marsh and Becker accounted for two-thirds of Hoover’s completions and 208 of his 273 passing yards.

When Marsh and Becker are operating at their top potential together, they can be one of the best duos in the country and help to make Indiana one of the best offenses in the country.

Saturday’s game was a prime example.

Indiana got what it needed to get out of the non-conference

There is no denying that Indiana’s non-conference schedule was far from a challenge.

Curt Cignetti said it himself.

“Of course we get criticized because we kind of play an exhibition season before we go into the Big Ten play,” Cignetti said. “I can understand that. But those exhibition seasons have been real valuable for us… we’ve needed these games to learn about ourselves, our guys, where we are, and what we have to do to be the best we can be.”

North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky were never put on the schedule to be marquee matchups for fans to rave over. They were scheduled so Indiana could focus on itself in a low-pressure environment.

Indiana did what it was supposed to do. It picked up three dominant wins. It stuffed the stat sheet. It got its new team settled in. It answered some unanswered questions and raised others to answer later.

Was it perfect? Absolutely not. Were the signs of excellence? Absolutely.

“I see progress in areas that are hard to measure,” Cignetti said. “This team has progressed.”

The so-called exhibition season is over. The games are real now. Mistakes will not fly anymore and the playbook will not be vanilla anymore.

Indiana will begin the Big Ten slate on Friday night against Northwestern in Bloomington.

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