I was at this game. The biggest takeaway is that Indiana has a lot to clean up, but still is a very good team. It also means that Northwestern is better than I expected. To go into Bloomington on the road with injuries to important pieces and have the second half that the Wildcats did is very impressive. The first half did leave a lot to be desired though. I’m going to skip the numbers part this week and dive straight into the film too, because stats don’t tell the full story. Also, I’m not including
the play where Aidan Chiles fumbled the snap leading to an Indiana safety, nor the play where Chiles took a 20-plus yard sack and almost fumbled the ball away.
Scramble Drill
Other than the two plays I mentioned above (and a couple other blunders from Chiles that didn’t give away the game), his scrambling ability really helped Northwestern when the Indiana secondary was locking down. The first play in this cutup is Chiles converting on a third-and-long after the play broke down. He shows just how shifty he can be in the open field, as well his ability to stay on his feet. The Hoosiers rushed four on this play while Northwestern had just three players running routes, so it makes sense that the coverage was able to blanket the Wildcat receivers. Still, impressive ball carrier vision from Chiles to pick up this first down.
The second play in this cutup isn’t much of a gain at all, but it shows how Chiles can maneuver the pocket to stay upright and extend plays. Three times on this play Chiles was hit by a defender and the first and second time he was able to get out of the potential sack before three Hoosier defenders converged on him to finally bring him down. The pull block by Idrys Cotton didn’t work here and he’s been very shaky thus far in 2026, but the flashes are there and Indiana does have one of the best defensive lines in the FBS.
The third play in this cutup does a great job of showing how defenses treat Chiles with the QB spy, and yet he still was able to reach the end zone. Indiana rushes four and mans up the Northwestern receivers. This play does a great job of spreading the field and keeping the middle open, which Chiles does take advantage of when his blockers allow for him to tuck it and run. One of the most impressive moves of the night was on this play as well, with Chiles juking out Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones (#46), who is one of the better players at his position in all of college football.
Superman Chiles
Chiles ended the first half just 5-for-9 passing for 56 yards. He finished the game 22-for-29 for 293 yards and two touchdown passes. This cutup includes just one play from the first half, with the rest coming from the second half. The first play here is Chiles fitting in the ball to Luke Dehnicke, who caught seven passes for 140 yards. Dehnicke beats his man on the in-breaking route, and with no linebacker in a zone since IU sent five at Chiles, the single deep safety in this Cover 1 man defense comes down to try and prevent the catch, but it was too late and Dehnicke came down with the ball. Chiles does a great job of fitting in his throw to Dehnicke and keeping the ball out of harms way.
In the second half, Chiles missed just three throws. The second play of this cutup is once again a throw to Dehnicke. Northwestern’s offensive line looked completely lost on the right side, and Indiana had three free rushers on Chiles because of it. Chiles rolls to his left and is able to adjust his body briefly to get the throw off down the sideline to Dehnicke. Indiana was in a Cover 3 Fire Zone blitz with the five rushers the Hoosiers sent at Chiles, and Dehnicke is able to get above the left-side hard flat that Rolijah Hardy is in and remain under Jamari Sharpe’s deep third for the big gain. The third play of this cutup is Chiles’ first touchdown pass to Griffin Wilde. Indiana runs a drop-8 match zone coverage here in the red zone, but Wilde weaves past defenders to get behind the Hoosiers’ DBs and Chiles fits the ball over the head of the outside CB and right into Wilde’s hands.
The fourth play of this cutup starts from under center and with a play-action fake. Indiana runs another Cover 3 Fire Zone, and Chiles hits Wilde who is sitting in the right-side seam. The fourth play, Indiana runs regular Cover 3 with four short zones and three deep zones, with four players rushing the quarterback. Like the first play, Dehnicke runs sort of a wheel route from the inline position to get into the soft spot of the zone, with Chiles hitting him on the run for some extra yardage. The fifth play in this cutup is similar to Chiles’ earlier touchdown pass to Wilde, except IU’s defense sent five and dropped six back into coverage. They dropped into a short Cover 3 and the congestion of receivers near the flat allowed Wilde to break open behind the linebackers. Chiles makes the throw on the run and Wilde toe taps for the score.
The sixth play is an explosive pass to Dehnicke, in which the Wildcats are lined up in a Doubles Flex formation with two WRs to the left of Chiles and a WR and TE to the right of him, with both having a player lined up out wide and one in the slot. The reason this isn’t just Doubles is because the TE (the “Flex”) is lined up in the slot and not attached to the O-line. The Hoosiers line up showing Cover 2 (which they did a lot) and shifted into a Cover 6 post-snap, with the left side of the field being the Cover 3 portion and the right side the Cover 2 portion. Dehnicke from his starting position runs a deep crossing route that aims at confusing the defense, Chiles gives him a 1-on-1 shot with a safety and Dehnicke does the rest, making an acrobatic grab over the defender’s head.
On the seventh play, Indiana runs a Tampa 2 defense, and Chiles diagnoses it perfectly. Wilde runs a 15-yard curl route right in a soft spot of the zone defense and Chiles gets it to him quickly. The eighth play in this cutup is a classic Cover 3 beater, with Chiles hitting Alex Honig up the right seam behind the flats and below the deep thirds. The ninth play, Northwestern runs a smash concept on the left side, where Ricky Ahumaraeze gets in behind the flat defender before Chiles hits him as he’s breaking out toward the sideline. The final play is almost the mirror image of the eighth play, with Chiles hitting Honig up the right seam against Cover 3.
Gotta Stop the Run
Indiana’s passing attack struggled more than expected in this game, especially against a Wildcats secondary that was banged up heading in (and got more banged up during). The Hoosiers won this game on the ground, especially in the second half. Turbo Richard went down in the first half with a high ankle sprain, and Khobie Martin, who was supposed to be one of Indiana’s featured backs but went down with an arm injury (broken bones in his forearm) in Week 1 against North Texas. However, Lee Beebe Jr. was the player of the game for the Hoosiers. Beebe turned 24 carries into 203 yards and a touchdown, including multiple explosive runs that flipped field position and halted any momentum that Northwestern had. In this cutup, there are plays from Richard, Josh Hoover and Beebe. Other than Hoover’s rushing score (which was a beautifully designed play as Hoover isn’t known for his rushing abilities), the same thing remains constant: Northwestern’s defensive line couldn’t prevent runs from reaching the second level, and the linebackers couldn’t contain Indiana’s rushing attack. The Hoosiers do have one of the nation’s best and most experienced offensive lines and Indiana’s RPO offense is tough to play against, but for both inside and outside runs, the Wildcats’ defense needs to be better at tackling and plugging run lanes.
