Indiana football enters its first road game of the 2026 season looking to move to 5-0 and maintain an ongoing 21-game winning streak.
Rutgers hasn’t shown much on the young season, with a 1-3 record that includes losses to UMass, Boston College and USC, but the Scarlet Knights put up a fight against both the Eagles and the Trojans, so they’re not some slouch.
If Indiana enters SHI Stadium sleepwalking, something that hasn’t really happened under Curt Cignetti, it’ll be in for more of a game than most
would expect. The Hoosiers are going to need to go and take this one to stay perfect and will need strong performances from the offense and defense.
Who needs to step up the most?
Indiana’s secondary showed some gaps last Friday against Northwestern, with Chip Kelly and Aidan Chiles managing to keep creating open space through all four quarters of the Hoosiers’ first Big Ten matchup.
Josh Hoover has largely played mistake-free football through four games, but only one of those matchups pushed Indiana to really make plays. Hoover has played well enough to keep the offense moving, but has left some meat on the bone with some whiffs on later downs and downfield passing. Asking Hoover to be The Perfect Quarterback isn’t realistic, especially this early, but one wonders if this’ll be the game where he shows what he can do in must-have situations.
Lee Beebe Jr. already proved he could step up when he ran all over Northwestern in relief of starter Turbo Richard. He’ll probably still carry a substantial load whether or not Richard is able to play on Saturday, but Indiana hasn’t really asked a running back to be The Guy under Curt Cignetti. Now they may have no other choice.
What do you think? Who needs to show up on Saturday to guarantee a win?
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