Indiana’s 20-game winning streak is still alive, and the only reason is a backup running back who waited a full year for the ball. Lee Beebe Jr. carried 24 times for 203 yards and the late 70-yard rip that set up Josh Hoover’s 1-yard score with 1:56 left, and No. 5 Indiana escaped Northwestern 29-23 in the Big Ten opener. The defending national champions looked nothing like a title team for long stretches of the second half, and the numbers make that plain.
Indiana led 12-0 at the half after a safety, a 43-yard Nico Radicic field goal, and an 8-yard Hoover-to-Nick Marsh touchdown. Northwestern managed 51 total yards and minus-5 on the ground before the break. Then Chip Kelly turned Aidan Chiles loose. Chiles finished 22-of-29 for 293 yards and two touchdowns, plus a 7-yard rushing score. Griffin Wilde caught both receiving scores. The Wildcats cut it to 15-13, then 22-20, and Jackson Kleather’s 42-yarder with 58 seconds left made it a one-score game. Indiana recovered the onside kick and walked out 4-0 and 1-0 in the league. Barely.
Beebe Did the Work the Starters Couldn’t
Turbo Richard left in the first half with a lower right leg injury after nine carries for 68 yards. Khobie Martin is already out with a broken arm. That left Beebe, and he delivered the kind of workload that decides whether a 20-game streak survives a Friday night in Bloomington. The 70-yard burst to the Northwestern 5 and the earlier 39-yarder after a facemask gift on third-and-19 were the difference between a statement win and a real loss. His 203 yards are the most by an Indiana back since Stevie Scott’s 204 in 2018.
Curt Cignetti did not dress it up. “That guy’s got a lot of heart,” he said. “Boy, he’s got as much heart as anyone that’s been in this program the last three years. Not only didn’t he step in, he played and fortunately they couldn’t tackle him. It was all grit and heart.” He went further in another setting: “He’s got as much heart as anybody in this program the last three years. I would compare his heart to Kaelon Black’s heart.” And on the night itself: “Boy, we really needed him, and he carried the load.”
Hoover was efficient enough at 19-of-29 for 201 yards and a touchdown plus the sealing one-yard run. Charlie Becker added seven catches for 98 yards. Indiana still put up 472 total yards and held the ball for 34:47. The problem was not volume. The problem was how soft the second-half shell looked once Northwestern stopped beating itself.
David Braun saw it the same way from the other sideline. “Our guys kept battling, our coaches kept battling, but the frustrating thing was — I have all the respect for Indiana — but we beat ourselves,” he said. “We should be coming out of here with the win.” The failed two-point try after the pass-interference second chance, the early fumbled snap that became a safety, and the inability to get off the field late all sit on Northwestern. Still, a team that hadn’t beaten a top-five opponent since 1959 or a defending national champion since 1971 had Indiana on the ropes in the fourth quarter.
The Hangover Is Measurable
Cignetti already named the issue. “I’m sure everybody’s disappointed because they still have the national championship hangover,” he said, “but I can’t do anything about that.” He also claimed the close win itself builds something: “Being in a game like this and winning, yeah, absolutely. There’s no question about it. Gives you confidence and belief.”
I buy the confidence line only so far. Indiana was a heavy favorite and needed a career night from a backup plus a late recovery of an onside kick to stay undefeated. The defense that held Northwestern to minus-5 rushing yards in the first half gave up 16 points in the fourth. Poll voters already dropped the Hoosiers one spot after a 38-0 win over Western Kentucky. Another drop is coming. The home streak is now 19 and the overall streak is 20, but the aura that traveled with the national title took a visible hit in front of 54,593 at Memorial Stadium.
Depth at running back is now the clearest structural risk. Richard’s lower right leg injury and Martin’s broken arm leave Beebe as the proven option, and 24 carries at that volume is not a sustainable weekly plan against better fronts. Next up is Rutgers on the road. Northwestern gets No. 13 Penn State at home. One of those two games will tell us whether Friday was an aberration or the first real data point that Indiana’s ceiling this year lives with the supporting cast and the ability to finish drives without leaning on one backup’s heart.
The streak survives. The margin does not. Beebe’s 203 yards bought Indiana another week at the top of the rankings conversation. The next opponent will not gift a safety on the first snap or leave the middle open for 70-yard bursts. That is the real test the hangover still has to pass.
