From the moment the opening kickoff sailed through the afternoon air at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, the Indiana Hoosiers left no question about their intentions.
In the first-ever football meeting between Indiana University and Howard University, the Hoosiers turned a historic non-conference showcase into a masterclass, overpowering the visiting Bison 55-0 before a reported crowd of 54,376.
The matchup carried notable cultural resonance as an elite Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) historically Black university traveled to Bloomington to face the 2025 National Champions.
On the gridiron, however, the contest quickly transformed into a lopsided demonstration of depth, line control and offensive precision.
Indiana set the tone immediately on its opening possession. Running back Turbo Richard returned the game’s opening kickoff 36 yards to set up prime field position at the Indiana 44-yard line. Five plays later, starting quarterback Josh Hoover connected with wide receiver Charlie Becker on a 34-yard touchdown strike down the left sideline to put the Hoosiers on the board less than two minutes into regulation.
That opening drive proved to be a sign of things to come for Becker, who delivered a near-flawless performance during his limited snaps. The junior wideout found the end zone on three of his touches, finishing the contest with three catches for 81 yards and three scores.
Later in the opening quarter, Becker capped a methodical 10-play, 86-yard march with a 6-yard touchdown catch from Hoover. The IU quarterback then expanded the advantage to 20-0 before the end of the first quarter by lofting a 39-yard touchdown pass to Shazz Preston.
Becker completed his personal hat trick midway through the second quarter, hauling in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Hoover to push the lead to 27-0 with 6:07 remaining in the half.
Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti praised Becker’s preparation and work ethic following the contest, pointing to his consistency across multiple phases of the program.
“Hardest worker on the team,” Cignetti said. “Prepares as well as anybody. Nobody prepares more. Goes hard every play. Goes hard in practice. He’s a really good special teams guy, too. It’s really important to him and he does everything he can to be the best explosive player… He’s got almost as many touchdown catches as receptions.”
The sheer momentum of the contest was best captured moments after Becker’s third score. Nearly 88 seconds after that offensive touchdown, Indiana struck again on the defensive side. On third down, Indiana linebacker Rolijah Hardy stepped in front of a pass from Howard quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins, intercepting the throw and racing 19 yards untouched to the goal line for a pick-six.
The rapid two-score sequence demoralized them, and Indiana added another score before halftime when Richard broke loose for a 14-yard touchdown run, sending the Hoosiers into the locker room with a commanding 41-0 cushion.
With the game firmly in hand, Cignetti elected to rest his frontline starters for the second half, pulling Hoover and several key skill players to evaluate depth. Hoover concluded his productive afternoon, completing 6 of 11 passes for 145 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover.
Reserve quarterback Grant Wilson took over under center in the third quarter and continued the scoring barrage. Wilson orchestrated a nine-play drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Davion Chandler. On Indiana’s very next offensive snap, Wilson struck again, connecting with Nick Marsh on a 51-yard scoring bomb to push the score to 55-0. Wilson finished his stint, completing both of his pass attempts for 54 yards and two touchdowns.
Third-string quarterback Tyler Cherry also saw action late in the contest, completing a 10-yard strike to Jackson Wasserstrom to sustain a fourth-quarter drive.
Cignetti noted the long-term value of getting backup signal-callers to live game repetitions while acknowledging the standard required at the position.
“I think it was really good,” Cignetti said. “Start with Grant. He got in last week and had a 50-yard touchdown run. Gets in this week, has two nice runs. I believe throws two touchdown passes. So, he’s got to feel good about his performance. Then it was good to get Tyler in the game. But, you know, he missed his first two throws. He’s got to make those throws. At this level you got to make those throws. Then he did make the one. That was a nice throw to Woz.”
Indiana’s ground attack proved equally overwhelming, churning out 296 rushing yards at an average of 6.4 yards per carry. Tailback Lee Beebe Jr. paced the backfield with 112 yards on 16 carries. Richard provided explosive support with 108 yards and a touchdown on 11 tries.
“(We’re) never comfortable because every week is a new challenge,” Cignetti said. “It’s hard to run the football, and then we know when we get into Big Ten play, you know, those yards are tough. So, it all starts up front, and with tight ends and the perimeter blocking and the backs… That one drive early in the first half where we just handed the ball off and hammered them, I like doing that.”
Defensively, the Hoosiers smothered the Bison offense from start to finish. Indiana limited Howard to just 57 total yards and four first downs across the entire afternoon, holding the visitors to 13 net rushing yards on 27 carries. The Hoosiers front recorded 12 tackles for loss and five sacks, consistently collapsing the pocket and disrupting Howard’s timing.
“That’s great,” Cignetti said of his defensive line. “Back to how we used to be. I thought as the game went on, they couldn’t block us and our biggest challenge was tackling the quarterback when we were getting to him. And then we got to him and tackled them.”
Given the runaway margin and the warm conditions, both coaching staffs and game officials mutually agreed to shorten the fourth quarter from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.
“Better taste in our mouths after this game, which was the goal,” Cignetti said in his opening postgame remarks. “And got to play a lot of players. Defense got the shutout and also scored, which was good… So wasn’t perfect. Still mistakes. But there were mistakes that could be critical mistakes in big football games. But better, and we need to continue to develop and get better.”
With the dominant shutout victory, Indiana improves to 2-0 on the young season as it continues non-conference preparations, while Howard falls to 1-2 overall.
The Hoosiers, who improve to No. 4 following the win, take on Western Kentucky at 4 p.m. on Sept. 18 in Bloomington.
Contact multimedia & senior sports reporter Noral Parham at 317-762-7846. Follow him on X @3Noral. For more, visit indianapolisrecorder.com
Noral Parham is the multi-media reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the oldest Black publications in the country. Prior to joining the Recorder, Parham served as the community advocate of the MLK Center in Indianapolis and senior copywriter for an e-commerce and marketing firm in Denver.
