By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
The #6 and defending National Champions Indiana Hoosiers opened the 2026 College Football season with a 52-16 win over the North Texas Mean Green Saturday afternoon on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd in Bloomington. The Hoosiers unveiled their 2025 National Championship signage before the game coming off a 16-0 perfect season and the school’s first National Championship in Football. Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti is 28-2 in his third season in Bloomington and 147-37 in his 16th season as a head coach.
Indiana has won 14 straight non-conference season home openers dating back to 2001 and 28-3 mark since 1953. The Hoosiers lead the all-time series with the Mean Green 2-1 after 49-24 win in Bloomington in 2014 and North Texas beat the Hoosiers in Denton, Texas 24-21 in 2011. Indiana is 3-0 in season openers under Curt Cignetti and 16-0 all time at home and keep the nation’s longest home field winning streak alive and 23 of Cignetti’s 28 wins have been double digits and 15 of those have been on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
Indiana got the ball first and Lee Bebee Jr. ripped off a 67-yard run on the opening kickoff to give the Hoosiers get field possession at the North Texas 20-yard line. Turbo Richard carried the ball twice for 5 yards total as the Hoosiers faced 3rd down and 5 yards to go on the North Texas 15-yard line. Josh Hoover found Nick Marsh in the endzone as he made the one-handed grab to put the Hoosiers in the lead 7-0 with 13:36 left to play in the First Quarter. North Texas led by Former Indiana Hoosier and Center Grove Graduate Tayven Jackson used a 12 play 37-yard drive that chewed up seven minutes and forty-four seconds of clock as Jackson’s pass to Corri Millner was incomplete on fourth down and 3 yards to go at the Indiana 39-yard line and the Hoosiers defense held on the first defensive drive of the season. The Hoosiers used a 10 play 61-yard drive and used five minutes and 39 seconds as Turbo Richard who transferred from Boston College scored his first touchdown as Hoosier with a two-yard run with 13 seconds left to give the Hoosiers a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
North Texas controlled the clock to start the second quarter going 9 plays and 41 yards taking five minutes and twenty-five seconds off the clock as Nappanee, Indiana Native and NorthWood HS Graduate Dominic De Freitas hit a 47-yard field goal to put North Texas on the board trailing 14-3 with 9:48 left in the second quarter. The Hoosiers scored with 6:46 left in the second quarter as Josh Hoover threw his second touchdown pass of the day with a nine-yard strike to Charlie Becker to take a 21-3 lead as the Hoosiers going 51 yards in five plays in two minutes and fifty-three seconds. North Texas responded with a 9 play 60-yard drive using four minutes and forty-nine seconds of clock as De Fretias hit a 33-yard field goal for his second of the game as Indiana led 21-6 with 1:57 left before halftime. The Hoosiers scored on all four first half drives as Nico Radicic hit his first field goal of the season with a 49-yard field goal to give the Hoosiers a 24-6 lead with 1:24 left before the break.
North Texas had one last chance to put points on the board as Dominic De Freitas missed a 55-yard field goal with no time left as the Hoosiers went to the locker room with a 24-6 halftime lead. North Texas outgained Indiana 173-153 in the first half. Tayven Jackson was 16-19 for 108 passing yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Josh Hoover was 7-8 for 100 yards and 2 touchdown passes. North Texas had 65 rushing yards and the Hoosiers had 53. Both teams had 4 penalties a piece 35 yards for North Texas and 33 for Indiana. The Mean Green had 10 first downs to 8 for the Hoosiers. North Texas ran 36 total plays and had a time of possession of 19 minutes and twenty-two seconds as the Hoosiers had a time of possession of ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds and ran 22 plays in the first half.
North Texas got the ball to start the second half and went right down the field with a 9-yard rushing touchdown from Jahiem White to put the Mean Green with in 11 points at 24-13 with 11:40 left in the third quarter capping off a 6 play 75-yard drive in three minutes and twenty seconds. Indiana kept their perfect drive streak alive as Josh Hoover found Charlie Becker for the second time on 35-yard strike with 9:56 left in the third quarter to lead 31-13 as the Hoosiers went 61 yards in 4 plays in one minute and forty-two seconds. Both Teams had to punt for the first time as North Texas went 40 yards in 6 plays using up three minutes and twenty-six seconds. Indiana had to punt it away after one minute and five seconds of possession time after the Mean Green held the Hoosiers to 2 yards on 3 plays. Dominic De Freitas hit his third field goal of the day from 38 yards with 1:18 left in the third quarter to make it 31-16 Indiana heading into the fourth quarter.
The Hoosiers kept scoring as Josh Hoover found Davion Chandler on a 42-yard strike for his fourth touchdown pass of the day and a 38-16 lead with 12:51 left in the ball game. North Texas had to punt for the second time as the Hoosiers forced a three and out and one yard loss on the drive. The Hoosiers capped it off with 5:26 left in the fourth quarter as Turbo Richard scored his second touchdown of the day from one yard out as the Hoosiers led 45-16. Tayven Jackson was picked with 1:55 left in the game by Jaquan Sanks which was the first turnover of the game by either team. The next play Indiana backup quarterback Grant Wilson called his own number and took it 43 yards to the endzone with left in the ball game to make it 52-16 and will host the Howard Bison next Saturday at Noon.
Josh Hoover had a great debut completing 13 of his 16 passes for 231 yards and 4 touchdown passes and no interceptions. Hoover originally committed to the Hoosiers under Tom Allen changed his mind staying in his home state of Texas and going to TCU. Hoover transferred from TCU and decided to come to Bloomington and was not sacked in this game. Turbo Richard had 15 carries for 58 yards and 2 touchdowns. Grant Wilson had 1 carry for 43 yards and a touchdown as Lee Bebee Jr. had 14 carries for 33 yards as the Hoosiers ran the ball 30 times for 134 yards. Hoover threw to 7 different targets with Charlie Becker leading the way with 4 catches for 64 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tyler Morris had 3 catches for 35 yards; Nick Marsh had 2 catches for 17 yards and a touchdown. Davion Chandler had 1 catch for 42 yards; Turbo Richard had 1 catch for 38 yards. Brock Shott had 1 catch for 25 yards and Shazz Preston had a catch for 10 yards. Indiana ran 46 plays for 365 total yards with 18 first downs and had the ball for 22 minutes and 38 seconds.
Tayven Jackson had solid game against his former team completing 22 of his 28 passes for 192 yards no touchdown passes and 1 interception. Jackson was sacked in the first half by Tyrique Tucker. Jackson had 6 carries for 22 Yards. Jahiem White led the Mean Green with 14 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown along with 7 receptions for 36 yards. North Texas finished the day with 367 yards of offense with 215 passing yards and 152 rushing yards. The Mean Green had 19 first downs and ran 67 plays. North Texas controlled the ball for 37 minutes and 22 seconds, but they could not hold down a Hoosier Team that is once again loaded on offense with a ton of weapons.
For the Hoosiers it was what they wanted to do which is win and win big and they did that getting off to a strong start and scoring 8 of their nine drives in this game. The Hoosiers have won 17 straight games since the beginning of the 2025 season and did not disappoint the sold-out home crowd. There are things to clean up for the Hoosiers as they committed 5 penalties for 48 yards and were outgained in rushing yards and total yards. The Defense still did its job holding the Mean Green to 16 points and offense put points on the board. The Hoosiers defense of their 2025 National Championship is underway and it’s one game at a time and one week at a time as the Hoosiers move forward during the 2026 season, but they did not have a letdown in the season opener and showed that Hoosiers are going to continue to win under Curt Cignetti.