By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
The #4 Indiana Hoosiers completed the non-conference portion of the 2026 Football Schedule with a 38-0 victory over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers late Saturday afternoon on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. Indiana is 3-0 and begins Big Ten Conference Play Next Friday Night as the Northwestern Wildcats come to town for 8 PM Kickoff on FOX. Western Kentucky ends a three-game road trip with a 0-3 record and will open the home portion of their schedule hosting Mercyhurst Next Saturday Night at 7 PM. Indiana has won all six meetings, and the Hoosiers have scored 30 or more points in each meeting with Western Kentucky. The Last three games were between these two teams were decided by a combined eight points and this was first time that Western Kentucky has been shutout in the series and Hilltoppers previous low was 13 points in 2008.
Indiana has outscored the opponent 145-16 in the first three games and this is the first time in the Curt Cignetti era that the Hoosiers have posted back-to-back shutouts and just the fourth time in the last three seasons the Hoosiers have shutout the opposition Under Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers extend their Winning Streak to 19 in a row and 18-0 at home under Cignetti and have won 24 of the 30 games by double digits. Western Kentucky has been outscored 157-34 in the first three games after facing Nevada, Georgia and Indiana.
Curt Cignetti is 30-2 in his third season at Indiana and becomes the eighth coach in Indiana Hoosier Football History to win 30 or more games. Cignetti is now 1 game behind John Pont, three games behind James Horne and Tom Allen and five games behind James Sheldon on the all-time wins list and by the end of the season he will be fourth on the all-time wins list in Indiana University Football History. Lee Corso has 41 wins Bo McMillin has 63 wins and Bill Mallory had 69 wins. Cignetti is 149-37 in his 16-year head coaching history.
The Hoosiers did not get off to a good start as they had the ball twice in the first quarter turned the ball over on downs after Patty McAteer missed a 51-yard field goal with 7:59 left in the first quarter. Western Kentucky who punted on its first drive of the game marched down the field and went for it on fourth down from the 2-yard line as Western Kentucky Quarterback was getting pressured and threw an incomplete pass to keep the Hilltoppers off the scoreboard. Indiana and Western Kentucky were scoreless at the end of the first quarter, and the Hoosiers had outscored North Texas and Howard by a combined score of 34-0 and Western Kentucky was outscored by Nevada and Georgia 35-0 in the first quarter.
It was the First Time since the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at Rose Bowl against Alabama on New Year’s Day the Hoosiers had been shutout and that game was Scoreless before Indiana won 38-3 over the Crimson Tide. Indiana was shutout against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff First Round in South Bend on December 20, 2024, when the Irish led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and Notre Dame won the game 27-17 and that was the Hoosiers last loss. Indiana was shutout in the first quarter at Michigan State 10-0 on November 2, 2024, as the Hoosiers scored 47 unanswered points in 47-10 win over the Spartans. The last time Indiana was held scoreless in the first quarter at home was against Maryland on September 28, 2024, when it was scoreless first quarter and the Hoosiers won 42-28.
The Hoosiers got on the board with 9:51 left in the second quarter when Davion Chandler caught a 26-yard pass from Josh Hoover to give the Hoosiers a 7-0 lead. Chandler has caught 4 passes this season and all four have been touchdowns and it was the ninth touchdown pass for Hoover in three games. The Hilltoppers punted twice and turned it over twice in the first half as Brock Glenn was backed up to his own goal line and was picked off by Isaiah Jones at the 24-yard line and ran it back 21 yards to the Western Kentucky three-yard line where the Hoosiers scored two plays later on a Lee Beebe Jr. one yard touchdown run to put the Hoosiers up 14-0 with 37 seconds left in the first half. Indiana outgained Western Kentucky 205-137. Josh Hoover had 150 passing yards with Brock Glenn throwing for 87 and the Hoosiers 55 rushing yards to 50 for the Hilltoppers.
After what could only have been thought off as a passionate halftime discussion The Hoosiers scored 17 third quarter points and added 7 more in the fourth quarter to outscore the Hilltoppers 24-0 in second half. In the third quarter Patty McAteer hit a 21-yard field goal with 11:43 left to give the Hoosiers a 17-0 lead. Charlie Becker caught a 79-yard touchdown Pass from Josh Hoover as Becker caught his six-touchdown pass of the season and Hoover threw his 10th touchdown pass of the season to give the Hoosiers a 24-0 lead with 10:43 left in the third quarter. Lee Beebe Jr. scored his second touchdown of the game with a 2-yard scored with 1:38 left in the third quarter.
Indiana added a Turbo Richard touchdown with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter to give the Hoosiers the win. Josh Hoover completed 18 of his 24 passes for 273 yards and 2 touchdown passes. Hoover has 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions on the season. Grant Wilson completed his only pass for seven yards. Turbo Richard had 15 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown for his second straight game with over 100 yards rushing. Nick Marsh had 7 catches for 81 yards and Charlie Becker had 5 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown. Indiana finished 513 yards of total offense.
Brock Glenn completed 17 of his 32 passes for 120 yards an interception and was the leading rusher with 11 carries for 30 yards. No Western Kentucky Receiver had more than 30 yards as the Hilltoppers had 186 yards of total offense. Curt Cignetti wanted to make Western Kentucky struggle and he did just that as the Hoosiers struggles in the first half turned into a strong second half and a shutout on the scoreboard and now its on to Big Ten Play and Friday Night under the lights against Northwestern.