By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
The #5 Indiana Hoosiers had no problems on Saturday afternoon pitching a 55-0 shutout win over the Howard Bison on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium in from of a sold-out crowd in Bloomington. The Hoosiers are 2-0 on the season, and this is the first time since a year ago today when the Hoosiers have posted a shutout win as Indiana beat Indiana State 73-0 and it’s the third shutout win in the Curt Cignetti Era after the Hoosiers beat Purdue 66-0 on November 30, 2024, and all three have come at home.
The Hoosiers will host the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Next Saturday afternoon a 4 PM. Indiana has outscored the opposition 107-16 in the first two games of the season and it’s the 13 time that the Hoosiers have scored 50 or more points since Curt Cignetti arrived in Bloomington. Indiana has won 18 straight games and continues the nation’s longest current winning streak in FBS College Football. Indiana is now 17-0 at home since Curt Cignetti took over the program. Cignetti is 29-2 as the Hoosiers Head Coach and 148-37 in 16 seasons as a head coach. The Hoosiers have won 24 of those 29 games by double digits.
Howard is 1-2 on the season and will face another Big Ten Team on September 25, when they travel to Piscataway, New Jersey to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Indiana will battle Rutgers in Piscataway on October 3, as it will be the Hoosiers first road game of the season after four straight games at home to start the season. This was the first meeting between Indiana and Howard and it’s the third time that the Hoosiers have face an FCS Opponent. Indiana beat Western Illinois 77-3 on September 6, 2024, and Indiana State on September 12, 2025.
The Hoosiers got the ball to start the game and needed only five plays to find the end zone when Josh Hoover found Charlie Becker on a 34-yard strike to put the Hoosiers up 7-0 with 12:56 left in the first quarter. Howard ran 13 plays for 28 yards in the first quarter and punted all three times. The Hoosiers scored on all three first quarter drives as Charlie Becker caught a 6-yard pass from Hoover for his second touchdown of the game with 4:16 left in the first quarter as Paddy MacAteer missed the extra point as the Hoosiers led 13-0. Hoover found a wide-open Shazz Preston for 39 yards with 1:34 to go in the first quarter as the Hoosiers led 20-0 as the Hoosiers had 217 yards and the Bison were held to 33 in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Indiana punted for the only time in the game on its opening possession in the second quarter. The Hoosiers scored three times in the second quarter to go into the locker room up 41-0 at the break. Josh Hoover found Charlie Becker on 41-yard touchdown pass for the third time in the game with 6:07 left before halftime. Becker had 3 catches for 3 touchdowns through 2 quarters and has 5 touchdowns this season on just 7 receptions in two games Becker’s 5 receiving TD is tied for the most by a Big Ten receiver through the first 2 games of a season in the last 20 seasons. Howard Quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins was hit as a released the ball as Rojliah Hardy picked it off and took it back 19 yards to the endzone with 4:39 left in the second quarter as the Hoosiers led 34-0. Turbo Richard scored on a 14-yard run with 1:30 left as the Hoosiers outgained Howard 108-13 in the second quarter and 325-46 in the first half.
The Hoosier starters were taken out at halftime as Josh Hoover was 6-11 passing for 146 yards and 4 touchdown passes. Lee Bebee Jr. had 16 carries for 117 yards and Turbo Richard had 11 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown. Charlie Becker had 3 catches for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns. Nick Marsh had 2 catches for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Grant Wilson took over at quarterback for the Hoosiers in the second half and went 2-2 for 56 yards and 2 touchdown passes to Nick Marsh and Davion Chandler. Wilson found Chandler on a 3-yard pass with 7:53 left in the third quarter and then Marsh was wide open for 51 yards with 6:03 left in the third quarter as the Hoosiers dominated every phase of the game. Indiana outgained Howard 109-5 in the third quarter and with the score in hand both Howard Ted White and Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti agreed to shorten the fourth quarter to ten minutes. The Hoosiers outgained Howard 62-6 in the fourth quarter and for the game Indiana had 506 yards off offense and held Howard to just 56 yards four first downs.
Tyler Cherry finished the game at quarterback for the Hoosiers completing 1 pass for 10 yards in three attempts. Indiana had 210 passing yards along with 296 rushing yards and 24 first downs. The Hoosiers controlled the clock for 33 minutes and 36 seconds. Howard Quaterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins was 8-15 for 43 yards with 1 interception and Isaiah Freeman was 2-5 for 1 yard passing. The Bison had 27 carries for 13 yards, and No Bison Receiver had more than 15 yards. Howard had the ball for 26 minutes and 24 seconds. The Hoosiers ran 62 plays and the Bison ran 47 plays.
Indiana wanted to clean up the defensive side of the ball after last week’s 52-16 win over North Texas since it was not up to the standards that Curt Cignetti has expected since he arrived in Bloomington. Indiana pitched the shutout and grounded the Bison offense and had 5 sacks on the day. While the opponent was not on the same level there was no excuse for the Hoosiers this week not to come out and set the tone and respond after a subpar defensive performance last week. Indiana proved that and now it’s on to Western Kentucky next Saturday and another chance to go 1-0 and keep moving forward.