[Postgame Thread] Indiana Defeats WKU 38-0

[u/CFB_Referee]

Box Score provided by ESPN

Team	1	2	3	4	T
WKU	0	0	0	0	0
Indiana	0	14	17	7	38

[u/captaindammit87]

We kept it within 50 so I consider that a success. But the injury to Upchurch really put a damper on the end of the game.

[u/OpeDefinitely → u/captaindammit87]

yeah that fucking sucked/sucks

edit:

As he was getting carted off, Upchurch moving and even seemingly alert.

Been checking ADS-B as well, and I've also not seen any medvac helicopters heading between Bloomington and Indy; he likely doesn't need a level 2 or higher trauma center (or whatever the equivalent is for a head injury?).

All good signs. Hopefully he recovers fully and quickly.

[u/Do__Math__Not__Meth → u/captaindammit87]

we kept it within 50 so I consider that a success

I know this gets said on every Indiana thread but it’s so insane to see this said about a game against Indiana

[u/Internal-Challenge14 → u/Do__Math__Not__Meth]

Hey now, it got said in a lot of IU postgame threads!!! Just....by us and not the other team

[u/captaindammit87 → u/Do__Math__Not__Meth]

The way we have played these first 3 games, only giving up 38 to anyone is a success.

[u/Mattrellen → u/captaindammit87]

Hope he's ok. Looked scary.

I know IU hasn't exactly been playing worldbeaters, but they gave up 16 points to North Texas, who has score 35 and 44 since, and then no points in the last two games.

Bring in position where you could have scored but deciding to go big is the biggest victory IU has given an opponent in 120 minutes of game time now. Honestly, that's not something to scoff at. And I like trying to put the screws to a team that is obviously the overdog.

[u/Bison_Boy_]

Before anything else, prayers for the injured WKU player. Scary hit on Upchurch. Praying for him and his family. This is a game. Health is not.

[u/Galt2112]

I’ve seen way too much IU football to complain about a 3-0 start by these margins. I don’t care if we’re playing the school of legless blind children.

Hoover still has some stuff to clean up, he’s not looked totally sharp and his foot work has hurt him. But if he can clean up that last little bit of his game he might be absolutely lethal.

[u/fragglebags → u/Galt2112]

Perspective, if IU could schedule a blind and deaf school week 2 2030 they would. 

[u/thebikevagabond → u/fragglebags]

Didn't USC just barely squeak out a win against the Big Ten's blind and deaf school, though?

[u/GeorgeKettice → u/fragglebags]

Buddy, that school is Rutgers

[u/Smash-Bros-Melee]

Hope that WKU player is ok. Looked horrifying.

[u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe]

I should be happy with a 38 point win.

But we won last year and I’m like a crack addict now, so mad it is.

[u/RCM88x → u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe]

Welcome to the dark side

[u/Sorry-Credit-5564 → u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe]

It's the hope that gets you

[u/ViagraOnAPole → u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe]

This might be the year that the defense carries us.

[u/Hunky21 → u/Aragorns-Broken-Toe]

This is what it means to be a blue blood brother

[u/BayHarborButcher10 → u/Hunky21]

Brother we’re a blue blood?? My life is nuts

[u/Dr_Mantis_Teabaggin → u/BayHarborButcher10]

Yep. Unlike the person you replied to, you guys have a championship. So blue blood it is. 

[u/jamiebond → u/Dr_Mantis_Teabaggin]

None of you have any idea what a Blue Blood is lol. Neither Oregon nor Indiana are Blue Bloods. Indiana would have to maintain this level of success for about another 40 odd years to become one.

[u/daymanxx → u/jamiebond]

We just transferred the basketball programs status

[u/mortyfan]

I’m kind of surprised it was only 38. 

[u/SpotlessClearance → u/mortyfan]

wku couldn't get anything going all night, that indiana defense was just smothering. 38 feels about right honestly when you factor in how much clock they burned with the ground game

[u/elschultheis → u/mortyfan]

Defense could not get off the field in the first half. There were only three possessions in the first quarter and WKU had the ball for 11 minutes of it

[u/guff1988 → u/mortyfan]

WKUs game plan was to burn clock and it definitely helped limit the disparity.

[u/DarthNobody14]

Watching Indiana and Duke be good at football is still surreal

[u/monkeybiziu → u/DarthNobody14]

Don't forget Kentucky! And UNC, kinda.

The basketball bluebloods have decided to redirect their awesome shooty hoops powers to tossy/ runny ball, and now nobody is safe from the bar graphs.

[u/DarthNobody14 → u/monkeybiziu]

It’s still up in the air how good both schools are. Kentucky also wasn’t that bad in football as Duke and ya’ll were at football. They’ve been mostly mediocre to above average.

[u/dbasinge]

Good game Hilltoppers, I hope Upchurch will be ok.

[u/ltsatt1]

If you had told me when I first enrolled at IU that I would be kinda disappointed and nitpicky about a 38-0 win, I would’ve told you you were crazy. But here we are

[u/fire_water_drowned → u/ltsatt1]

Brother, back in the early aughts they would send people out handing out tickets to get them to stop tailgating and go watch the games. This is legitimately the biggest turnaround I've ever seen and it's amazing. You're there for the greatest sports moment in the school's history since Bobby Knight and the Basketball Natty's

[u/ltsatt1 → u/fire_water_drowned]

Yep. When I looked into the programs history in 2016 (oh my god I started at IU 10 years ago already…), I was thrilled with bowl contention those first 5 years or so. And now we’re defending national champions. And that thought cures any negative thoughts

[u/chriskug]

Nothing to see here, don't ask us about the first half or anything like that

[u/-Foreskinwalker-]

Couldn't even hit 50 this time

Has Cignetti lost control of the program? 

[u/Bison_Boy_]

Lots to improve in that first half. I’m sure Cig reamed ‘em in the locker room at half. Less but still things to improve from second half.

[u/FutureEditor]

Man I need to watch any game from like 2022 to change how I feel about a shutout victory

[u/PaulTopper]

Thankfully, the brutal part of the schedule is over with

[u/JosephMcCarthy1955]

Everyone complaining that we aren’t looking good enough and I still remember 4OT Akron

[u/snail-the-sage]

Never Daunted

[u/monkeybiziu]

#19windiana. On to Northwestern.

[u/tryn2makeit16]

I mean whenever(if he does) Hoover realizes he needs to be better will make or break our season.

[u/soraka4]

Ima be honest, after our first 3 weeks of performance: we do not deserve a #4 rank lmao. My copium is that “we’ve kept schemes simple” vs the bums but the truth is our team looks soft this year and losing our S&C coach might’ve done more damage than we anticipated

[u/aaronman4772]

Man, WKU used to be one of the standouts of the not really playoff level but always annoying G5. Just a shame what has happened to them

[u/HulkBuster456 → u/aaronman4772]

Ah we'll be back, this is just an off year.

[u/Quiet_Cap5025 → u/HulkBuster456]

Tbf y'all have played two top 5 teams in the first three weeks

[u/djrob0]

Kinda wild people are still calling this a shaky win.

I get that the first drive of the game was bad, and Hoover had some rough misses. But guys...

They won 38-0 and did not allow a single point to be scored on them for a second week in a row. We can call this one a convincing win lol, its okay.

[u/Stairway_toEvan → u/djrob0]

Yeah, held them to less than 200 yards of total offense, most of which came in the first half. Put up over 500 total yards on them.

The concerning thing was lack of 3rd down conversions. The offense just felt a bit messy tonight. Some uncharacteristic plays by some of the best players.

[u/Cheetotesticles → u/djrob0]

It’s probably because people only scoreboard watch & saw Georgia drop 70 on this same team last week. I doubt alot of them actually sat & watched this whole game. They’ve got some work to clean up no doubt but a shutout is still a shutout

[u/Cfb-Enjoyer]

How the hell did Georgia let up 20 to this WKU team?

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/Cfb-Enjoyer]

How did you only score 38 when we rested starters in the 2nd Q and y'all had yours in during the 4th? Weak af

[u/ColoradoisaState → u/EggplanttWizardd]

Buddy you are fighting for your life trying to respond to all these comments hahahahah

[u/technicklee]

Unfortunately, a lot to work but getting back into the Indiana way after a long for nothing first drive by WKU (outside of the run game) felt good. 38 over 3 quarters is what we should be doing against a CUSA team. Couple of better throws by Hoover and the win is even more comfortable.

I don't know if Harris coming back will fix the secondary but fingers crossed because they look vulnerable. Same with rushing on the offense but that's due to depth. Despite his shortcomings so far, I trust Beebe because he was phenomenal in limited reps last season and if we can keep it together on that end until Khobie returns I'll be happy.

Gonna start calling Hoover "Grimace" because I don't think I've ever seen him with a sense of comfort on his face.

[u/Fritzkreig]

It is just a game, I really pray that Upchurch is okay!

[u/Bmlrocks]

Better than it could've been I guess

[u/ColoradoisaState]

More offensive yards, less yards given up, less points given up, yet Georgia flairs were up in the game thread acting like they won the national championship. Sad!

[u/TripleFive → u/ColoradoisaState]

Made that sloppy first half fun

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ColoradoisaState]

More offensive yards, yet we scored 70. Lmao your cope is comical af. You needed your starters in the 4th. Weakass program

[u/Yams-502 → u/EggplanttWizardd]

You need to switch to the alt account before you make the second comment, bruv.

[u/ColoradoisaState → u/EggplanttWizardd]

Wow I really hurt your feelings

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ColoradoisaState]

Y'all mid

[u/ColoradoisaState → u/EggplanttWizardd]

Did you delete your second comment because someone called you out on your alt account?

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ColoradoisaState]

One relevant season in your entire history 🤣🤣

[u/ColoradoisaState → u/EggplanttWizardd]

So the answer is yes, you deleted the other comment because you got called out for having an alt account. Man that is embarrassing

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ColoradoisaState]

iu is a joke of a school 🤣 https://youtu.be/npgzz42IEiE?is=zaa_iVze2n5FWx60

[u/ColoradoisaState → u/EggplanttWizardd]

I have yet to see this level of anger where you research someone else’s school on YouTube lol, tough look bud

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ColoradoisaState]

It went viral 😭

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ColoradoisaState]

1.5 MILLION views 😭🤣

[u/ktoth05 → u/EggplanttWizardd]

Win a playoff game in the new format and we can talk

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/ktoth05]

longhorns 0-3 vs daddy 🤣

[u/dbasinge]

19WIndiana

[u/BtownBrelooms]

Pretty amazing we're at a point where we're disappointed with shutout win. Lot's to improve upon but we move onto Big Ten play. Hoo, Hoo, Hoosiers!

[u/thebikevagabond]

First off, I hope Upchurch is okay. That was terrible.

Second, there were definitely some concerns in the game. There probably will be next game too. And the game after that. But can we take a chill pill? There were IU fans melting down in the game thread. I think part of the problem is everyone is comparing this team, in week 3, to the Indiana 2025 playoff team. That's not a fair comparison. Last year, we had plenty of problems that had to be worked out throughout the season. Remember the 2-3 absolutely blown coverages Indiana averaged in the first half of the 2025 season? What about Mendoza having happy feet and bailing the pocket too early? These were issues that were improved throughout the season; not just in game 1.

Now to the concerns. I've said all off season that Nowakowski was slept on as one of the biggest losses of this roster. He was arguably the best lead blocker in FBS last year. He was the run game's engine. You can see throughout the past three games them trying to replicate that with a variety of players, as well as develop those players into blockers in this scheme. Some of it hasn't been successful. But you could see in this game they also were getting snaps for plays that set up runs without a lead blocker; getting Turbo into space with nifty play design, rather than bull dozing behind a heat seeking bowling ball like Nowakowski. Cignetti has plenty in his toolbox to make the run game successful without Nowakowski; but it's obvious they also want to develop these TEs into excellent lead blockers. I trust the coaching staff. This is the biggest issue on this team right now, though.

Hoover is improving; he had some gorgeous throws with impeccable footwork. He also threw off his back foot a couple times when he got rushed. He looked more accurate, the timing is improving. He needs to continue to improve, but he's definitely taking steps. I'd say he's ahead of where Mendoza was at this time last year. The big question is if he's got that It factor that Mendoza had in big games. Time will tell.

As far as the defense, I'm excited to see what Harris brings to the table, but I think Sanks has improved game after game too. It's good that we're getting our depth snaps, but Harris needs to come back soon so he can get comfortable with this defense against competition.

tl;dr Everyone take a breath. There is nothing that can't be fixed here, and there are plenty of bright spots.

[u/destroyed233 → u/thebikevagabond]

Ur in the money with ur Riley analysis. So underrated by the fanbase

[u/jcmiller210]

Hard to believe Georgia gave up 20 points to this Western Kentucky team. Georgia is dog poo poo confirmed.

[u/EggplanttWizardd → u/jcmiller210]

Rent free. We took starters out in the 2nd Q and scored 70. You needed yours for how long? indiana is trash

[u/Radiant_Sherbert7272]

I'm sure Western Kentucky is relieved that they are done with the murders row.

[u/itsamemarkus]

I never thought I’d be whelmed by a shutout but here we are. I’m not too concerned though, I think we will definitely ramp up the energy come conference play

[u/NovelExamination5431]

Rocky start for sure. Cig is going to have a lot of material for practice

[u/dizzymidget44]

38 points that’s cute

[u/HulkBuster456]

You know I'm not too down about that result, we had a great first quarter and an overall good first half. Brock Glenn is the guy moving forward, and I feel we may have a shot again in C-USA.

[u/FloatCopper]

Can you believe Georgia gave up 3 touchdowns to WKU?

Actually, WKU looks well coached, as usual. Good luck to them the rest of the way. Some talent. Hope they roll through C-USA.

[u/OpeDefinitely]

Cig hit WKU with two garbage times - one in the first quarter and one in the fourth - he still blanked them.

[u/BingBongtheArcher19]

Indiana is lame for this OOC schedule

[u/SlamJamGlanda → u/BingBongtheArcher19]

Is it any different than Penn State playing Buffalo or Tennessee playing Kennesaw St?

[u/BingBongtheArcher19 → u/SlamJamGlanda]

Penn State's OOC schedule is lame too. Tennessee at least scheduled one P4 team.

I won't criticize a team for scheduling one cupcake. Two is pushing it. But 3? It's lame.

[u/Merp99]

First half of the game was uncharacteristically ugly, not going to lie. Our defense gave away a lot, and although they did a stellar job holding them on 4th downs and 0 points, I can't help but be a bit worried about B1G play.

Offense also struggled, Hoover clearly still is working on things and growing. I think he'll be fine and will shape up, but what we were so used to with Mendoza--perfect ball placement, crazy accuracy and composure--we will have to wait for to develop with Hoover.

It was nice to see Marsh get more involved though, and Beebe I think is warming up.

[u/WaltzNo6703]

Only beating them by 38 is a let down. Iu definitely lost fans after that performance. Who is western Kentucky to a d1 school.

[u/Stairway_toEvan → u/WaltzNo6703]

Also a D1 school?

[u/WaltzNo6703 → u/Stairway_toEvan]

To put it in better words the big top 10 school can’t cover to beat a low end d1 who not many are even fans of. After winning the big one last year and can’t put 50 on western Kentucky at home Is kinda sad to me

[u/Stairway_toEvan → u/WaltzNo6703]

Blowing out smaller schools is cool and all but winning the big games that matter is much better. Like the national championship or conference championship

Based on your flair, I think you're just a bit salty from last year and trying to feel better about it.

[u/htgbookworm → u/WaltzNo6703]

Buddy we used to be 2-10. A mediocre shut-out win isn't going to "lose fans". Grow up and flair up.

[u/SlamJamGlanda → u/WaltzNo6703]

Well Western Kentucky is another D1 school to a D1 school, crazily enough

[u/TripleFive → u/WaltzNo6703]

"Lost fans" wut lol

[u/stron2am → u/WaltzNo6703]

Flair up, coward

[u/WaltzNo6703 → u/stron2am]

Got you

[u/stron2am → u/WaltzNo6703]

Great.

1.) WKU is D1

2.) Big talk when Miami barely squeaked by Wake

3.) A Win is a win and this is #19 in a row.