Indiana football beats Northwestern 29-23 as Lee Beebe Jr. runs for 203 yards, streak hits 20
No. 5 Indiana led 12-0 at halftime, gave up 23 second-half points and needed a late 70-yard Beebe run to close it. The Hoosiers are 4-0 but won by 6 as roughly a 20-point favorite.
No. 5 Indiana beat Northwestern 29-23 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington on Friday night. The Hoosiers are 4-0 and 1-0 in the Big Ten, and the win stretched the longest active winning streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision to 20 games and their home winning streak to 19, according to ESPN. Northwestern fell to 2-1 and 0-1 in the conference.
That is the score behind this morning's "Indiana football" searches. The part worth understanding is how close it got, and why a 4-0 record hides a second half Indiana will not want to watch again.
How it went
Indiana's first points came on defense. Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles lost the snap on the Wildcats' first offensive play and linebacker Rolijah Hardy dropped him in the end zone for a safety. Nico Radicic added a 43-yard field goal and Nick Marsh caught an 8-yard touchdown pass, and Indiana went to the locker room up 12-0.
Then Northwestern scored 23 points after halftime. By quarter, per the CBS Sports box score, Indiana outscored the Wildcats 12-0 in the first half and was outscored 23-17 in the second. The Daily Northwestern reported that Chiles threw both second-half touchdowns to Griffin Wilde and ran for a third.
Lee Beebe Jr. scored on the ground with 9:35 left to make it 22-13, Inside the Hall reported, but Northwestern answered with a touchdown to pull within 22-20. On the very next snap Beebe broke a 70-yard run to the Northwestern 5, and quarterback Josh Hoover kept it himself for the touchdown with 1:56 left. Jackson Kleather's 42-yard field goal with 58 seconds to go got the Wildcats back within six, and Indiana recovered the onside kick.
The numbers
| Northwestern | Indiana | |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 325 | 472 |
| Rushing yards | 32 | 271 |
| Passing yards | 293 | 201 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 0 |
| Third downs | 5 of 10 | 9 of 15 |
Beebe carried 24 times for 203 yards and a touchdown. Hoover went 19 of 29 for 201 yards and a touchdown, and Charlie Becker caught 7 passes for 98 yards. For Northwestern, Chiles completed 22 of 29 for 293 yards, and tight end Luke Dehnicke caught 7 for 140. Coach Curt Cignetti singled out Beebe's heart after the game, ESPN reported.
What the 4-0 record hides
Indiana held Northwestern to 32 rushing yards and still nearly lost, because Chiles completed better than three of every four passes for close to 300 yards. That is the part of the box score that matters for the rest of the Big Ten schedule.
The market expected a blowout. A CBS Sports pregame betting preview listed Northwestern at +20, so a six-point win means Indiana won the game and lost against the spread by a wide margin. For anyone judging this team by its record alone, that gap is the more useful number.
The running back room is also thinner. ESPN reported that Turbo Richard left with a lower right leg injury and Khobie Martin broke his arm, and that Hardy, who made the safety, left in the second half. The school had not given timelines in the recaps we read, which leaves more of the load on Beebe.
What's next
Indiana goes on the road to Rutgers next Saturday night in Piscataway, with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff on BTN, according to Inside the Hall. Follow the rest of today's games on our college football scoreboard and the full slate on the college football schedule.
Sources: ESPN, CBS Sports, Inside the Hall, The Daily Northwestern. Betting lines are cited as information, not a recommendation.
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