Indiana is 8-1, sitting at No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, and yet the mood around the program has been anything but calm. That disconnect says a lot about how these last few weeks have gone.
The Hoosiers have kept winning, but they’ve done it by the narrowest of margins: three points, then seven, then seven again, with the last two going to overtime. Even the lone loss, a four-point home defeat to Ohio State, came with the kind of ending that could have flipped with a few more inches on the final offensive play.
That’s the backdrop for the scrutiny now landing on Josh Hoover, because the quarterback always gets the loudest blame when an offense feels stuck. But Hoover is not the reason Indiana’s attack has been grinding instead of humming.
The numbers tell part of the story. Hoover is completing 60.2% of his passes and has thrown for 1,860 yards, 19 touchdowns and only two interceptions.
If that completion rate holds, it would be the lowest of his four-year college career. It has dipped because he hasn’t topped 60% in a month, aside from a 74.1% outing at Rutgers.
On paper, that can look like a quarterback slipping against better defenses. The reality is messier.
Hoover has been dealing with an arm injury since the latter part of the Ohio State game, and he’s been visibly wincing on throws ever since. Before facing Ohio State, he was completing 68% of his attempts.
Since then, including that game, he’s at just 46%. That’s a massive drop, and it’s hard to separate from the physical limitations he’s been playing through.
What also gets lost in the weekly quarterback debate is everything around him. Indiana’s run game has at times been stuffed before it can build momentum.
The receiving options outside of Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh haven’t been consistently reliable. Hoover still doesn’t look fully comfortable throwing the ball.
And all of that has come against some of the stronger defenses in the country.
That’s why comparing this offense to last year’s version matters. Indiana’s 2025 attack was built around Fernando Mendoza, and it worked because the pieces around him worked together.
The run game was efficient enough to force defenses to commit extra bodies, with the offensive line opening space for Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black. That, in turn, created better throwing lanes for Mendoza.
Becker’s emergence gave the passing game another layer, and Mendoza stayed healthy enough for the whole thing to keep moving.
The Rose Bowl offered a clean example. Indiana’s offense stalled on the first drive, then got Alabama to back off after a few efficient runs into the teeth of the defense.
Once that happened, the passing game had room to breathe. The same pattern showed up in games like Iowa and Penn State, where strong defenses could clamp down on one or two options and turn things into four-quarter fights.
Add Becker, and sometimes Riley Nowakowski, and Indiana still found answers.
Special teams have added another layer of stress this season, nearly costing the Hoosiers a game against Minnesota this past Saturday.
Hoover was never supposed to be Mendoza 2.0, and nobody should have expected that. He also hasn’t had the same support system or the same health that helped set Mendoza up for success.
Even so, he has handled the situation with toughness and professionalism. He stayed in after bleeding heavily from the face when his helmet’s facemask was grabbed.
He played through the injury from Ohio State. He has accepted blame in media availabilities.
And after being replaced against Minnesota, he was quickly there to support Grant Wilson.
He hasn’t been perfect. But he also hasn’t been the engine of Indiana’s offensive problems.
This is a collection of issues piling up at once, not one quarterback flaw dragging everything down. Indiana still needs better quarterback play if it wants to reach its goals this season, and that starts with Hoover being healthy and put in a better position to succeed.
The bye week matters for exactly that reason.
In Other News...
Indiana Still Looks Like A CFP Team But One Flaw Looms
Indianas place in the national picture is looking more and more legitimate, and the advanced metrics agree. The Hoosiers sit No. 8 in ESPNs Football Power Index and No. 6 in SP+, with FPI giving them an 84.6% chance to reach the College Football Playoff and a 38% shot at winning the Big Ten. For a program trying to turn a strong start into something bigger, that kind of profile is exactly what you want to see this deep into the season.
Still, the numbers also point to the part of the team that could make things trickier down the stretch. Indianas defense has carried its share of the load, but the offense and special teams remain the areas that need the most attention, and the special teams efficiency has been especially low. In a race this tight, that kind of hidden weakness can matter just as much as the headline-grabbing rankings. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas Early Identity Starts Coming Into Focus Against Bellarmine
Indianas early-season identity is already taking shape, and it starts with the frontcourt. As the Hoosiers get ready for their second game of the 2026-27 season against Bellarmine at Assembly Hall, the emphasis is on rebounding and on using the size advantage that comes with two 7-footers in Samet Yigitoglu and Aiden Sherrell. Sherrells showing in the opener offered an early glimpse of how Indiana wants to play, with the paint and the glass looking like a clear priority.
The bigger question now is how the rest of the rotation fits around that interior strength. Guard Jaeden Mustaf is one of the more interesting pieces to watch as the season develops, and his role should become easier to define once Indiana gets a few more games under its belt. For now, the Hoosiers appear intent on making their length and physicality a foundation, and Bellarmine is the next chance to see how real that approach can be. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Gets An Early Chance To Show What This Team Really Has
Indiana gets another look at itself Thursday night when Bellarmine comes to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, giving the Hoosiers an early chance to build on a season-opening win over Eastern Illinois. Markus Burton set the tone in that opener with 19 points and five assists, and now Indiana can start showing whether that performance was the first step of something more or just a solid opening-night start.
Bellarmine is a familiar name around Bloomington even if this is the first regular-season meeting between the programs, with Indiana having handled the Knights in previous exhibition games. The setting should make for a useful early test, with the game on Peacock and NBC Sports Network offering another chance to see how this group looks when it tries to carry its first-game momentum into a different kind of matchup. [Read more 🡒]