Josh Hoover entered the season with real Heisman buzz, but the market has cooled on him fast.
After transferring from TCU to Indiana in January, Hoover was immediately pushed into the national conversation as one of the preseason favorites for the 2026 Heisman Trophy. By Week 1, DraftKings Sportsbook had him at +1500, which put him fourth among players across the country. The idea was simple enough: if Hoover delivered a big season under Curt Cignetti, he’d be in the thick of the race from the jump.
That’s still the broad outline of his year. The problem is what’s happened lately.
Hoover’s odds were sitting at +4800 when Indiana lined up against Ohio State on October 17, good for 10th on the board. A win over the Buckeyes would have given his candidacy a major lift, but Indiana came up short in a 19-15 offensive struggle. Hoover threw for 296 yards, but he completed only 20 of 40 passes.
The next week, the picture got even rougher. Against Michigan, Indiana didn’t find the end zone until overtime, and Hoover had one of his toughest outings of the season. He finished 8-for-18 for 81 yards and threw his first interception of the year.
Those two games sent his Heisman stock tumbling. Entering Week 9, Hoover is now at +40000 on DraftKings Sportsbook, which leaves him 26th on the odds board.
At the top, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is the new front-runner at +122. Miami quarterback Darian Mensah sits at +270, with Miami wideout Malachi Toney at +360. Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr (+2000) and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (+2400) complete the current top five.
Hoover’s season numbers are still solid on paper. He has completed 62.0% of his passes for 1,741 yards and 18 touchdowns, and he’s thrown just one interception. Indiana is 7-1 and remains squarely in the College Football Playoff picture, so this hasn’t turned into a lost season by any stretch.
But the Hoosiers have shown plenty of cracks over the last few weeks, and Hoover’s Heisman case has taken the hit that comes with it. Indiana still has work to do down the stretch, and Hoover’s path back up the board has gotten a lot steeper.
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Josh Hoover Is Already Earning Indianas Locker Room Respect
Josh Hoover has already started to win over the Indiana locker room the hard way. Through a season that has asked plenty of him, the quarterback has kept playing through injuries in multiple games, including against Ohio State and Michigan, and that willingness to stay on the field has not gone unnoticed by teammates. Center Bray Lynch and others have made clear that Hoovers toughness and steady presence have helped set the tone around the offense.
For a team trying to build trust and consistency in a demanding stretch, that kind of buy-in matters almost as much as the throws and reads themselves. Hoovers value has been about more than production, with his teammates seeing a player who keeps competing under pressure and refusing to back away when things get difficult. The next question is how far that edge can carry Indiana as the season keeps tightening around it. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Win Exposed One Hoosiers Question Fans Can't Ignore
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Brock Schott and Jacob Savage both had moments that suggested real value going forward, while Davion Chandlers usage seems to be sliding in the other direction. For a team trying to sort out its identity, that mix is what makes the film worth watching after a victory, because the headline result was clear even if the rotation questions underneath it were not. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas New-Look Roster Is Already Fueling A Huge March Debate
Indianas reshaped roster is already drawing real attention from the national basketball conversation, with multiple media outlets, polls and computer models placing the Hoosiers anywhere from the mid-20s to the upper 40s heading into 2026-27. That range says plenty about the intrigue around what Indiana has put together: enough portal additions and returning scoring to make people believe the Hoosiers should be in the NCAA Tournament mix, even if most projections stop well short of calling them a true heavyweight.
For Indiana, that makes the next step more interesting than the ranking itself. The Hoosiers are sitting in that familiar space where optimism and skepticism can coexist, with some polls keeping them just outside the top 25 while still treating them as a team on the tournament bubble rather than on the outside looking in. The debate now is less about whether Indiana is relevant again and more about how quickly this group can turn projection into something sturdier once the games start. [Read more 🡒]