Indiana holds off Northwestern 29-23 to stay unbeaten
No. 5 Indiana needed a huge night from backup back Lee Beebe Jr. to survive a late Northwestern rally and win 29-23 at Memorial Stadium.
Beebe steps in and carries the load
Indiana's starting running back Turbo Richard left in the first half with a lower right leg injury, and Lee Beebe Jr. picked up every bit of the slack. He finished with 24 carries for 203 yards and a touchdown, his second 100-yard game of the season.
His two biggest runs came when Indiana needed them most. A 39-yard burst set up a 4-yard touchdown that made it a two-score game in the fourth quarter, and later a 70-yard run pushed the Hoosiers to the Northwestern 5-yard line, setting up Josh Hoover's go-ahead score. Coach Curt Cignetti said afterward, "It was all grit and heart."
A one-score game deep into the fourth
Northwestern trailed just 15-13 early in the fourth quarter and had a shot to tie after a pass interference call gave the Wildcats a second try at a two-point conversion. Indiana's defense stood up quarterback Aidan Chiles on a designed run and kept the lead.
After Beebe's touchdown made it 22-13, Chiles answered with a 7-yard touchdown run of his own to cut it to 22-20 with 5:10 left. Hoover then capped Indiana's answering drive with a 1-yard touchdown run at the 1:56 mark, the eventual final margin.
Northwestern wasn't done. Jackson Kleather hit a 42-yard field goal with 58 seconds to go to make it 29-23, but the Wildcats couldn't recover the onside kick that followed.
Chiles and the passing game kept it close
Chiles threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-29 passing, and tight end Luke Dehnicke was his top target with seven catches for 140 yards. Northwestern actually outgained Indiana through the air, 293 yards to 201, and finished with zero turnovers.
Indiana won it on the ground instead, piling up 271 rushing yards against Northwestern's 32. Charlie Becker led Indiana's receivers with seven catches for 98 yards.
Wildcats coach David Braun didn't sugarcoat it afterward. "We should be coming out of here with the win," he said, pointing to his own team's mistakes rather than anything Indiana did.
What it means
Indiana pushed the nation's longest active winning streak to 20 games and its home winning streak to 19. The Hoosiers move to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten.
Northwestern falls to 2-1 and 0-1 in conference play. The safety on the opening scoring play and Nico Radicic's two field goals and extra points kept Indiana ahead throughout, and the Hoosiers needed every bit of it against a Wildcats team that had them on their heels for most of the second half.
Facts per ESPN box score. Opinion is the taproom's.