Beebe’s 70-Yard Burst Settles a Big Ten Opener
No. 5 Indiana needed a jolt to shake off a stubborn Northwestern side on Friday night, and it came from Lee Beebe Jr. The running back carried 24 times for 203 yards, including a decisive 70-yard run in the fourth quarter, as the Hoosiers held on for a 29-23 win at Memorial Stadium and opened Big Ten play at 1-0.
The result pushes Indiana to 4-0 for the season, continuing a run of dominance that has defined Curt Cignetti’s tenure since he took over the program. A 12-0 halftime lead looked like business as usual for the Hoosiers, right up until Northwestern’s fourth-quarter surge made it look, for a while, like the streak might actually be in jeopardy.
Try it for $0.99.
Northwestern Made It Interesting Late
Indiana led 12-0 at the break behind a safety and two field goals, hardly the offensive showcase its ranking suggested. Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles found his rhythm after halftime, finishing 22 of 29 for 293 yards and connecting with Griffin Wilde twice, including an 8-yard score that trimmed the deficit in the fourth quarter. Luke Dehnicke added 140 yards on seven catches, and Jackson Kleather’s 42-yard field goal with 58 seconds left kept Northwestern within one score of the upset.
It is the kind of close call that will frustrate a Northwestern program still searching for the signature win that validates its rebuild under new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, brought in to modernize an attack that has too often left points on the field against the Big Ten’s better rosters.
Indiana answered every time it needed to. Josh Hoover added a rushing score to go with 201 yards through the air, and Beebe’s late burst set up his own short touchdown run to push the lead back to two scores. Chiles answered right back with a rushing touchdown of his own to make it 29-23, but Indiana’s defense closed the door from there.
A Program Building Toward November
Indiana’s 4-0 start keeps the Hoosiers on the pace that has defined the program’s rise under Cignetti, and Friday’s win, shakier than the scoreline suggested through three quarters, showed a team that can lean on its ground game when the passing numbers are ordinary. Northwestern falls to 2-1 and 0-1 in Big Ten play, a manageable setback but one that leaves little margin for error against a conference that gets no easier from here.
Discover the rest of our Football news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply