The defending national champions picked up right where they left off. No. 6 Indiana blew the doors off North Texas 52-16 in the season opener at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium, with new starting quarterback Josh Hoover throwing four touchdowns in his Hoosier debut. Indiana improves to 1-0 under third-year head coach Curt Cignetti, while North Texas opens the Neal Brown era in Denton with a lopsided road loss.
Indiana wasted no time setting the tone. Lee Beebe Jr. returned the opening kickoff 67 yards to the North Texas 20-yard line, and three plays later Hoover connected with transfer receiver Nick Marsh on a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0 before North Texas’ offense had even taken the field. Marsh, a big-name transfer addition from Michigan State, announced himself immediately with a one-handed grab on his very first target of the season.
The Hoosiers scored on each of their first five possessions of the game before finally punting, a stretch that effectively decided the outcome by halftime. Turbo Richard punched in a pair of rushing touchdowns, including a 2-yard score to cap a 10-play, 61-yard drive on Indiana’s second possession.
Hoover, playing through a bloody nose after a facemask penalty, kept slicing up the North Texas secondary, hitting Charlie Becker for touchdowns of 9 and 35 yards.
By the break, Indiana led 24-6 after a Nick Radicic 49-yard field goal, and the rout only grew from there. In the fourth quarter, Hoover found Davion Chandler streaking down the seam for a 42-yard touchdown, and backup Grant Wilson capped the scoring by taking his first snap of the season 43 yards to the house on a designed keeper. Jiquan Sanks added Indiana’s first takeaway of the season, picking off Tayven Jackson with under two minutes to play.
To their credit, the Mean Green didn’t fold. North Texas put together several long, sustained drives, including a 12-play march into Hoosier territory on their opening possession, but came away without points on that first try after a failed fourth-down conversion. They found the end zone for the first time in the third quarter when Jahiem White capped a possession sparked by a 36-yard Jackson-to-Corri Milliner completion with a 9-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 24-13. North Texas also converted two field goals (47 and 33 yards) but had a 55-yard attempt at the end of the first half come up well short, and the Indiana defense eventually wore the Mean Green down, forcing negative yardage and a late punt as the game got out of hand.
Top Performers
Indiana
• Josh Hoover (QB): 231 passing yards, 13-of-16, 4 TD, 0 INT:
• Charlie Becker (WR): 64 receiving yards, 2 TD (9-yard and 35-yard scores)
• Turbo Richard (RB): 58 rushing yards, 2 TD
• Davion Chandler (WR): 42-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter
• Jiquan Sanks (DB): Interception, Indiana’s first forced turnover of 2026
North Texas
• Tayven Jackson (QB): 181 passing yards, plus a 17-yard rushing scramble that set up a field goal
• Jahiem White (RB): 61 rushing yards and a 9-yard touchdown run
• Corri Milliner (WR): 55 receiving yards
Indiana stays home to host Howard next Saturday at noon, while North Texas returns to Denton to face UNLV on September 12 in a highly anticipated Group-of- 6 clash.
