BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — The defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers opened the 2026 season with a 52-16 win over North Texas. In his IU debut, first-year quarterback Josh Hoover was nearly flawless in the first half, completing 7 of 8 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Wide re ceiver Nick Marsh put the Hoosiers on the board early, hauling in a one-handed 15-yard touchdown just two minutes into the game for a 7-0 lead with 13:40 left in the first quarter. “It’s a big culture shock coming to a place like this,” Hoover said. “That’s not a diss to anyone else but it’s just different the way coach runs it. I think it was a lot different from some of the things that were asked of me playing quarterback. It took time and I was not comfortable for a long time, but I think this fall camp, we really started to hit our stride. Then all of a sudden you come into game week and it’s a whole new process. I think like coach preaches it’s a continous process. You have to earn it. You have to earn the right to win.” With one play remaining in the opening period, running back Turbo Richard powered in from two yards out to make it 14-0. Junior receiver Charlie Becker added a 9-yard touchdown catch at the back of the end zone late in the half, sending Indiana into the break up 24-6. Becker ended the day with four catches for 64 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The Hoosiers kept rolling after halftime. Hoover closed his first game in an IU uniform with 13-of-16 passing for 231 yards and four touchdowns. Head coach Curt Cignetti described what he took from Hoover’s performance after his Indiana debut. “We had open opportunities and he delivered the football,” Cignetti said. “For the most part he had protection other than the one he got hit, which he flipped the protection, probably shouldn’t have. There was one other time when he escaped the pocket and made a play out of the pocket.” “When you ask me why good players play good, I guess because they’re good players,” Cignetti added. On defense, fourth-year linebacker Isaiah Jones set the tone with a team-high 12 tackles, the most in any game of his career. Former Center Grove standout and former IU quarterback Tayven Jackson made his return to Bloomington on Saturday with the Mean Green, completing 22 of 28 passes for 192 yards with one interception and adding 22 yards on the ground. Jackson played for Indiana in 2023 and 2024, and played under Coach Cignetti during his first year as head coach in 2024. Indiana begins the season 1-0 and looks ahead to a home matchup against Howard on Saturday, September 12th. ...read more read less