BLOOMINGTON — Charlie Becker‘s late touchdown reception iced a crucial win Saturday 27-13 over Southern Cal, as No. 5 Indiana made its latest argument for its College Football Playoff credentials.
Grant Wilson passed for a career-best 305 yards relieving Josh Hoover, and the Hoosiers‘ defense did more than enough against No. 14 USC.
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Here are three overreactions:
We’ve got 10 games of sample size, with different quarterbacks, different running backs, different opponents, different injury ups and downs. The constant is an offense that just can’t get into third and fourth gear.
It has moments, like it did with some explosive plays against USC’s lagging pass defense Saturday. There’s enough there to feel like Indiana (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) is offering glimpses of what the offense has been the last two seasons. But nothing is sustained, and nothing is consistent.
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Saturday, IU once again struggled to run the ball, struggled to get its playmaking receivers involved enough, struggled to get Wilson comfortable with pass protection enough to really put him in rhythm.
It was better in the second half, particularly as Khobie Martin grew into it. And it’s not patently bad, but for Indiana fans, frustratingly, it’s not consistently good either. It’s not an overreaction to suggest it might be time to accept this is just where the Hoosiers are going to be on offense in 2026, for better or worse.
Report card: Grant Wilson gets above-average grade in first win as Indiana quarterback, beating USC
This certainly doesn’t feel like an overreaction. You saw it dictate a lot of USC’s decisions and tendencies from the jump Saturday.
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The Trojans (7-3, 4-3) threw uncustomary tempo at Indiana early, trying to keep the Hoosiers from leaning on their considerable depth up front. And USC coach Lincoln Riley opted for some unusual heavy sets, including multiple tight ends and multiple running backs, to give quarterback Jayden Maiava more protection and time.
Nowhere did that respect manifest itself more than in the red zone, where Riley’s noticeably conservative decision making passed up a number of potential fourth-down opportunities in a nod to just how good the Hoosiers have been in short yardage.
Southern Cal still geared up its offense, especially late in yet another stressful afternoon/evening for the Hoosiers, but it did so while making decisions both pre- and post-snap that paid ultimate respect to how good IU is defensively.
Rewind: USC-Indiana football score today
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Time will tell how much of an overreaction this is.
There were enough moments inside Saturday’s career performance (Wilson’s 305 passing yards were his most in a single game in college) to see what this offense had missed with a more limited Hoover in recent weeks. Wilson also threw an interception and was probably lucky not to throw another.
But the offense moved and the offense scored, at levels it has not in a month. There’s no denying the outcome there, and no denying Wilson’s importance now to the course of this season.
Will he get the chance to deliver more such moments? Should he? Maybe. He delivered when Indiana needed him to. Soon, we’ll find out if it was enough to give him the job full time.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Has Indiana football offense hit its ceiling? Overreactions to win vs USC
