No. 4 Indiana wants to finetune offense, defense in final non-conference tuneup vs. Western Kentucky

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti won last year's national championship by demanding his players keep finding ways to improve.

That may never change.

As the fourth-ranked Hoosiers chase a second straight title, the two-time Associated Press Coach of the Year looks at the two 50-plus point games his offense has strung together and the two routs his defense authored and Cignetti expects even better results Saturday when they close out the non-conference schedule against Western Kentucky (0-2).

“The goal is to continue to make ’em struggle defensively,” Cignetti said of the winless Hilltoppers. “They've given up some points, 280 yards rushing a game. But it’s always about preparation for the opponent. It’s still this week more about us and tightening some things up, and in some ways we’re learning still about what we can do best before we go to Big Ten play.”

The Hoosiers (2-0) have left little to the imagination.

They have the FBS' longest active winning streak (18), the longest active home winning streak (17), another top 10 scoring offense at 53.5 points per game, and another suffocating defense that has allowed only 16 points in two games with one shutout.

Quarterback Josh Hoover has thrown for as many touchdowns (eight) as he has incompletions, and he still has no turnovers, cleaning up the one glaring flaw from his three seasons at TCU. Charlie Becker has just seven catches but five have gone for TDs, putting him in a tie for the Football Bowl Subdivision lead. Meanwhile, running backs Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. have the ground game in sync even with the loss of injured Khobie Martin.

Just keeping pace with all of it will be a daunting task for Western Kentucky.

“We've had two losses that were really, points wise, we were out of it, and I'd like to be in it,” coach Tyson Helton said. “No matter what the outcome is, I'd like to be in it and I'd like to be in it in the second half and saying ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance here. That's a tremendous challenge against the defending national champions, but you play to win and I want to be in the second half competing to see if we can go win.”

Helton also understands that's just not what Cignetti & Co. typically do.

Since 2024, Indiana has scored 50 or more points 13 times and they have seven victory margins by 50 or more — three more than any other FBS team. But Cignetti, the perfectionist, still believes his team can do more.

“We still have nine or 10 plays that are negatives, negative plays, that we need to eliminate before we start Big Ten play,” Cignetti said, referring to last week's victory over Howard.

Helton doesn't expect anything less.

“If I'm them, I'm trying to squash the heck out of us,” he said. “But our goal is to be in it — if we can be in it.”

Tough start

Western Kentucky has posted five straight eight-win seasons and owns eight bowl wins during the College Football Playoff era. But this year has not started well. They struggled at Nevada in the opener and after facing No. 2 Georgia last week now face the defending champs.

“Their head coach is one of the best in the business,” Helton said. “He knows what he wants, he knows what the blueprint to winning is. He knows the personnel he needs to win. His coordinators have been with him for a while. They get their players to play at a high level, they don't make mistakes, they don't make mental errors, they play really good situational football and they're always in the right places, doing the right things.”

Using both quarterbacks against Indiana

Quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr. started each of Western Kentucky's first two games but was relieved in the first half against Georgia by Brock Glenn after the Bulldogs took a 49-0 lead. Glenn ran for two scores and threw for another in the 70-20 loss. Who will play?

“Both will probably play, we've done that the first two games,” Helton said. “Both guys got dinged up a little bit, not bad at all. Both of them will be ready to play. Rodney should be fine. He'll be 100% ready to go, Brock will be 100% ready to go.”

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