No. 5 Indiana stronger ground helps it play ball control in Week 2 matchup against Howard

Indiana running backs Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. got off to fast starts last week.

Richard ran for 58 yards and two scores, Beebe set up another with a 67-yard return on the opening kickoff and had a 43-yard touchdown run erased by a holding penalty. They think they can do much more — and they could that get chance Saturday against Football Championship Subdivision foe Howard (1-1).

After watching North Texas play keep away from the Hoosiers offense in the season opener, Richard and Beebe will try to demonstrate how No. 5 Indiana can flip the script.

“Every run's not going to be a home run, you know,” Richard said after his Hoosiers debut. “But it's important to keep running, just getting what you get. Those 5-yard gains, 4-yard gains, 6-yard gains, especially if you turn them into 10, 15-yard gains, just keep attacking the middle. It's going to come.”

Indiana's rushing attack looks vastly different than it did in 2025.

Their two 1,000-yard rushers, Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, are off to the NFL. So is Heisman Trophy winning-quarterback Fernando Mendoza, their No. 4 rusher, while Khobie Martin, the No. 3 runner for the national champs who was supposed to be part of a three-man rotation, is now out until midseason because an arm injury.

The early returns weren't terribly impressive because Indiana ran just 46 offensive plays and they didn't top the 100-yard mark until backup quarterback scored on a late 43-yard scamper.

Still, Richard, a transfer from Boston College, and Beebe, who logged only three carries and 27 yards for the 2025 national champs because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, proved they could emerge as Indiana's new dynamic duo. It was an emotional day for both.

“I cried because I just missed the sport so much,” Beebe said after returning to Memorial Stadium. “So just coming back, seeing all the fans, going out there and playing and playing my best, you know, it was great.”

Now comes the hard part — maintaining their productivity as they try to improve.

Martin's absence is likely to add to the workload of Richard and Beebe over the next few weeks while as Curt Cignetti, the two-time AP Coach of the Year, attempts to play ball control against a run defense ranked No. 15 in the FCS at 89.0 yards.

And both are eager to show they can excel in whatever fashion they are asked.

“I feel like I can do everything," Richard said. “I'm able to catch the ball out of the backfield, run the ball, make finesse runs. So I feel like, we're both kind of copying each other.”

The most notable player at Howard might be quarterback Ja'Shawn Scroggins, who has thrown for 424 yards and four TDs and also leads the team with 88 yards rushing through two games.

Scroggins, a fifth-year player, played for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champs in 2022 and 2023, captured two conference player of the week awards in 2024 and another two weeks ago and he was a 2026 first team preseason all-conference selection.

Cignetti has taken note.

“He’s a really good athlete, they've got good team speed,” Cignetti said. “I mean, they’ve got skill. Even on defense, they’ve got quickness and speed. The quarterback, he’s played a lot for them and he’s a dual guy.”

Howard is one of three Division I football programs using the nickname Bison.

The others are North Dakota State in the Football Bowl Subdivision and Bucknell in the FCS.

But on Saturday, the Bison will be greeted by Indiana's mascot, “Hoosier the Bison.” Indiana athletic department officials brought back “Hoosier,” and it was an immediate hit. “Hoosier” participates in pregame and in-game festivities such as leading the team onto the field before kickoff, firing T-shirts into the crowd and driving a motorcycle or IndyCar onto the field. So in the first matchup between these schools, the Bison will be squaring off with the bison.

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