Indiana's Charlie Becker faces dad's Buckeyes Saturday

Adam Rittenberg went long on Becker's year at ESPN, and the opening line on the story is a pretty wild one.

Adam Rittenberg

@ESPNRittenberg

A year ago, Charlie Becker had 4 career catches. In May, he stood on the South Lawn at the White House, thanking the president. He’s now one of the top wide receivers in the sport. Wrote about a whirlwind year for the Indiana star. t.co/KufMGnmKFo

None of that is hype. Becker was a special teams guy as a freshman with 0 catches, and he still had only 4 career receptions in October 2025. Then he got his chance and never gave it back: 57 catches, 1,051 yards and 11 touchdowns over a 13-game stretch, 20.5 yards a catch in the Playoff, and big conversions on 4th-and-5 and 3rd-and-7 in the national title game against Miami. By May he was speaking for the national champs at the White House. His own review of that: "That was pretty crazy. Not gonna lie."

Then there's the Ohio State part, which is where it gets fun. His dad, Dave Becker, played for the Buckeyes, and the family stayed all-in on Ohio State even after moving to Nashville. This wasn't just a casual fandom thing either. Dave painted the helmet stripes in the bedroom Charlie shared with his brother Cole.

Adam Rittenberg

@ESPNRittenberg

Facing Ohio State means more to Indiana's Charlie Becker, whose dad played for the Buckeyes, and painted the Ohio State helmet stripes in his sons' bedroom. "We were die-hard. ... That was a dream: to play for them or play against them." t.co/KufMGnmcPQ

"To play for them or play against them." Well, he's done the second one already, and it went pretty well for him. In the Big Ten title game last December he had 6 catches for 126 yards, including a 51-yarder from Fernando Mendoza that set up a touchdown and a 33-yarder late that kept the ball away from Ohio State until 18 seconds were left. Indiana won 13-10. The kid with the Ezekiel Elliott decals on his wall helped beat the Buckeyes for a conference title.

The rematch is a big one. No. 4 Ohio State is 5-1 and comes to Bloomington to play No. 5 Indiana, who are 6-0, and it's the first top-5 vs. top-5 game Memorial Stadium has ever hosted. Brett McMurphy has it at the top of his Week 7 card.

Brett McMurphy

@Brett_McMurphy

My Week 7 predictions (65% last 5 weeks): “I think if you took the name off the back of his jersey, we’d be praising this guy." Saturday picks include Ohio State at Indiana, Notre Dame at BYU, Kentucky at Oklahoma, Missouri at Ole Miss t.co/39ViG8CGxO

Becker comes in leading the Hoosiers with 30 catches for 529 yards and 8 touchdowns, and he still hasn't dropped a pass this year, per ESPN. He's not doing it alone, either: Marsh has 29 grabs for 528 yards and 6 scores, so the Buckeyes can't just roll everything toward the 6-foot-4 guy. Ohio State's secondary has shut down some good receivers this year, but nobody's thrown a pair like this at them yet. Ohio State wants revenge for December, Indiana wants to show December wasn't a fluke, and the guy whose bedroom was painted in scarlet and gray is right in the middle of it.