Indiana's national championship banner is barely dry, and the Hoosiers are already back on the field for a season-opening tune-up against an FCS opponent making its first Big Ten trip since 2023.
Bush’s Picks
HOWIU
HOWIU
OverUnder
Best BetIndiana
Indiana is coming off a perfect national championship season and returns most of the pieces that made it happen, including a proven transfer QB in Josh Hoover and a Big Ten Lineman of the Year up front. Howard is breaking in a new head coach and facing its first Big Ten opponent since 2023. This is about as close to a lock as the moneyline market offers all September.
Howard
+Ted White brings two decades of coaching pedigree
+national TV exposure already gained in opener
+nothing to lose as heavy underdog
−first Big Ten opponent since 2023
−entirely new coaching staff still installing systems
−major talent and depth gap vs playoff champ
Indiana
+defending national champion with returning o-line talent
+proven high-volume passer in Hoover under center
+elite program continuity under Cignetti
−Hoover's turnover history (33 INTs in 36 starts)
−replacing Heisman winner Mendoza brings some unknowns
−brutal October slate looms right after this
Indiana enters 2026 as the defending national champion after going a perfect 16-0 and beating Miami for the title, and the Hoosiers are among the preseason favorites to get back to the playoff. The biggest offseason storyline in Bloomington is replacing Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, and TCU transfer Josh Hoover won the job. Hoover leaves TCU as the active FBS leader in career passing yards, but he's also thrown 33 interceptions in 36 career starts, so how he manages the ball behind an offensive line that returns reigning Big Ten Lineman of the Year Carter Smith is worth watching even in a game like this.
Howard, meanwhile, is starting a new era under Ted White, a Bison legend who still owns the program's career passing records from his playing days in the late '90s and is back after two decades coaching around college football and the NFL. This is Howard's second game of the season and its first shot at a Big Ten opponent since 2023, a chance for White's group to see where it stands against a completely different level of competition before conference play with the MEAC ramps up.
Show fees
11:00 AM CT
Spread
ML
Total
HOW Howard
IU Indiana
The scale of this mismatch is hard to overstate on paper, and the number Indiana is favored by reflects a program that just won it all against a team picked up as a scheduling formality. That's not a knock on Howard so much as a reality of Big Ten-versus-FCS scheduling every September.
Howard Bison
Indiana Hoosiers
Sep 5?vs North Texas—
Recent form.
For Indiana, this is as much about health and rhythm as it is about the scoreboard. Getting Hoover reps with his new top targets and o-line without exposing him to unnecessary risk matters more than padding stats, especially with a brutal five-games-in-five-weeks October stretch looming that includes three road trips. A clean, low-drama opener at home is exactly what Cignetti wants before that gauntlet starts.
Howard Bison
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Indiana Hoosiers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
For Howard, the value in a trip like this is exposure and evaluation — White gets a live look at his roster against high-level competition and a chance to sell the program on national TV lines like the one that opened the season against Alabama A&M. Beating the spread isn't the goal here; competing in stretches and avoiding a total disaster would count as progress for a program still finding its footing under a new staff.
None of that changes what should be a lopsided afternoon in Bloomington. Indiana has the talent, the system continuity, and the motivation of a defending champion that doesn't want to look sloppy in its own building, while Howard is working through a roster and coaching transition against a completely different tier of opponent.
