Does Indiana's defense have problems after second straight shutout? Overreactions from win vs WKU

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana started sluggishly but accelerated away from Western Kentucky in a 38-0 win Saturday, finishing the No. 4 Hoosiers ' nonconference slate.

Classifying this as an overreaction probably depends on your particular concern.

It's two games in three now that the Hoosiers haven't looked quite so dominant as we expected at the line of scrimmage. Indiana's secondary still looks like a work in progress, which, considering injuries and the lived experience of some early season busts last year, is perhaps not hugely surprising.

Perhaps most notably, IU isn't forcing turnovers at nearly the rate it did a season ago. The Hoosiers gained 30 takeaways in 64 quarters last year, but have just three through 12 so far this fall.

You can find some concern in all that and still recognize that this is a unit that's allowed 16 points through three games. It shouldn't look like a finished product in September. But it can get better, and probably will.

This isn't an overreaction purely because the last guy won it, and the one before was a fringe candidate as well. Still, we won't preemptively anoint anyone as New York-bound.

Josh Hoover (649 yards, 10 touchdowns, zero interceptions) has looked very good through his first three games as a Hoosier. Even allowing for the competition, he's looked calm, poised and comfortable, and made some high-difficulty throws. His connections with Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh continue to expand, and the offense continues to build around Hoover himself.

Cignetti will have points of criticism. Not least a pair of missed throws to Marsh — one on a fourth-down slant route and the other a sideline vertical — that might have been touchdowns Saturday, if they'd been on target. Like Fernando Mendoza before him, Hoover still has room to grow in this offense. If he does, the same attention Mendoza got will find its way back to Bloomington.

Don't laugh at this one. If Jeremiah Smith is on the shortlist, Becker should be too.

He's got six touchdowns through three games. His highlight reel expands by the week. We know what he's capable of, even against better competition than this.

It's obviously very difficult for a receiver to get Heisman traction. We're not suggesting Becker will win it. But if we're going to include a player like Smith in those conversations, Becker probably deserves a place as well.

This isn't an overreaction at all. He was sharp, explosive and dangerous.

Cignetti will harp on his fumble, which Marsh was admittedly fortunate to recover. But after two weeks of Hoover-to-Becker dominating the passing game, it should be broadly encouraging to see Marsh step into a leading role this week. Becker led all Hoosiers with 127 yards receiving, but Marsh's 10 targets were tops on the team, and he finished with seven catches for 81 yards. His downfield blocking remains outstanding as well.

The more that turns into a two-man receiving attack, the more dangerous this offense becomes.

This is hardly an overreaction. This team has room to grow, but it's also clearly one of the best teams in the conference once again.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say this team needs Big Ten play. It's learned all it can from these largely forgettable nonconference games . Indiana goes forward or not based on what it does against someone its own size from here going forward.

The Hoosiers are ready for league play, but more specifically, the season is ready for league play. This team needs those tests, and we'll learn a lot more once they arrive.

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