Cignetti Expects QB Josh Hoover To ‘Be Better’ Against Minnesota Despite Injury

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said Monday he expects quarterback Josh Hoover to start and deliver a better performance when the fourth-ranked Hoosiers host Minnesota on Saturday. Hoover played through a right arm injury last weekend at Michigan and he didn’t look the same. The former TCU star was just 8 of 18 for 81 yards with no touchdowns and threw his first interception of the season. Hoover scored the winning touchdown on a 4-yard run in overtime to give Indiana its first victory at Michigan, 13-6, since 1967. It’s also the first time the Hoosiers have won two straight in the series since 1958-59. Clearly, though, Hoover was not himself. “I expect him to be fine and better this week,” Cignetti said Monday. “Quite frankly, in practice last week, the pass game, we weren’t very good, and I expect it to be better this week.” Hoover was injured during the second half of the Hoosiers’ previous game, a 19-15 loss to then-No. 4 Ohio State. He left briefly, returned and nearly rallied the Hoosiers (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The loss ended a 22-game winning streak and a 19-game home winning streak, the two longest active streaks in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Last weekend’s win allowed Indiana to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time in Cignetti’s three seasons in Bloomington. Following the game, Hoover downplayed the impact the injury had against the Wolverines. Cignetti acknowledged the game plan called for a more run-heavy offense against the Wolverines and coaches considered pulling Hoover and going with seventh-year quarterback Grant Wilson. But they decided against it, and Hoover delivered with a 21-yard pass to Charlie Becker on the first play of overtime to set up his winning score. The defense then stopped Michigan to preserve the victory. “It was a tough week,” Hoover said Saturday. “This is a tough league and that’s something everybody goes through. I think people sometimes don’t understand what it looks like to come out here and play every single week. There’s going to be weeks you don’t feel good, but at the end of the day, I love this team, I love these guys. I had to battle through some things this week to get out here (Saturday), and I knew I was going to find a way to get out here and find a way to win this game for this team regardless of how I feel.” Cignetti expects nothing less from his quarterback against the Golden Gophers (5-2, 3-1), who have won four of five but suffered their only loss during that stretch — a 41-13 drubbing at Purdue — on their first trip to the state of Indiana this season. He also expects his receivers to give Hoover more help. “We didn’t separate at receiver in this game,” Cignetti said Monday. “And we obviously didn’t throw the ball very well or often and a lot of that was because of the type of game it became.” Hoover threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to rally the Hoosiers from a two-score deficit at Nebraska in Week 6 and suffered a cut nose in the season opener when a defensive player yanked his face mask in his first start at Indiana. Hoover is the successor to last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Fernando Medoza, and has not missed a game this season. Reporting by The Associated Press.