When the Hoosiers Needed it the Most, Lee Beebe Jr. Delivered

Indiana won an ugly 29-23 war against the Northwestern Wildcats under the Friday night lights. Indiana had lots of offensive struggles throughout the game, but one man came through when Indiana needed it the most.

Lee Beebe Jr. didn’t play much last season after his torn ACL in the week two Indiana State game. Now, he is the only running back left out of the original trio of Khobie Martin, Turbo Richard and himself.

Heading into this game, Indiana had already lost Martin. Richard started and had a great game. He had nine carries for 68 yards before being hurt on a late Northwestern hit early in the second quarter. The running game stalled out of the first half after this injury.

Indiana went into halftime up 12-0. This zero for Northwestern would be short-lived.

Northwestern began its comeback, and Indiana’s offense felt the pressure. Northwestern scored and made it 12-7. Indiana responded with three. Northwestern then added six, but failed its two-point conversion. The score was 15-13.

It was the fourth quarter. Indiana had the ball. Josh Hoover took the snap, but was met by a Northwestern defender almost instantaneously. Hoover was sacked, and it led to a third and 19. Cignetti dialed up a screen pass, and for a moment Indiana was on the brink of an upset. The screen was thrown to Beebe Jr., and it was bottled up, except for the penalty flag. The call was a facemask.

From there on, Indiana turned to the run game. Beebe had a six-yard run, a three-yard run and then on third and one, he broke a massive 39-yard run. Down at the 10, Beebe would follow it up with a six-yard carry and a four-yard touchdown run. Beebe had his hero moment.

Then Northwestern took the field, down nine points. Northwestern drove down and scored another touchdown, putting even more pressure on Indiana’s offense, up two once again.

With 5:10 on the clock, Josh Hoover took the snap out of the shotgun. He handed the ball off to Beebe. Beebe saw a hole in the line, and then the hole got exponentially larger. Beebe broke out to the left for a 70-yard burst, downed only at the five-yard line.

Indiana then had trouble getting the ball into the end zone, but eventually, with 1:56 on the clock, Hoover scrambled in for six. While Hoover got the touchdown, it was Beebe’s heroics that propelled Indiana to a 29-23 victory.

Last year Beebe had to watch from the sidelines as his fellow running backs, Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, were heroes. This season, only four games in, Beebe has stamped himself as an Indiana hero.

Beebe stepped up, but he has always been ready for these moments.

“It’s not really that much pressure,” Beebe said. “I just know I need to step up and be there for the team, and I was able to do that”.

This Indiana team is always ready to step up when needed, and today, Beebe had to answer that call. The blocking was there for him, and he broke off two massive carries.

“On our previous drives, when Josh (Hoover) would pull it, the run would be open,” Beebe said. “And I just knew to stay patient and say, This is gonna pop at some point”.

Beebe was calm and patient, but also actively ready. Because of this mentality, Beebe was able to be the hero under the Friday night lights.