Curt Cignetti expects QB Josh Hoover to play and perform better for No. 4 Indiana 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.

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Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover (10) throws warmup passes before their NCAA college football game against Michigan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel)

Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover (10) runs for a touchdown during overtime in an NCAA college football game against Michigan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel)

Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover (10) scores a touchdown during overtime in an NCAA college football game against Michigan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel)

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The Jordanian air force carried out strikes against groups in Syria in retaliation for Friday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox Church in Karak that killed nine people, Jordanian state media reported Monday.

It said the operation “resulted in the killing and wounding of many members of these terrorist groups and the destruction of a number of their vehicles.” It did not specify who the groups were or the precise location of the strikes.

Syrian state TV said there were reports of civilian casualties following Jordanian airstrikes south of the village of al-Masmiyah in the southern province of Daraa.

Earlier Monday, Jordanian authorities arrested three men for last week's attack, which also wounded more than two dozen people. The arrests followed a dawn shootout, and all three men were wounded, officials said.

The attack struck the Greek Orthodox Church during a funeral in Karak, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the capital, Amman, on Friday. Karak is home to a minority Christian population.

The attack shocked the nation, and Jordan declared three days of mourning for the victims. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack; the attackers' motive remained unknown.

Later Monday, the Public Security Directorate identified the three arrested men as brothers Hazzah Zaidan Mohammad and Mishal Zaidan Mohammad, and their brother-in-law Ahmad Sami Hussein. All three are Jordanian; they were taken into custody in Karak, south of Amman.

The agency's chief described the gunmen as “takfiri,” a term used for Sunni militants, but said they were not tied to any organized group.

“They only represent themselves,” Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Abd Rabbo Al-Maayta told a news conference. He also said a large cache of munitions was found in the abandoned house where Jordanian forces apprehended the men.

Jordan’s Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said the attack by the three was the result of “a terroristic, extremist way of thinking.”

“If this way of thinking is not resolved, we will see incidents like this again,” he told reporters.

Jordan's King Abdullah II had ordered authorities to respond with “an iron fist” against what he called the outlaws of Islam and anyone attempting to undermine the unity of the Jordanian people.

“We vowed the terrorists would not escape punishment, and no proponent of dark ideologies that divide Jordanians will be tolerated,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Relatives of the victims said the arrests brought them some relief.

“Despite the profound and immense tragedy, what happened today has eased our grief — and the grief of the Jordanian people — not just for us, the families of the martyrs," Khaled al-Borqan, himself a survivor of the attack and a relative of three of the people killed, told Al-Mamlaka.

“Despite the sadness and pain, the news brought us joy,” Fares Halaseh, an uncle of one of the victims and a survivor of the attack, told the TV station.

But the pain remains, he added. "We will not forget this agony for years to come.”

Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Jordanian honor guards carry a flag-draped coffin of on of the victims killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during their funeral procession in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Armed Jordanian police officers patrol near mourners during the funeral of victims killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

Relatives mourn as they hold a framed portrait of a victim killed in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral ceremony in Karak, Jordan, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)