Big Ten · Curt Cignetti, year 3 (30-2) · Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, IN) · 52,656 · 54,521 avg in 2026
LastW 38–0 vs Western Kentucky · Sat Sep 19 · Turbo Richard 149 rush yds, 1 TD
Nextvs Northwestern · Fri Sep 25 · 8 pm ET · Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, IN) · Indiana by 20.5 · series 36-47-1, won the last 2 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 22 · through week 3
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #8 | #135 | -40.5✗ | North Texas | W 52–16 113 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #8 | #236 | -57.5✗ | Howard | W 55–0 109 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #10 | #52 | -44.5✗ | Western Kentucky | W 38–0 127 | 3-0 | 0-0 |
| 4 | Sep 26 | #6 | #15 | -20.5 | Northwestern | |||
| 5 | Oct 4 | #6 | #92 | @Rutgers | ||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @Nebraska | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | Ohio State | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | @Michigan | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | Minnesota | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | USC | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | @Washington | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | Purdue |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19 | Western Kentucky | W 38–0 | 513 | 0 | 34:51 | +0.322 | 48.5% | 123.4% | Season-low EPA/play |
| Sep 12 | Howard | W 55–0 | 505 | 1 | 33:36 | +0.530 | 54.8% | 152.4% | Best success rate |
| Sep 5 | North Texas | W 52–16 | 365 | 0 | 22:38 | +0.654 | 52.2% | 164.0% | Season-high EPA/play |
| Season average (3 games) | 461 | 0.3 | +0.502 | 51.8% | 146.6% | ||||
Indiana is the reigning national champion — a sentence a century-long basketball school still has no muscle memory for saying.
The same voices who called 2024 a fluke and 2025 a soft schedule are still waiting for Indiana to fall back to earth. Cignetti's answer — roughly, 'I win, look it up' — became the fanbase's whole…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 16-0 · last season
✓ measured from 16 games · ranks are among Big Ten teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Hot. 10-0 over the last 10, and won the last ten.
I enjoy seeing the investment they’re making in their facilities definitely shows their commitment to helping student-athletes succeed
Next Sep 26
vs Northwestern · at home
✓ fact on line · ~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-22
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Curt Cignetti, in his third season at Indiana, faces the challenge of maintaining the program's national power status after a 16-0 season that defied expectations.
our readdeveloping
Charlie Becker is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks, and he catches those deep shots at a plus rate.
our readdeveloping
Elijah Sarratt is a legitimate money-down target -- his 3rd-down conversion rate ranks among the position's best, and his per-target value holds up in that spot too.
our readdeveloping
Elijah Sarratt is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
Kaelon Black does NOT see a usage spike in garbage time -- his workload holds steady regardless of score.
our readbackground
Kaelon Black: a short yardage signal screened this season.
our readbackground
Omar Cooper Jr.: a garbage time merchant signal screened this season.
our readbackground
Riley Nowakowski is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
Roman Hemby does NOT see a usage spike in garbage time -- his workload holds steady regardless of score.
our readbackground
Roman Hemby converts 3rd/4th-and-short at a below-average rate.
our readbackground
Indiana enters 2025 at No. 1 in SP+ — the gap between its top ranking and #72 talent is the story Curt Cignetti must answer in the Big Ten.
our readbackground
Outcome band · Indiana · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
Indiana is the basketball school whose football team won the national championship — 16-0, the longest perfect season by a major-college champion since at least 1972 (Michigan went 15-0 in 2023), and the most-improbable dynasty origin story in modern CFB.
The program ledger
since 2025Court ruling clears 2 DL for Indiana
Eight draftees already thinned the two-deep, and now two DL are cleared — Cignetti didn't need depth at every position, but he needed it here.
Top-10 QB commits to Indiana
Cignetti just dropped 8 draftees and still lands a top-10 QB — that's not rebuilding, that's a program that recruits like it already arrived.
Cignetti updates eligibility, position battles
Cignetti's sorting out who actually belongs on the two-deep after eight draftees walked out — position battles this early mean the WR pressure is real, not just noise.
Indiana makes roster move amid eligibility fight
Federal eligibility ruling hits different when you're No. 1 in SP+ and already down 8 drafted starters — getting that defender back isn't a luxury, it's structural for a roster trying to reload at the top.
Indiana OL Carter Smith injury update
Eight draftees already gutted the depth chart — the last thing Cignetti needs heading into Big Ten play is a question mark at the one position holding that rebuilt line together.
Nick Marsh named WR1 for Indiana
Eight draftees out, a reshuffled coordinator scheme coming in — Marsh stepping into WR1 tells you the development class has to grow up fast, not eventually.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
IN leads the 2026 class with 7 commits. National footprint reaching 9 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
83 signees across 20 states, 2023-2026. IN leads the pull.
That is 9.1% of every high-school FBS signee IN produced over those cycles — second only to Ball State, 8 signees back. The full map →
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Indiana player grew up 209 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, IN). Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 98 of 104 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top r/cfb community posts · last 12 months
Fan confidence a bit lower than recent years
34th percentile among FBS programs
68 of 68 AP voters have them ranked, AP ballot, week 3 (2026) — from #1, Bob Asmussen (Champaign News-Gazette), to #8, Brett McMurphy (Action Network).
Individual AP Top 25 ballots, AP ballot, week 3, 2026 — 68 voters tracked.
9 penalties committed, 18 drawn on opponents — netting a 67-yard field-position edge.
78 penalty yards committed vs. 145 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Indiana · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026