Indiana’s biggest stage in years just got a little smaller.
With the Hoosiers set to host Ohio State in a Week 7 clash loaded with national weight, many expected ESPN’s College GameDay to pack up for Bloomington. That would have made sense.
Indiana is 6-0 and ranked No. 7, Ohio State is 5-1 and sitting at No. 5, and the meeting at Memorial Stadium has been building toward must-see status for months.
Instead, GameDay is going west. ESPN announced Saturday night that the show will be in Provo for Notre Dame-BYU, a matchup between the No.
3 Fighting Irish and No. 8 Cougars.
The visit carries a little extra history too, since it will be GameDay’s first trip to Provo since 2009.
Cougar fans, it’s been awhile 💭
We’re headed to Provo for the first time since 2009 for Notre Dame-BYU‼️ pic.twitter.com/gWSLxrpBkN
- College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 10, 2026
But even with that storyline, it’s hard not to look at Indiana-Ohio State and wonder how Bloomington got passed over.
This game checks just about every box. Indiana is riding a 22-game winning streak.
Ohio State already has a loss, falling to Texas earlier this season, which only sharpens the pressure on the Buckeyes as they chase a spot in the College Football Playoff. There’s urgency on both sides, and the margin for error is shrinking fast.
It also brings together the last two national champions. Ohio State won it all in 2024, while Indiana finished the job last season.
Notre Dame and BYU, by contrast, both missed the CFP a year ago. Notre Dame refused to play a bowl game, and BYU beat Georgia Tech in the Pop Tarts Bowl.
There’s also some real familiarity here between Indiana and Ohio State. The Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers in Columbus in 2024, and that remains Curt Cignetti’s only Big Ten regular season loss at Indiana. The Hoosiers got even in last year’s Big Ten Championship Game, pulling out a tense 13-10 win that fueled Indiana’s run all the way to a 16-0 season and a national title.
So yes, GameDay is headed elsewhere. But the game most people have circled still belongs to Bloomington, where Indiana and Ohio State look set to deliver the kind of heavyweight fight that should have been on the show’s doorstep.
In Other News...
Indiana's Ohio State Showdown Just Got An Extra Reason To Sting
Week 7 already had the look of a national stage for Indiana and Ohio State, with two top-ranked teams meeting in one of the seasons most anticipated games. The matchup carries the kind of weight that comes with recent national champions and a setting that has the feel of a crossover event, the sort of afternoon that usually draws every spotlight available.
Instead, ESPNs College GameDay is headed to Provo for Notre Dame-BYU, leaving Memorial Stadium without the pregame showcase many expected. For Indiana, it adds a little extra sting to a game that did not need much help building tension, because the Hoosiers still get the Buckeyes and all the stakes that come with them, just without the added pageantry that often signals college footballs biggest stage. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Just Got The Stage Hoosier Fans Have Been Waiting For
Indianas ascent keeps getting harder to ignore. After stretching its winning streak to 22 games and edging Nebraska 20-17 to improve to 6-0, the Hoosiers moved up to No. 5 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll, another sign that what has been building in Bloomington is now drawing national attention.
Now comes the kind of test fans have circled for a long time. No. 4 Ohio State is headed to Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 17 for a noon kickoff in a Big Ten game that could shape the conference race and College Football Playoff seeding, giving Indiana a chance to prove its place among the sports elite on its own field. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti Saw One Indiana Problem That Nearly Cost Them
Indiana escaped Lincoln with a 20-17 win over Nebraska to stay unbeaten at 6-0, but the victory was far from tidy. Curt Cignetti had plenty to point to after the game, from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to the kind of response his team needed in a tight road test, and he made sure to credit the resilience it took to turn the night around.
Still, the coach was quick to note one area that nearly got away from Indiana: the rushing attack. With the offense leaning on key plays like Josh Hoovers touchdown pass to help steady things, Cignetti said the staff would go back and evaluate how the group performed, a reminder that even a perfect record can hide problems that need fixing fast. [Read more 🡒]