Indiana is one win away from putting its name alongside a tiny slice of Big Ten history.
The No. 5 Hoosiers, 3-0 and unbeaten under third-year coach Curt Cignetti, carry a 19-game winning streak into tonight’s 8 p.m.
Big Ten opener against Northwestern at Memorial Stadium. A victory would push Indiana into a club that has been almost impossible to reach in conference play: 20 straight wins.
That kind of run has happened only eight times since the Big Ten started football in 1896. And in the modern game - the one with helmets and facemasks and everything that defines football after the 1950s - only Ohio State has done it among Big Ten teams. The Buckeyes won 24 in a row from 2012-13 and 22 straight from 1967-69.
Indiana’s streak began with last year’s 16-0 national championship season, and it has rolled through the early part of this year. Before Cignetti, the Hoosiers’ longest winning streak in program history was eight games, a mark they hit in both 1945 and 1967, according to the IU football record book.
“It’s been a nice run. Of course we get criticized because we kind of play an exhibition season before we go into the Big10 play. I can understand that,” IU coach Curt Cignetti said.
“But those exhibition seasons have been real valuable for us. Last year we played 16 games.
We were 16-0. Hadn’t been done since 1893 or something.
“So for spring ball we had a lot of guys out with postseason surgery and even the new guys that came in, so I mean, we’ve needed these games to learn about ourselves, our guys, where we are, and what we have to do to be the best we can be.”
The Hoosiers’ place in the Big Ten record conversation is even sharper when you zoom out. The longest winning streak by a Big Ten team while in the conference is Michigan’s 29-game run from 1901-03. USC, now a Big Ten member, won 34 in a row from 2003-05 while in the Pac-10.
Indiana also enters league play with some eye-catching national numbers. The Hoosiers have the most FBS wins since 2024 with 30, two more than Ohio State and Oregon and three ahead of Notre Dame. They also own the nation’s longest home winning streak at 18, with Ohio next at 14 and Ole Miss at 13.
“It’s a testament to the guys that were here before,” IU quarterback Josh Hoover said. “I just got here, right? But coach, his process, the way he goes about the business and the standard that he established at this program, it’s obviously worked.
“I’m just really fortunate to be a part of it. I feel blessed everyday I get to walk into the facility and know I’m an Indiana Hoosier.”
Cignetti’s start has already put him in rare company. He reached 30 wins in his first 32 games as a Power-4 head coach, the second-fastest pace in the modern era behind only Larry Coker, who got to 30 in 31 games from 2001-03 after taking over Miami.
The backdrop makes Indiana’s surge even harder to ignore. Before Cignetti arrived, the Hoosiers had the most losses in major-college football history. Now they’re one win from joining Ohio State as the only Big Ten teams to reach 20 consecutive victories in the helmet-facemask era.
In Other News...
Steve Alford's Announcement Brings Back An Old IU What-If
Steve Alfords decision to retire after the 2026-27 season closes the book on one of the longer and more varied coaching runs in college basketball. The Nevada coach has spent 36 years as a head coach, built a 724-386 record and guided six different NCAA programs to 16 tournament appearances, a rsum that has kept his name in the conversation whenever the sport revisits its coaching legacies.
For Indiana fans, though, the announcement also stirs up an old what-if that never really goes away. Alfords career has long been tied to the Hoosiers orbit, and any time his path comes back into focus, it tends to prompt the same reflection about how differently things might have looked in Bloomington. His retirement is still a couple of seasons away, but the news already has a way of reviving a familiar debate around a program that remembers him well. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Enters Big Ten Opener With One Painful Roster Question
Indianas Big Ten opener arrives with the usual September uncertainty, only this time the availability report carries extra weight. The Hoosiers are heading into Week 4 against Northwestern with several notable injuries already thinning the lineup, including running back Khobie Martin, wide receiver Lebron Bond and cornerback Carson Williams all ruled out, while cornerback A.J. Harris is listed as doubtful.
For a team trying to settle in against a conference opponent, the absences create pressure in a few different spots at once, especially on the back end and in the passing game. Indiana will have to lean on other players to absorb those snaps and keep the plan intact, and the picture may not fully clear until the final availability report comes out two hours before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Legend Steve Alford Set For A Career-Closing Countdown
Steve Alfords coaching run now has a finish line. The Nevada coach announced he will retire after the 2026-27 season, bringing a long career into view for a figure who remains familiar to Indiana fans from his days as one of the programs most celebrated players and later one of its most visible alumni in coaching.
Alford has been at Nevada since 2019, guiding the Wolf Pack to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances while building on a career that has reached 724 wins. The university and Alford both issued statements reflecting on his impact and the respect he has earned, setting up a final stretch that will be followed closely by fans who have tracked his journey from Bloomington to the sideline. [Read more 🡒]