IU football is still in the mix for a return trip to Indianapolis, but right now the path back to the Big Ten Championship game is anything but clean.
Indiana sits third in the current race to Lucas Oil Stadium, behind undefeated UCLA and tied Ohio State, the team the Hoosiers already lost to. IU is 5-1 in league play, and at the moment the head-to-head result leaves it on the outside looking in.
Still, this thing is far from settled.
Quarterback uncertainty is hanging over both Indiana and Ohio State, while UCLA has its own tests ahead and is also starting a backup quarterback. Add in the fact that there were seven two-loss Big Ten teams still in the hunt entering Saturday’s games, and the conference picture could get messy fast.
ESPN’s FPI had Ohio State with the best chance to win the league title at 44.5%, with Indiana next at 37.8% and UCLA at 10.2%.
There is also a scenario where Indiana could wind up in first place. If UCLA loses and creates a three-way tie with IU and Ohio State, the head-to-head tiebreaker goes away. In that case, the next step - record against all common conference opponents - could work in the Hoosiers’ favor, depending on which of UCLA’s remaining games ends in defeat.
Here’s what’s left on each contender’s schedule:
UCLA: at Minnesota, vs. Illinois, at Michigan, vs. USC
Indiana: Bye, vs. USC, at Washington, vs. Purdue
Ohio State: vs. Oregon, vs.
Northwestern, at Nebraska, vs. Michigan
With that much still to be decided, the race is going to keep shifting. For now, the Big Ten’s championship-game tiebreakers are the key to understanding how this could all shake out.
The league uses them in order until the tie is broken:
- The tied teams will be compared based on head-to-head matchups during the regular season.
- The tied teams will be compared based on record against all common conference opponents.
- The tied teams will be compared based on record against common opponents with the best conference record and proceeding through the common conference opponents based on their order of finish within the conference standings.
- The tied teams will be compared based on the best cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents.
- The representative will be chosen based on the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team Rating Score metric) following the regular season.
- The representative will be chosen by random draw among the tied teams conducted by the commissioner or designee.
In Other News...
Indiana Fan Who Missed $1 Million Kick Had A Wild Next Move
Jackson Stallings walked into a spotlight most college students never see, lining up two 33-yard field goals on ESPNs College GameDay with a million dollars on the line. The Indiana student came up short on both tries, turning what could have been a dream payday into a very public miss in front of a national audience, with Pat McAfee among those taking part in the buildup around the moment.
What happened next is what made the story travel even farther. Instead of letting the misses define the day, Stallings posted a viral LinkedIn message that framed the experience as a business lesson, an unusual pivot that fit the kind of attention this game-day scene can create around Indiana football. The backdrop only added to the buzz, with the Hoosiers matchup against Minnesota already giving the afternoon plenty of relevance beyond the kicks themselves. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Is Reworking Its 2027 Schedule In A Way Fans Will Notice
Indiana is already reworking its 2027 football schedule, and the change is tied to the new reality of the expanded College Football Playoff. With the Big Ten now requiring its teams to line up at least one Power 4 nonconference opponent, IU has started looking for a replacement game after opting out of a previously scheduled meeting with Virginia. The Hoosiers still have Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State and Indiana State on the books for that season, but the leagues new scheduling expectations mean the nonconference slate is no longer set in stone.
For Indiana, the search is part of a broader Big Ten trend as other schools also hunt for the right Power 4 matchup. The list of possible fits includes Arizona, Kansas, TCU, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Tennessee, any of which would give the Hoosiers a more high-profile test and a schedule that looks more in step with the playoff era. The challenge now is finding the opponent that makes sense competitively, financially and logistically, while still leaving room for the rest of the 2027 slate to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Suddenly Has A Quarterback Problem It Cant Ignore
Indianas quarterback situation took an abrupt turn in the recent win over Minnesota, when Josh Hoover left early with an injury and did not return for the second half. Grant Wilson stepped in and helped guide the Hoosiers to victory, giving the staff a live look at how the offense functions with a different hand at the controls. For a team trying to keep momentum, it was the kind of midgame shift that can linger well beyond the final whistle.
Curt Cignetti later acknowledged that a quarterback change had been discussed, which only sharpened the spotlight on Hoovers status going forward. Even with the injury and the uneven play, Indiana stuck with its starter for the time being, but the decision now sits under a much brighter glare. The Hoosiers may have escaped Minnesota with a win, yet the bigger question is whether they can keep treating the position as settled. [Read more 🡒]