Indiana football has been perfect so far, and the stretch run offers a little of everything: a heavyweight showdown, a road trip into The Big House, and a couple of games where the Hoosiers should have the upper hand if they keep playing the way they have through six wins.
The first real fork in the road comes this weekend against No. 4 Ohio State.
It has all the ingredients of a Game of the Year type matchup, and the Buckeyes enter with a slight edge from the oddsmakers. Since that Week 2 fourth-quarter collapse against Texas, Ohio State has looked nearly unbeatable.
The Julian Sayin-Jeremiah Smith connection is humming, and the defense has been clamping teams down lately. That combination is enough to tip a tight one in the Buckeyes’ favor.
Score prediction: Ohio State wins 31-28
After that, Indiana heads to Michigan, where the outlook is much more favorable. Kyle Whittingham’s first season in Ann Arbor has been rocky, and the Wolverine offense still hasn’t found a steady rhythm.
Bryce Underwood, the former 5-star quarterback, hasn’t yet taken the next step. Michigan’s defense remains elite, but the offense doesn’t look equipped to trade punches with Indiana.
In Curt Cignetti’s first trip to The Big House, the Hoosiers are projected to pull away by two touchdowns.
Score prediction: Indiana wins 28-13
Back home, Minnesota arrives on Halloween night in Bloomington after a strange stretch of its own. The Golden Gophers put together back-to-back gritty wins over Washington and Michigan, then stumbled badly in a 41-13 loss to Purdue.
PJ Fleck’s team has been solid enough to cause problems, but the Purdue result showed cracks in the defense, and Josh Hoover and company should be able to attack them. Add in Minnesota’s struggles away from home in recent seasons, and Indiana gets the nod with its crowd behind it.
Score prediction: Indiana wins 38-24
The Nov. 14 meeting with No. 19 USC brings another test with real juice.
Lincoln Riley is in a crucial year at USC, and the Trojans have opened 6-1 with their eyes on a first College Football Playoff trip under his watch. Still, road issues have followed Riley’s teams, and USC is just 4-8 when traveling multiple time zones during his tenure.
That matters here, because the Trojans are heading across the country to face the reigning national champs. This one has shootout potential, but Indiana is picked to survive it.
Score prediction: Indiana wins 41-35
Washington is next, and Husky Stadium will make that trip anything but easy. The setting alone gives the Huskies a real advantage, and the atmosphere is one of the most distinctive in college football.
But Washington has been one of the season’s bigger disappointments, sitting at 3-3 overall and 0-3 in Big Ten play. The offense has stalled repeatedly, though the defense has kept games competitive.
That points to a tougher, lower-scoring afternoon, with Indiana still doing enough to leave with a win.
The regular season closes with Purdue on Nov. 28, and the recent history in this rivalry has been one-sided in a hurry. Curt Cignetti has already posted 66-0 and 56-3 wins over the Boilermakers during his Indiana tenure, though Barry Odom has Purdue trending a bit better after back-to-back wins over Illinois and Minnesota. Even so, the Hoosiers still look a long way ahead of their in-state rival, and the Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket is projected to end with another convincing Indiana victory, if not quite the kind of blowouts seen the last two years.
In Other News...
Former Hoosiers Just Gave Indiana Fans Two New NFL Reasons To Watch
Week 5 of the NFL season gave Indiana fans a fresh reminder of how many former Hoosiers are still finding roles on Sundays, even if those roles look different from player to player. Fernando Mendoza finally got into the mix for the Las Vegas Raiders in his NFL debut, seeing 10 offensive snaps and going 6 of 8 for 48 yards, while Myles Price kept carving out a place with the Minnesota Vikings on offense and special teams.
For Indiana supporters, it is the sort of scattered but meaningful NFL footprint that makes the weekly scoreboard worth checking beyond the college game. Mendozas first action offered a small but notable milestone, and Prices continued usage as a returner and depth piece shows the Hoosiers pipeline is still sending talent into places where it can help right away, even if the bigger breakout moment is still waiting to come. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas Biggest Ohio State Concern Just Became Hard To Ignore
Indiana football got a useful road win at Nebraska, but Curt Cignetti made it clear the Big Ten grind does not ease up from here. With Ohio State next on the schedule, the focus has quickly shifted from celebrating one hard-earned result to preparing for a far bigger test, and Cignetti pointed to the kind of details that tend to decide games at this level. He praised Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith as an exceptional player, a compliment that comes with plenty of weight when a coach starts game-planning for one of the conferences most dangerous offenses.
Cignetti also used the Nebraska game as a reminder of what Indiana still needs to clean up before facing Ohio State. He cited missed defensive assignments and a limited running game, noting that the ground attack was affected by the conditions and by Nebraskas defense. For Indiana, the challenge is now less about carrying momentum and more about proving it can sharpen the rough edges quickly enough to hang with a Buckeyes team that punishes hesitation. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Faces One Harsh Reality Ahead Of Ohio State
Indiana has made real progress on the recruiting trail, and the 2025 and 2026 rosters reflect a program that is climbing, even if the climb is still steep. A position-by-position look at the 247Sports composite data shows a more competitive Indiana group than in years past, the kind of roster construction that suggests the Hoosiers are not standing still as they head into a marquee matchup.
Still, the comparison with Ohio State drives home the gap Indiana is trying to close. The Buckeyes simply have more highly ranked prospects across the board and far fewer unranked players, which is the harsh reality facing Indiana as it prepares for the game. For the Hoosiers, the next step is not just recruiting better, but building enough roster depth and high-end talent to make these kinds of meetings feel less lopsided. [Read more 🡒]