Indiana’s future schedule just got a lot lighter, and the one game that gave Hoosiers fans a reason to look ahead is gone.
The program has canceled its home-and-home series with Notre Dame, which had been set for 2030 and 2031, according to The Athletic. That change comes on the same day Notre Dame and USC announced they were renewing their historic rivalry with a four-game series.
For Indiana, the timing stings. The Hoosiers had already drawn criticism for their non-conference scheduling under Curt Cignetti, but the Notre Dame series at least gave them a built-in rebuttal: tougher games were coming.
Now that matchup is off the board, and Indiana does not currently have any Power Four non-conference opponents scheduled. That leaves the Hoosiers with one of the weakest non-conference slates in the country.
Cignetti has pushed back on the criticism before. After his national championship run with Indiana, he took aim at the SEC and defended the way the Hoosiers have built their schedule, saying his team had chosen to "adopt the SEC philosophy."
That line carries a little less weight now. The SEC has moved to a nine-game conference schedule and now requires its teams to play one Power Four opponent outside the league, which only sharpens the contrast with Indiana’s current setup. With the Notre Dame series gone, the pressure is on the Hoosiers to find another Power Four opponent to fill that opening.
Cignetti and Indiana have already proven plenty on the field. But the way the schedule looks now, the program is inviting the kind of criticism that comes with playing like a team still chasing bowl eligibility rather than one fresh off a national title.
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