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.
In Other News...
Lincoln Riley Just Added Real Heat To Notre Dame-USC Again
Lincoln Riley has put fresh attention back on one of college footballs most stubborn rivalries by revisiting the Notre Dame-USC scheduling issue. The USC coach pointed to the reality of the Trojans conference calendar as part of the reason the matchup has landed where it has, while also taking aim at Notre Dames choices along the way. It is the kind of public back-and-forth that keeps a long-running series from going stale, even when the games themselves are still years away.
For Notre Dame, the timing matters because the rivalry is officially set to restart in 2030, with the games scheduled early in the season. That only raises the stakes around every comment and countercomment between the two sides, especially when the conversation shifts from tradition to logistics. Rileys latest remarks do not change the calendar, but they do remind both fan bases that the tension around this series is already back in full view. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Is Still Waiting On The Indiana Matchup Fans Wanted
Indiana footballs future non-conference slate has been drawing attention, and not in the way Notre Dame fans had hoped. Under Curt Cignetti, the Hoosiers have mapped out a schedule through 2029 that stays away from any Power Four opponent outside the Big Ten, a sharp turn from the kind of game that can make an autumn calendar feel a little bigger.
Indiana had previously had games with Virginia and Louisville on the books before moving on to lighter opponents, and Cignetti has described the approach as SEC-style in its emphasis on conference play. For Notre Dame, though, the matchup people keep circling is still a ways off, with the first series between the programs now slated for 2030-31. [Read more 🡒]