BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The feel is different this season for Indiana University football—and people are noticing.
IU, off to its first 5-0 start since 1967, cracked the top 25 in the polls. The Hoosiers are No. 24 in the coaches poll and No. 23 in the AP poll after Saturday’s 42-28 home win against Maryland.
Indiana joins six other Big Ten teams (Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, USC and Illinois) in the top 25.
This marks the first time IU football has hit the national rankings since the 2021 preseason.
Coming off a successful campaign during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the Hoosiers were No. 17 going into 2021. After a 34-6 drubbing against Iowa in the season opener, they dropped out of the top 25. The team finished 2-10 and failed to win a single conference game.
The program didn’t sniff the rankings in subsequent years.
The university parted ways with coach Tom Allen after the 2023 season and hired Curt Cignetti away from James Madison. Cignetti turned over the roster and brought some undeniable swagger to a program desperately in need of it.
An early look at the Big Ten standings shows Indiana and Michigan are the only two teams with 2-0 records in conference play so far, with the remaining schedule filled with nothing but Big Ten games.
Indiana passed its first conference road test against UCLA on Sept. 14, coming away with a 42-13 win. They’ll look for a 3-0 start in the conference at Northwestern on Saturday.
