Takeaways From 2025 Indiana Football Schedule

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s 2025 opponents were already known, but on Wednesday the Big Ten officially released football schedules for next season.

They follow the same format of nine Big Ten games and three nonconference games. In the second year in the expanded 18-team Big Ten, Indiana will face reigning Big Ten champion Oregon for the first time as a conference opponent. However, Indiana’s first Big Ten matchup against USC will have to wait until 2026. 

Rosters will certainly undergo many changes from now until Week 1 of next season, and Indiana is no exception. That makes some factors in the 2025 schedule unknown, but there are still a few key takeaways to be made.

Here’s a look at Indiana’s full 2025 schedule.

Smooth runway, again

Indiana opens the season with three nonconference games that it should handle without much resistance. Old Dominion went 5-7 this year and has won more than six games just once since it became an FBS program. Kennesaw State went 2-10 in its first season in the FBS. And Indiana State went 4-8 at the FCS level. Similar to opening the 2024 season with FIU and Western Illinois, this gives Indiana a chance to establish itself and gain some confidence before Big Ten play begins.

Indiana could also benefit from opening Big Ten play with a home game rather than facing its first big challenge of the season in a daunting road environment. The Hoosiers host Illinois on Sept. 20, which shouldn’t be a pushover after going 9-3 this season. But it’s more favorable than some of the away games that lie ahead.

Challenging road trips

Indiana didn’t face the two teams that reached the Big Ten championship this season, Oregon and Penn State. That’s just the nature of the expanded conference, where no team plays more than half of the 18-team Big Ten in a season now. 

But in 2025, Indiana will have two road games that could be as difficult as any. On Oct. 11, the Hoosiers travel to Oregon, which is the No. 1 seed in this year’s College Football Playoff. That will be just the fourth time the Hoosiers and Ducks have met, with previous matchups coming in 2004, 1964 and 1963. Oregon won two of those three games. One positive is Indiana will have a bye week to prepare for the Ducks, following its road game at Iowa. 

Just under a month later, the Hoosiers head east to Penn State, which is the No. 6 seed in this year’s College Football Playoff. Indiana has never won a game at Beaver Stadium and has a 2-25 all-time record against the Nittany Lions. Beyond trips to Oregon and Penn State, Indiana finishes the season with road games in three of its final four games, which makes winning early in the season even more important. 

Familiar face comes to Bloomington

Indiana co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri officially announced Wednesday that he has accepted the UCLA offensive coordinator position for next season. Sunseri had success with Indiana’s second-team All-Big Ten quarterback Kurtis Rourke in 2024, and he coached three conference player-of-the-year quarterbacks at James Madison from 2021-23.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti retained the nine other assistants from his 2024 staff, thanks to an increased assistant salary pool of $11 million in his new contract. But on Oct. 25, Sunseri will be on the opposing sidelines of Memorial Stadium calling plays for the UCLA offense. It’ll be an interesting matchup against Cignetti and Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, who obviously know Sunseri well from their time together at Indiana and James Madison.

No Ohio State, Michigan

In some ways, the 2024 Indiana football season still felt like playing in the old Big Ten conference. Indiana played traditional opponents like Purdue and Michigan State, winning the Old Oaken Bucket and Old Brass Spittoon rivalry trophies. The Hoosiers also tested themselves against traditional powers like Ohio State and Michigan. 

But games against UCLA and Washington brought the unfamiliar reality of conference expansion, and that sentiment may be even more prominent in 2025. Indiana has played Ohio State and Michigan 70-plus times each in program history, but it won’t face either program next season. That will mark the first time since the 2008 season that neither team is on the Hoosiers’ schedule.

Indiana’s 2025 slate is full of non-traditional Big Ten teams, including Oregon (2024), UCLA (2024), Maryland (2014) and Penn State (1990).