Big Ten Announces Indiana Football's 2024-28 Home, Road Opponents

On Thursday, the Big Ten announced its new conference scheduling model for the 2024-28 football seasons, which has been adjusted off of previous plans with the addition of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA to the conference. Here are the Indiana football conference opponents for the 2024 through 2028 seasons.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – We're not in your father's Big Ten anymore. 

Precisely a decade after the conference added it's two most eastward schools in Rutgers and Maryland, the Big Ten is expanding to the West. Four Pac-12 schools — USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington — will be joining the Big Ten in the fall of 2024.

With the conference now spanning the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Big Ten will have 18 schools next football season. College football has never seen a conference of this size before, necessitating a radical change to inter-conference scheduling. 

Welcome to the Flex Protect XVIII model.

That's what the Big Ten is calling its new plan for football scheduling in 2024 and beyond, which it officially announced on Thursday. It builds on the Flex+ model it had originally announced back when only USC and UCLA were thought to be joining the conference, which would have made it a 16-team league. 

The Flex Protect XVIII model will maintain the nine-game conference schedule the Big Ten has used since 2016. Every school will play each of the other 17 teams in the conference at least twice during each five-year cycle. However, they will also not play each school more than three times in the five-year cycle, save for the 12 protected rivalry games that will be played annually. 

The Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket between Indiana and Purdue is one of those 12 protected rivalry games. 

The 2-3 times every five years model obviously requires one thing that was a foregone conclusion — the dissolution of the Big Ten East and West divisions. From 2024 and on, Purdue will be the only football team Indiana is guaranteed to play each and every season.

The Hoosiers' annual matchups with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, Rutgers and Maryland will be no more. It's something coach Tom Allen was excited for back at Big Ten Media Days in July. Indiana has consistently struggled against the East division, which annually features the conference's three best teams in Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. 

Here are all of Indiana football's Big Ten conference games for the next five years: 

2024 

Home: Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue, Washington
Away: Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, UCLA

2025

Home: Illinois, Michigan State, UCLA, Wisconsin
Away: Iowa, Maryland, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue

2026

Home: Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, USC
Away: Michigan, Nebraska, Rutgers, Washington

2027

Home: Iowa, Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers
Away: Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, USC

2028

Home: Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Purdue, Washington
Away: Northwestern, Penn State, UCLA, Wisconsin

It's apparent how drastic the changes will be almost immediately. 

Indiana will play Purdue five times, but no other Big Ten squad more than three times until 2028. The number of the matchups the Hoosiers have with each conference opponent shake out as follows:

How Often IU Will Play Each Team From 2024-28

• Purdue: 5 games
• Michigan: 3 games
• Penn State: 3 games
• Michigan State: 3 games
• Illinois: 3 games
• Maryland: 3 games
• Northwestern: 3 games
• UCLA: 3 games
• Washington: 3 games
• Ohio State: 2 games
• Wisconsin: 2 games
• Minnesota: 2 games
• Iowa: 2 games
• Nebraska: 2 games
• Rutgers: 2 games
• Oregon: 2 games
• USC: 2 games

Also of note — each five-year cycle will include one home game and one away game between each team that faces each other. In other words, from 2024-28, Indiana will host all 17 of these teams at least once, and will play on the road against all 17 teams at least once. 

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