Indiana’s 2025 Football Schedule Is Set By Big Ten

Schedule will be tougher, on paper, than it was for Indiana in 2024.

Indiana's Kaelon Black (8) runs during the Indiana versus Maryland football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Indiana and Maryland will play again in 2025. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The opponents have been known since October 2023, but on Wednesday, the Big Ten revealed the order of games for Indiana’s 2025 football schedule.

Indiana rotates to a five-road, four-home Big Ten schedule, but the Hoosiers don’t leave Bloomington for the first time until late September.

Indiana hosts Old Dominion, Indiana State and Kennesaw State in nonconference action in Weeks 1-3.

The Hoosiers open Big Ten play with a home game against Illinois in Week 4. The game date itself has not been announced, but could be on Sept. 19 or Sept. 20.

Indiana won’t go on the road for the first time until a Week 5 game at Iowa. After a week off, Indiana makes its longest road trip of the season with a game at Oregon.

Home games against Michigan State and UCLA follow in Weeks 8-9. Then the Hoosiers play against eastern Big Ten teams on the road in consecutive weeks. The Hoosiers are at Maryland in Week 10 and at Penn State in Week 11.

Indiana never had a stretch where it played two road games in a row in 2024.

Indiana finishes with its Senior Day game against Wisconsin in Week 12. After another bye week in Week 13, the Hoosiers finish at Purdue on Thanksgiving weekend.

The five road games makes the Indiana schedule more difficult than it was in 2024 on that basis alone. The Hoosiers also play two of the three Big Ten playoff teams besides themselves from 2024 – both on the road.

Dates listed are tentative (some Big Ten games are moved to Fridays) will be finalized later as nonconference and conference games alike are subject to change. With rare exception, kickoff times are announced during the season.

Here's a deeper look at Indiana's 2025 schedule:

• Week 1 (Aug. 30), Old Dominion at home – A first-time opponent for the Hoosiers. Old Dominion plays in the Sun Belt Conference, once the domain of Curt Cignetti when he coached at James Madison.

Old Dominion, based in Norfolk, Va., dropped football from 1941-2006, but added it in 2007 and became a FBS program in 2014.

• Week 2 (Sept. 6), Kennesaw State at home – The teams have never met in football – the Owls started football in 2015 only became a FBS team in 2024. Kennesaw State, located in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, was on the basketball schedule for two consecutive seasons in 2022 and 2023.

• Week 3 (Sept. 13), Indiana State at home – The Sycamores are back on the schedule as the two teams played most recently in 2023. Indiana State plays the in-state Big Ten schools on a rotating basis through 2027. It will be the eighth meeting between the nearby schools. Indiana has won all of the matchups in a series that began in 1925. The only contest to be decided by a touchdown or less was Indiana’s 24-17 victory in 2012.

• Week 4 (Sept. 20), Illinois at home – Indiana will host the Fighting Illini for the first time since the 2022 season when the Hoosiers earned a 23-20 season-opening victory. Indiana lost the last meeting overall, a 48-45 overtime thriller in Champaign in 2023. Illinois leads the all-time series 46-26-2. Illinois has not won in Bloomington since 2011.

• Week 5 (Sept. 27), at Iowa – The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes have met infrequently of late – only two games since 2015 – but the last game was a memorable one in a bad way for Indiana. The Hoosiers opened the 2021 season at Iowa and were crushed 34-6. It was a line of demarcation in the Allen coaching era as Indiana never won regularly from this point forward in his time as head coach. Iowa has not been a happy place for Indiana. The Hoosiers have lost four in a row in Iowa City, the last win was in 2007. Iowa leads the all-time series 46-28-4.

• Week 6 (Oct. 4), bye week.

• Week 7 (Oct. 11), at Oregon – The Hoosiers and Ducks have only met three times, but the last meeting, a 30-24 victory for Indiana at No. 24 Oregon in 2004 was one of the few highlights of the Gerry DiNardo coaching era. Indiana was one of just two pre-2024 Big Ten schools to win on the West Coast in 2024 with its win at UCLA. Penn State also won at USC. Oregon leads the all-time series 2-1.

• Week 8 (Oct. 18), Michigan State at home – This series has taken on a bizarre tone in recent years with the road team mastering the home team in each of the 2020s meetings. Indiana won 47-10 in East Lansing in November. Michigan State won in its last trip to Indiana in 2023. Indiana hasn’t won the Old Brass Spittoon at home since 2016. The Spartans led the all-time series 50-19-2.

• Week 9 (Oct. 25), UCLA at home – Unlike some of the other 2024 Big Ten series against the new West Coast teams, the Hoosiers and Bruins get an immediate return on a 2024 game. Indiana defeated UCLA 42-13 at the Rose Bowl in September, the only game in the series between the two schools on the gridiron.

• Week 10 (Nov. 1) at Maryland – As if the Big Ten East Division never ended, Indiana and Maryland continue to play annually. The Hoosiers broke a three-game losing streak with a 42-28 victory over the Terrapins in September. Indiana last won in College Park in 2019. Maryland has a slight 7-6 edge in the all-time series.

• Week 11 (Nov. 8), at Penn State – The Nittany Lions return to the schedule after a one-year absence. It could be a reunion if Allen is still the defensive coordinator on James Franklin’s staff. Indiana has never won at Beaver Stadium in 13 tries and the Hoosiers have a woeful 2-25 all-time record against Penn State.

• Week 12 (Nov. 15), Wisconsin at home – The Badgers return to Bloomington for the second time in three seasons. Indiana’s 20-14 win over Wisconsin in 2023 was the only Big Ten victory for Tom Allen in his final season as coach. The Hoosiers have won two in a row in the series and haven’t won three in a row against Wisconsin since a five-game win streak from 1986-92. Wisconsin has the all-time series lead at 41-20-2.

• Week 13 (Nov. 21-22), bye week.

• Week 14 (Nov. 29), at Purdue – Fresh off their all-time greatest margin of victory in the series – a 66-0 victory on Nov. 30 – the Hoosiers will try to win at Ross-Ade Stadium for the first time since 2019 and win consecutive games in the series for the first time since Indiana had a four-game win streak from 2013-16. Purdue leads the all-time series 77-43-6.

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