The Three Big Ten Teams Indiana Football Has a Winning Record Against

Of the 13 other teams in the current Big Ten, Indiana football currently has an all-time winning record against just three of them, and they all share one key trait with each other.

It's been rough sledding for coach Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers in recent years, and the same goes for IU football throughout its history.

Of Indiana's 13 current Big Ten opponents, 10 of them have an all-time winning record against the Hoosiers, and for teams like Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, it's quite the decisive edge. 

However, there are three current Big Ten foes in which Indiana has an all-time winning record against. Coincidentally, all three are the most recent teams to join the conference — Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers. 

Maybe conference realignment is a good thing after all?

Indiana football fans can't brag about having a historical edge over most of their Big Ten opponents, but for these three teams, they sure as heck can. 

(All head-to-head historical information used in this story is courtesy of Winsipedia)

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Perhaps the funniest of the three – because you know it just kills every Nebraska fan out there – is Indiana's 10-9-3 all-time record against the Cornhuskers.

Mention this to a Nebraska fan, and they'd be sure to point out that the Cornhuskers have won six of their last seven games against Indiana. Prior to the Hoosiers' victory in Lincoln in 2019, they hadn't defeated Nebraska since 1959. 

But IU still leads the historic scoreboard, and any Hoosier football fan should feel no shame bragging about it. 

The main reason behind this head-to-head advantage is Bo McMillin — one of the greatest football coaches in Indiana history. 

McMillin beat Nebraska not once, not twice, but seven times in a row from 1941-47. It's probably the only era in the history of college football where IU was a perennial powerhouse and Nebraska was the embattled basement dweller. 

McMillin left IU following the 1947 season, and the Hoosiers finished with a combined record of 40-22-4 over his final seven years, including the 1945 team that went 9-0-1 and won Indiana's first ever Big Ten title. McMillin finished his tenure at Indiana with a 63-48-11 record, good for the second-most wins of any coach in program history, behind Bill Mallory. 

McMillin is still the only Indiana football head coach in the past century to finish with a winning record during his tenure at IU. 

Nebraska, in contrast, finished with a combined record of 20-42 from 1941-47 under five different head coaches. 

Bo McMillin coached Indiana football from 1934 to 1947.  / From the Indiana University Honors & Awards page devoted to Bo McMillin

Prior to 1941, Indiana and Nebraska had only ever faced off five times, with two of the matchups ending in a tie, and the other three being Nebraska victories. 

Despite having just one win over Nebraska in the last 60-plus years, Indiana holds the all-time series edge, thanks to a 9-0-1 record against the Cornhuskers from 1941-1959.

Even in 1941, when the Hoosiers went a dismal 2-6 under McMillin and lost their season opener to Detroit Mercy, Indiana managed to beat 15th-ranked Nebraska 21-13 in Lincoln for its first win of the season. Even with his worst teams, McMillin would still beat Nebraska. He owned the state that much. 

Bo McMillin forever. 

Maryland Terrapins

Coach Mike Locksley and the Terrapins have gotten the better of Indiana their last two matchups, but the Hoosiers still have a 5-4 record against Maryland since it joined the Big Ten in 2014. And in the all-time series, Indiana holds a 7-4 advantage.

Additionally, prior to conference realignment, IU held a 2-0 record against Maryland. Indiana claimed road wins two years in a row, 1934 and 1935, once in College Park, and once in Baltimore.

Despite neither school being a football powerhouse, the recent series history is littered with high-scoring thrillers. Aside from Indiana's 27-11 win over the Terrapins in 2020, every game since 2015 has ended with both teams scoring at least 28 points.

Funny enough, old friend Coach McMillin is responsible for the two 1930s-era wins over Maryland, defeating the Terrapins in each of his first two seasons as Indiana's coach in 1934 and 1935. 

Maryland was actually McMillin's first win at Indiana against a team that's still in the FBS today. His first ever win for the Hoosiers came against his alma mater, Centre College, which now plays football at the Division III level.

With a three-game lead over Maryland and annual East division matchups going away in 2024, Indiana is likely to hang on to this all-time series advantage for the foreseeable future.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Unlike the other two, there's sadly no way to rope in goofy college football history or the beloved Bo McMillin when it comes to the Indiana-Rutgers series, which the Hoosiers lead 5-4.

The first-ever game between Indiana and Rutgers took place in 2014, and ended in a dominant 45-23 victory for the Scarlet Knights. Otherwise, it's been a mundane series. 

Rutgers took the early edge with back-to-back victories in 2014 and 2015, then dropped five straight from 2016-20 against the Hoosiers. The Scarlet Knights were coached by Chris Ash at the time, who had one of the worst tenures in Big Ten history, going 8-32 and being fired four games into his fourth season.

Not only did Indiana consistently beat Rutgers from 2016-20, but the Hoosiers often beat them pretty bad. On average, Indiana beat Rutgers 34-13 in these five matchups, including shutout-wins for the Hoosiers in 2017 and 2019.

Thinking about this Michael Penix Jr dime on a Monday morning pic.twitter.com/ZffkNBThuF

— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) July 17, 2023

Of the three Big Ten series in which the Hoosiers hold the all-time lead, their advantage over Rutgers has the best chance of slipping away first. Rutgers can tie the series with a win in Bloomington on Oct. 21, while Indiana holds a three-win edge over Maryland, and the Hoosiers don't play Nebraska until 2024.

Indiana plays Rutgers in this year's homecoming game, looking to snap a two-game losing streak against Greg Schiano's team and hang on to the historical edge. 

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