Oregon Football's New Big Ten Conference Opponents: Indiana, Part 1

Indiana football does not have a glitzy history, but they are one of the programs that has been with the Big Ten Conference since the beginning, a league the Oregon Ducks join this year.

Bobby Goddin/Herald-Times / USA TODAY

An original member of the Big Ten Conference, the Indiana Hoosiers aren’t a juggernaut on the gridiron. Still, they’re smack dab in the middle of what is essential to the history of the league: a midwest, northern plains culture.

"You’ll see Indiana win some football games in the next few years, or they’ll take me out and put me under six feet of earth."

- Bo McMillan, football coach 1934-47

School History

An 1820 legislative act was adopted to establish a state seminary, with construction beginning in 1822. The first students began attending the seminary in 1825, with State Seminary becoming Indiana College in 1828.

In 1838, Indiana University is finally the name of the school in Bloomington. Just four years later, the law school was founded. Over the first 70 years of IU, a legal-political battle was fought between them and Vincennes University over which was the legitimate state university. In 2024, everyone has heard of the Hoosiers while very few outside of the area know of Indiana’s first college.

Enrollment did not eclipse the 1,000 student mark until the 1900s. Today, the public research university boasts more than 40,000 on its flagship campus. In the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings, Indiana is No. 73 among national universities and No. 34 among public schools.

Football Program History

There is no need to kid ourselves, Indiana has been one of the worst programs in college football since the beginning. The Hoosiers did not win a game during their first three seasons and then went without a team in what would have been year four. In 1891, the team got in the win column, but went 1-5 on the year.

Indiana has just a pair of Big Ten titles: 1945 and 1967. The Hoosiers have appeared in just 13 bowl games, winning three of them. Of Division I programs with more than 1,000 games played, Indiana has the third worst winning percentage (42%). They hold the record for most losses by a Division I team with 713.

Even with that lack of success, six Hoosiers have been inducted into the College Footblal Hall of Fame. Speaking of Hoosiers, the term originated in the 1800s as a description for someone from Indiana, and was first used by the university during the 1923 football season. That said, there is no Hoosier mascot. As a matter of fact, Indiana has been represented by mascots including an ox, ab ull, and a beared man named “Hoosier Pride”.

Championships and Heisman Trohpy Winners

Claimed National Championships: None

Confrence Titles: 2

Heisman Trophy Winners: None

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Oregon is set to join the Big Ten Conference in 2024. For information on the league as a whole and where to read about the other programs, refer to Oregon Football's New Big Ten Conference Opponents: Rich History, Distance.