One of the best ways to accelerate the college football offseason is to start looking ahead to the fall and projecting a team’s record. Indiana’s 2026 schedule is set. Here are how their opponents rank in the initial 2026 SP+ rankings.
2026 Indiana Football Opponents
9/5 vs. North Texas Mean Green (109th in SP+)
9/12 vs. Howard Bison (FCS N/A)
9/19 vs. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (86th in SP+)
9/26 vs. Northwestern Wildcats (49th in SP+)
10/4 at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (62nd in SP+)
10/10 at Nebraska Cornhuskers (37th in SP+)
10/17 vs. Ohio State Buckeyes (1st in SP+)
10/24 at Michigan Wolverines (14th in SP+)
10/31 vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (45th in SP+)
BYE
11/14 vs. USC Trojans (13th in SP+)
11/21 at Washington Huskies (21st in SP+)
11/28 vs. Purdue Boilermakers (82nd in SP+)
Can the Hoosiers Start Fast Again?
The Hoosier do not face a team in the top 40 until week six when they head to Nebraska. While Cignetti’s teams at Indiana have not always been impressive in their season openers, 2026 North Texas is not 2025 North Texas. The Mean Green are in a total rebuild after Eric Morris left to be the head coach at Oklahoma State and quarterback Drew Mestemaker followed.
Howard is an FCS foe and the Hoosiers have scored 200 points in two FCS games during Cignetti’s tenure at IU. While the last few games against Western Kentucky have been nail biters, it should be another comfortable win for the Hoosiers.
IU opens Big Ten play at home against Northwestern before traveling to Rutgers. A 5-0 start should be expected.
What’s the Toughest Stretch?
There are a couple potential speed bumps in this schedule. Outside of having to play nine games in a row, the Hoosiers have a pretty difficult back half of the schedule. Between weeks 6 and week 12 the Hoosiers play opponents who are all in the top 45, including back-to-back weeks with top 15 games against Ohio State and at Michigan.
What’s the Takeaway?
A lot has been said about the Indiana Hoosiers scheduling philosophy and it turns out it really does not matter in the grand scheme of things. IU’s schedule again does not feature a Power Four non-conference game, but it does have some teeth.
The Hoosiers rank fifth in the initial rankings and will play three teams projected 80th or lower (not including Howard), just one of those teams in over 100 (North Texas 109). IU will play four teams inside the top 25 of SP+ with two of those games coming on the road (Michigan and Washington.