OPINION: Getting Out of the Louisville Series is the Course Correction the IU Program Needed

Image: Indiana Athletics

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indianapolis Star’s Zach Osterman reported Monday night that Indiana has withdrawn from their 2024 matchup with the Louisville Cardinals. A source inside the IU program confirmed the report to Hoosier Huddle.

This is a major course correction for the Indiana Football program who set up the three game series in 2015 that featured a neutral site game (2023), a game at Louisville (2024) and a game in Bloomington (2025). It coincided with a three-game series on the hardwood as well.

According to Osterman the Hoosiers are expected to add an FCS foe to their 2024 schedule which already had non-conference games with FIU (a make up from 2017) and Charlotte.

This had to happen and the $1 million exit fee is worth it. This series was very basketball centered as the football programs have just met twice in their histories (1985-86).

Sure, a certain segment of the fanbase will be disappointed, if not angry, but it’s the right move for a program who has never really had consistent sustained success.

When we talk about investing in football, this is part of that investment. Buy games, schedule wins in the non-conference and take your chances as divisions are phased out of the Big Ten in 2024.

There is always an excuse not to support the football program. From the lack of success historically to the ‘well this opponent isn’t good enough’. I have heard it all.

This move is about IU football and IU football alone. Not the fans, not the players or coaches, but the program itself. It’s a series that should never have been scheduled. Hopefully this is the first step in reinventing IU’s non-conference scheduling philosophy.