Indiana football’s sudden rise, from an 11-2 debut under Curt Cignetti in 2024 to an undefeated 16-0 national championship run in 2025 has several programs around the country asking the same question.
“If they can do it, why can’t we?”
Perhaps nowhere is that as much of an issue than it is just two or so hours north of Bloomington in West Lafayette, where rival Purdue has won three games in two seasons under two different head coaches. For decades the Boilermakers have been able to hold gridiron superiority
over the Hoosiers, from the all-time series record to recent success and heights.
Now? Not so much. Indiana’s won each of the past two Old Oaken Bucket games in blowout fashion, outscoring Purdue 122-3, on top of winning the only national championship between the two in January. There’s still the all-time series record, sure, but old memories and box scores provide small comfort in the face of the present reality.
Scott Dochterman of The Athletic went in deep on this thread recently, speaking to those inside and outside of the Purdue football program to get the pulse. It’s worth a read, especially if you’re trying to get as many perspectives on Indiana as you can.
It’s also worth approaching the issue from the Indiana perspective. The rivalry is as lopsided as it’s ever been, historically. Indiana’s not just at the top of the Big Ten, it’s at the top of the sport writ large, downing the likes of Ohio State, Alabama and Oregon last season. Purdue is at the bottom of the Big Ten and arguably the sport, owning one of the worst records in FBS these past two seasons while losing to fellow conference bottom dwellers in the process.
Purdue can, of course, turn this into fuel for its second rebuild in the past four years, but risks a fruitless pursuit of another’s successes in the process, a point head coach Barry Odom makes in Dochterman’s piece.
So what to do? When your rival is living through its golden age as you’re in a slump, what then? Indiana got a taste of this lately with Purdue men’s basketball, but that was neither a sudden rise nor included championship hardware (yet, by the way) and Indiana, in spite of that program’s malaise, was relatively successful against those teams.
There’s truly not much to do but wait.
Coming at this from the Indiana perspective, I’m fully aware that there will come a day when Indiana will fall to Purdue in football once again. No dynasty is eternal, just look at the program the Hoosiers throttled in the Rose Bowl for evidence.
What’s key is enjoying, or in Purdue’s case enduring, the ride while it lasts.
