Sitting at 7-1, you could make equally strong cases that Indiana football should be either 8-0 or 4-4. The Hoosiers were one play short of staying perfect against Ohio State last week, but also only a few plays away from losses to Michigan, Nebraska and Northwestern.
The 2026 Indiana Hoosiers have some flaws that neither the 2024 nor 2025 Hoosiers had, but what does that mean for the season outlook?
The 2026 Hoosiers have another championship-caliber defense on their hands that looks better than that still-great
2024 group, particularly up front. This is probably the main reason Indiana is closer to 8-0 than 4-4. At the same time, Indiana’s offense is averaging five fewer points per game on offense than it did in 2024 and 2025, making the margin for error that much smaller.
Admitting that this year falls short of the extraordinarily high standard that Cignetti and company have established over the last three seasons does not negate any part of what he’s done from this program. In fact, it’s a reflection of how deeply his culture and philosophy have been embedded in the program that we can even have this conversation.
Even in Cignetti’s first year, Indiana never played a three-game stretch as close as this one has been. The 2024 Hoosiers won a 20-15 rock fight over Michigan before losing to Ohio State, but responded with a 66-0 thumping of Purdue.
By now, it’s clear that Indiana lacks some of the previous teams’ offensive firepower it needs to reach its potential, which could change by the end of the year, but time is running out. It’s something the staff will have to learn from and potentially improve on by next season to maintain the new standard.
Fortunately for us fans, basically every other team in the country seems to be at least as flawed as Indiana, if not more.
On the same day that Indiana fell to the Buckeyes, Texas dropped its second-straight game. Since Indiana suffered its first loss, more undefeated teams fell, with Notre Dame falling to BYU, that same BYU losing to unranked UCF and Texas Tech losing to unranked Cincinnati. Within the Big Ten, Oregon is now 4-3.
Acknowledging that Indiana, by virtue of every other team being Bad, still has a viable postseason path does not erase its flaws. Accepting both truths is just the fact of college football in 2026.
Indiana is starting to emerge as a bigger threat in the high school recruiting circuit that, in theory, should lead to more continuity and less parity, but that doesn’t mean the program is suddenly immune from the fact that there are fewer elite players than there are roster spots on elite teams. It’s a problem that plagues NFL teams, especially at the quarterback position.
In the context of 2026 college football, I still believe Indiana is a top 5-10 team that has a legit shot to win it all if Josh Hoover starts making throws. In the context of Indiana football since 2024, it’s frustrating to be held back by quarterback and offensive line play, which had been strengths over the last two seasons.
In future seasons, winning at the pace that Indiana has since 2024 will require better efforts than Indiana has turned in the last three weeks. This year though, the Hoosiers might just be good enough.
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