Indiana handed Alabama its worst bowl loss ever. Was it the Hoosiers' greatest win?
Ranking the top 10 wins in Indiana football history, a list that can't help but be heavily slanted toward a remarkable 2025 season.
PASADENA, Calif. — Thursday’s Rose Bowl represented a landmark afternoon for Indiana football. The program that had entered 2025 as the losingest team in college football history entered the new year as the Big Ten champion with an undefeated record and a No. 1 ranking for the first time.
Then things got even better. The Hoosiers’ 38-3 drubbing of No. 9 Alabama in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals was the Crimson Tide’s worst loss since 1998 and worst bowl loss ever.
Was it also the greatest win in Indiana football history? Let’s rank the top 10.
10. Indiana 56, Nebraska 7 (Oct. 19, 2024)
Nebraska may be a shell of its former powerful self, but this is when Indiana’s Year 1 breakthrough under Curt Cignetti began to feel real. The Hoosiers had gone 3-9 in 2023 but got off to a 6-0 start in 2024 when 5-1 Nebraska visited. The result was a 49-point beatdown in which the Hoosiers rolled up 495 yards, forced five turnovers and proved they were a force to be taken seriously in a season in which they would go on to earn an unlikely Playoff bid.
9. Indiana 36, Penn State 35 (Oct. 24, 2020)
The Big Ten nearly didn’t have a football season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but when it finally kicked off in late October, the Hoosiers shockingly earned their first win in 33 years against a top-10 team at the time of the game. Indiana was outgained 488 to 211, but Michael Penix Jr. scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion with 22 seconds left to force overtime, then won the game with a touchdown pass and iconic (though controversial) stretched-out-to-the-pylon 2-point run.
Penn State went on to a rough 4-5 season, but there’s no taking away the euphoria of a top-10 win in the moment. The Hoosiers went on to finish No. 12, their first final ranking since 1988 and best since 1967.
8. Indiana 27, Purdue 24 (Nov. 17, 2007)
Amid arguably the wildest college football season ever, Indiana clinched a winning record for the first time in 13 years, earning a spot in the Insight Bowl. It did so with a dramatic win over rival Purdue. The Hoosiers blew a 24-3 lead, but Austin Starr kicked a 49-yard field goal with 30 seconds left to set up a cathartic moment for the program after the death of coach Terry Hoeppner months before the season. Hoeppner’s widow, Jane, embraced Starr afterward and was center stage in the celebration.
7. Indiana 26, Purdue 0 (Nov. 24, 1945)
Amid World War II, coach Bo McMillin led Indiana to its only undefeated season with a 9-0-1 mark and No. 4 final ranking. It started with a 13-7 win at Michigan, which would go on to finish No. 6 that season, and ended with a shutout of rival Purdue, which was ranked No. 18 at the time.