Analyzing the 2024 Indiana Football Schedule: Part 2
BLOOMINGTON – The difficulty level of the Indiana football team’s schedule increases as the season draws to a close.
The Hoosiers have back-to-back games against Michigan, the defending national champion, and Ohio State with an off week in between. Last season, they combined for 10 points on 385 yards of offense against their rivals.
Indiana’s new staff would love to pull off an upset win against one of its perennial rivals — new coach Curt Cignetti called out both teams when he took the microphone at his introduction at Assembly Hall — but the results of those games won’t determine the season.
Let’s take a closer look at the schedule and rank the opponents in order from easiest to hardest game:
Click here for part 1: Ranking the 2024 Indiana Football Schedule from Easiest to Toughest Opponents
Week 5 against Maryland
Can Maryland coach Mike Locksley win without quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa? Locksley’s record with the quarterback is 23-18 and without him is 8-41 (5-10 in Maryland).
While the Terps look for a replacement, Locksley will lean on a talented defense to move the team forward, returning seven starters from a group that ranked 40th in scoring (22.5 points allowed) and 31st in total defense (334.1 yards allowed).
These were the best numbers during Locksley’s tenure.
Maryland has a pretty dynamic front seven coming back even after losing linebacker Jaishawn Barham (Michigan) to the transfer portal. Anchoring the group is middle linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II, who has 34 career starts in four seasons.
The other good news for the Terps is that whoever gets the starting quarterback job will get to work with some really talented players. Tai Felton and Kaden Prather are a dynamic one-two punch at receiver, and Roman Hemby is one of the most versatile backs in the league.
Bottom line: Maryland’s 27-point victory over Indiana was the biggest win in the series between the two teams. The Terps could extend their winning streak against IU to four games this fall, but this should be a much more exciting contest.
More: Projected Indiana Football Team Defensive Lineup for 2024 After Spring Training
Week 9 against Michigan State
Jonathan Smith was the perfect signing for a Michigan State team looking for some stability after the end of the Mel Tucker era. Smith’s performance at Oregon State, a historically tough place to win, was impressive.
The Beavers finished 11th in the College Football Playoff rankings last year, making their third straight bowl game. This was a team that had a record of just 1-11 in 2017, the year before he took over.
Smith added 24 transfers, including a trio of former Beavers – quarterback Aidan Chiles, tight end Jack Velling and offensive lineman Tanner Miller.
Chiles, who was the 8th overall transfer in the country according to 247 Sports, is an immediate solution for MSU at the quarterback position. The true dual threat saw some playing time last season behind DJ Uiagalelei.
Smith’s biggest problem will be fixing a defense that was second-worst in the conference last year, just ahead of Indiana, and suffered hard from portal departures that continued into the spring, when expected defensive tackle Derrick Harmon and defensive end Bai Jobe left the program.
Bottom line: Michigan State will go as far as Chiles takes them, and if he struggles this season, it will be more favorable for IU.
More: Analysis of the most important transfers facing Indiana football in 2024
Week 8 against Washington
Washington won’t really resemble the team that reached the national title game last year with a 14-1 record.
Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama, they had 10 players drafted and 30 players entered the transfer portal. Due to turnover, they did not have a single returning starter on offense.
Washington hired Jedd Fisch to replace DeBoer and achieved a major recruiting success by convincing
Quarterback Will Rogers withdraws his name from the transfer portal. DeBoer had signed Rogers before leaving as the designated successor to Michael Penix Jr.
The former Arizona coach solved a big piece of the puzzle by retaining Rogers, who is one of the more experienced starters in the country with a 22-15 record and 11,775 career passing yards.
Fisch also secured some new talent for Rogers from the transfer portal by signing Cal’s top receiver, Jerome Hunter, and Jonah Coleman, the Wildcats’ best runner last year.
Bottom line: Washington is feeling the price of its own success. While the Huskies won’t have nearly as much potential as they did a year ago, they have a chance to finish in the top half of the Big Ten.
More: Indiana football’s spring game underscores Kurtis Rourke’s position at the top of the quarterback rankings
Week 7 against Nebraska
Matt Rhule led Nebraska to a 5-7 record in his first season as coach – the program’s most wins since 2019. The next step for Rhule will be to help the Cornhuskers end a streak of seven consecutive losing games that dates back to the brief Mike Riley era.
The most important item on Rhule’s to-do list was improving one of the worst passing attacks in the country.
Nebraska’s passing offense ranked 129th out of 133 FBS teams last season, averaging 135.9 yards per game. Iowa was the only team without a triple option to average fewer yards per game last season.
The Cornhuskers made a big splash in that regard by signing five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola, the former Georgia freshman who was the highest-rated quarterback recruit in program history.
Nebraska may have some initial difficulties due to the use of a true freshman, but the performance can’t be worse than last year. The Cornhuskers scored fewer than 20 points in all seven losses, while their quarterbacks combined for 16 interceptions and a 52.1% completion rate.
Both figures were among the worst in the country.
Bottom line: Nebraska will be a dangerous team in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers had an excellent defense last season, but it was completely overshadowed by one of the worst offenses in the country. They should be a more balanced team this year, but not because the defense is taking a step back.
More: Why Indiana’s new cornerback D’Angelo Ponds is a “huge gain” for the program
Week 10 against Michigan
Jim Harbaugh’s move to the NFL dominated conversations this offseason, but his departure will have less impact than all the talent the Wolverines lost to the league after winning a national title.
Michigan set a school record with 13 players drafted in 2024, the fourth-highest number ever.
The list includes much of the team’s starting offensive line – quarterback JJ McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, tight end AJ Barner, starting wideouts Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson, and starting guards Trevor Keegan (37 career starts) and Zak Zinter (42 career starts).
The good news for new coach Sherrone Moore is that Harbaugh has recruited at such a high level in recent years that Michigan can handle that turnover better than most other college programs.
Michigan also lost a lot of defensive talent but has a more proven core to build around. That group includes defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, safety Rod Moore and cornerback Will Johnson. All four players were named All-Big Ten, while Johnson was an All-American.
Bottom line: The Wolverines could end up competing for their third straight Big Ten title, but it’s easier to imagine the team taking a step back and becoming a bit more vulnerable to teams like Indiana in the conference.
Week 11 against Ohio State
Ohio State bolstered its incredibly talented roster by signing the best high school recruit (wide receiver Jeremiah Smith) as well as highly rated safety transfer Caleb Downs (Alabama) and running back Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss).
The Buckeyes also revamped their quarterback staff by signing Will Howard from Kansas State and Julian Sayin from Alabama. Howard had a career record of 14-11 and 5,333 passing yards.
He helped the team win a Big 12 title in 2022 with a record of 4-1.
They complement a roster full of playmakers on both sides of the ball, including running back TreVeyon Henderson, receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and cornerback Denzel Burke.
The other big headline for OSU during the offseason was Ryan Day’s hiring of Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator. It was a nearly unprecedented move for an incumbent Power Four head coach to take a job as offensive coordinator at the university.
Kelly hopes that by being relieved of the enormous responsibilities of being a head coach, he can build on his success as Oregon’s offensive coordinator during the 2007-08 season, when the team set new scoring records and a new offensive point total for two consecutive years.
Bottom line: Indiana might score a few more points against Ohio State than it did last year, but it’s hard to imagine the Hoosiers tripping up a surefire title contender. As long as IU shows improvement the rest of the year, fans won’t remember another lopsided loss to the Buckeyes.
Click here to go to Part 1 of the IU football team schedule rankings.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana reporter for the Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X. @michaelniziolek and read his full report by clicking here..
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