After being at home for the first five of six weeks, the Nebraska Cornhuskers will go on a bye week before going on the road for two straight weeks, starting with the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers are coming off three straight losing seasons, leading to Indiana letting go of former head coach Tom Allen at the end of last season. Indiana has undergone much change this offseason, including a new coaching staff and a slew of multiple transfers for 2024. With that, here’s a look at Indiana football in 2024.
Know the Huskers foes 2024: Indiana Hoosiers
Disastrous 2023
After back-to-back winning seasons in 2019 and 2020, the Hoosiers seemed to be heading in the right direction. Even in 2021, Indiana opened up the season ranked No. 17 in the preseason Coaches poll for the first time since 1968. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was healthy going into the season and Allen was coming off of winning the AFCA and Big Ten coach of the year. However, things went very south for Indiana. The team was hobbled by injuries all season and only went 2-10, a major drop-off compared to the last two seasons. 2022 was even tougher for the Hoosiers. Indiana lost 30 total seniors and juniors and had to replace many coaching staff members. The Hoosiers brought in 13 transfers but that didn’t help them in the long run as Indiana went 4-8, which was an improvement compared to 2021. If it couldn’t get any worse, 2023 was a disaster. The Hoosiers finished 3-9, after only beating Indiana State, Akron (in four overtimes) and an upset victory over Wisconsin. After three straight losing seasons, Allen was let go.
He was replaced by former James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti. Under Cignetti, the Dukes went an astonishing 33-5 over five seasons, including an FCS National Championship berth in 2019 and an 11-1 season in 2023, which was James Madison’s second-ever season in the FBS. Now he brings a winning culture to Bloomington, which will be very beneficial to Indiana.
Roster additions
Coach Cignetti and his staff got to work right away this offseason. They were able to land multiple impact transfers. Those include senior Ohio quarterback transfer Kurtis Rourke, junior James Madison wide receiver transfer Elijah Sarratt, senior Kent State defensive lineman transfer C.J. West and senior Wisconsin offensive lineman transfer Trey Wedig. 30 total transfers were brought in this offseason and out of the 22 projected starters on both offense and defense, 15 are transfers.
Other than the players that came over from James Madison with Cignetti, Rourke is the center piece of the transfer class for Indiana. In five seasons, he passed for 7,651 yards, 50 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Rourke also won the MAC Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-MAC as a junior.
These transfers will help Cignetti and his staff build a foundation at Indiana and potentially find success in year one. If there is success in year one, who knows what could be in store for the Hoosiers in the next coming seasons, but with a hard conference schedule in 2024, it will be interesting to see what will happen.
What is in store for 2024?
Hot off the press.
Kick times for our first 3️⃣ games. ⤵️
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) May 30, 2024
The 2024 schedule is no gimme outside of the non-conference opponents. The Hoosiers open up with the FIU Panthers and Western Illinois Leathernecks before starting conference play early out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena against the UCLA Bruins. Indiana then closes out non-conference play against the Charlotte 49ers at home and continues with conference play against Maryland Terrapins at home and Northwestern Wildcats on the road before its first bye week. After the bye, Indiana hosts the Huskers and Washington Huskies before going on the road to Michigan State. Finally, the Hoosiers close out the season by hosting the Michigan Wolverines, a bye week, at the Ohio State Buckeyes and the battle with Purdue for the “Old Oaken Bucket” at home.
Despite the new conference alignment, Indiana will still have to play Michigan and Ohio State, but avoid Penn State and only have one trip to the West Coast. The Hoosiers have their work cut out for them and the road game at UCLA will test to see what the team will be like in 2024. Six wins are in the cards but will have to get a couple of “upset” wins along the way to do so. If the transfers can make an immediate impact in year one, bowl eligibility is possible.
Preview of the 2024 matchup
The all-time history between Nebraska and Indiana dates back to 1936 when Dana X. Bible and Nebraska took down the Hoosiers 13-9 in Lincoln. Despite that, Indiana holds the all-time series lead 10-3-9. Since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011, Nebraska and the Hoosiers have faced off only three times in 2016, 2019 and 2022, where the Huskers have won two of the three matchups (2016 and 2022).
This year’s matchup will be a very interesting game for both teams, but more specifically Nebraska. There are many predictions that if things go Nebraska’s way, the Huskers could very well be 6-0 going into the game in Bloomington. This could easily serve as a potential trap game for Nebraska before having to face Ohio State the week after. It will certainly be a game to watch.
The Huskers and Hoosiers face off on Oct. 19 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana with kick-off time to be determined later.
Main Image: © Bobby Goddin/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
