What time is Rutgers football vs. Indiana? TV, prediction for Week 5

PISCATAWAY – Greg Schiano didn’t spend much time celebrating Rutgers football’s first win of the season before he started looking ahead.

“Excited to have a great challenge on the horizon with Indiana coming to town next week,” Schiano said following his team’s 58-7 win over Howard on Sept. 25.

“Great challenge” is putting it mildly.

One year after winning the national championship as part of an incredible program turnaround under Curt Cignetti, the sixth-ranked Hoosiers look like a title contender once again.

The Scarlet Knights will have their hands full.

Indiana’s coming off a 29-23 win over Northwestern, which looks like an improved team.

Still, if Rutgers can find a way to stay competitive against the Hoosiers, much like it did two weeks ago in a seven-point loss to USC, that could go a long way toward changing the narrative this young season after losing to UMass and Boston College to start the year.

The Scarlet Knights have actually beaten the Hoosiers the last three times the teams have played (38-3 in 2021, 24-17 in 2022 and 31-14 in 2023) but that was pre-Cignetti when Indiana was among the worst teams in the country.

Amid an infusion of resources that has allowed the Hoosiers to build through the transfer portal, Indiana’s now among the country’s best.

Here’s some key information and details ahead of Rutgers’ game against Indiana this week:

Rutgers football schedule: Scarlet Knights' next game

Rutgers hosts Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 3 at SHI Stadium in their Week 5 game.

What time is Rutgers vs. Indiana?

Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.

What channel is Rutgers vs. Indiana?

The game will be televised on Big Ten Network.

Watch Rutgers vs. Indiana live on Fubo (free trial for new subscribers)

Rutgers vs. Indiana spread

Rutgers is a 23.5-point underdog, according to Vegas Insider.

Rutgers vs. Indiana prediction

This is a rough time for Rutgers to have Indiana on its schedule. The Scarlet Knights badly need to string together wins, but taking down the Hoosiers is going to be a major challenge. Indiana, once again, is loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. It went into the portal and added QB Josh Hoover, a transfer from TCU, and so far he's completing 70.0 percent of his passes and has thrown for 11 touchdowns. Indiana's been averaging 463.8 yards per game and it's only allowing 233.8 per game (second in the Big Ten). The Hoosiers have the conference's best run defense, yielding just 65.8 yards per game. If Rutgers can't run the ball effectively, it's going to have a long day. And that's not made easier by the fact that the Scarlet Knights' offensive line is going to have its hands full against Indiana's front seven. It's still too early to tell just how this current Hoosiers team compares to last year's, but it's quite obvious it's still an elite team.

Score prediction: Indiana 42, Rutgers 17

Rutgers vs. Indiana tickets

Buy tickets for Rutgers vs. Indiana on StubHub.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: What time is Rutgers football vs. Indiana? TV, prediction for Week 5