Indiana Is Being Urged To Change 'Embarrassing' Non-Conference Schedule

Indiana Is Being Urged To Change 'Embarrassing' Non-Conference Schedule

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Indiana Is Being Urged To Change 'Embarrassing' Non-Conference Schedule

Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti talks a big game. And he should. The Hoosiers are coming off one of the most magical national championship seasons in college football history.

Cignetti, who previously coached at James Madison, has emerged as arguably the best coach in the sport, despite being a relative unknown at this time two years ago.

“The Big Ten is the best league in football,” Cignetti said at Big Ten Media Days. “The numbers speak for themselves. We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say, ‘We fell short.’ We don’t cry a river and whine and complain, and that’s why we’re the best.”

But while Cignetti is a clear alpha in the sport, he leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to Indiana's non-conference schedule. While Big Ten teams like Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, etc. are playing huge non-conference games against major SEC foes, Indiana is playing the Little Sisters of the Poor.

May 24, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Football head coach Curt Cignetti during the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

This season, Indiana is facing North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky in the non-conference. In 2027, Indiana is facing Kennesaw State, Indiana State and UMass. In 2028, Cignetti's program is facing Austin Peay, Eastern Michigan and Miami (Ohio).

It's smart scheduling, given that Cignetti is basically guaranteeing a 3-0 record in the non-conference every year. But college football fans are calling the schedules out, claiming that it's "embarrassing" for the defending national champions to be playing such a weak schedule.

"Imagine a world where these were replaced with ACC, Big 12, and SEC teams," one fan wrote.

"Embarrassing," one fan added.

"Someone has to force Indiana to schedule someone with a pulse," one fan added.

Indiana did have a future non-conference series scheduled with Notre Dame, though the Hoosiers canceled that on Monday, paving the way for the Fighting Irish to bring back its rivalry series with USC.

Cignetti defends Indiana's scheduling decisions

In 2025, Cignetti signed off on the schedule decisions.

“That was a scheduling philosophy that began before I was hired, but I did sign off on it upon being hired before our first season, okay? Look, here’s the bottom line, okay, we picked up an extra home game, and we play nine conference games. The two best conferences in college football, any football guy that’s objective will tell you is the Big Ten and the SEC, all right? 12 of the 16 SEC teams play three G5 or an FCS game. 12 of those teams play 36 games, 29 G5 games and seven FCS games, and one less conference game. All right? So we figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy, you know. Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused in on those nine conference games. Not only do we want to play nine conference games, okay, and have the four-four championship — the playoff format, we want to have play-in games to decide who plays in those playoffs. Championship weekend, let’s play three versus six and four versus five," he said.

"You want to decide that on the field and make sure everybody’s strength of schedule is what it needs to be? Let’s make everybody play nine conference games, and on championship weekend three will play six, four will play five. There’s still room for another at-large in that format. Why shouldn’t the Big Ten have four AQs because Ohio State actually finished fourth in the conference at the end of the season. Indiana and Penn State were tied for second. They won the tie-breaker. Ohio State won the national championship. You want to put the best teams in the playoffs, give the best leagues the AQ, but make them earn it with play-in games. We wouldn’t be opposed to Big Ten-SEC regular season games every year. We need to standardize the schedule across the board if we want to have objective criteria for who should be in the playoffs and who shouldn’t, and we need to take the decision-making off the committee to some degree.”

Fans, though, remain annoyed.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Aug 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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