BLOOMINGTON – The difficulty level of Indiana Football schedule increases at the end of the season.
The Hoosiers have back-to-back matchups against Michigan, the defending national champion, and Ohio State, with an open week in between. They scored a combined 10 points on 385 yards of offense against their rivals last season.
Indiana’s new team would be thrilled to pull off an upset against either perennial contender — new coach Curt Cignetti mentioned both programs when he took the microphone when first introduced at Assembly Hall — but the results of those games won’t define the season. .
Let’s take a look at the schedule in more detail, ranking the opponents from easiest to hardest:
Click here for Part 1: Ranking the 2024 Indiana football schedule from easiest to toughest opponent
Week 5 vs. Maryland
Can Maryland coach Mike Locksley win without quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa? Locksley’s record with the quarterback is 23-18 and 8-41 (5-10 Maryland) without him.
While the Terps look for a replacement, Locksley will rely on a talented defense to lead the team. It brings back seven starters from a group that ranked 40th in scoring (22.5 points allowed) and 31st in total defense (334.1 yards allowed).
Those were the best numbers of Locksley’s tenure.
Maryland has a very dynamic front seven returning even after losing linebacker Jaishawn Barham (Michigan) to the transfer portal. The anchor of 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 wins the starting quarterback job will have some really talented players to work with. Tai Felton and Kaden Prather are a dynamic duo at receiver and Roman Hemby is one of the most complete defenders in the conference.
Conclusion: Maryland’s 27-point victory over Indiana was the largest margin of victory in the series between the two teams. The Terps can extend their winning streak over IU to four games this fall, but this should be a much more competitive contest.
More: Projected Indiana football defensive depth chart for 2024 after spring practice
Week 9 vs. Week 9 State of Michigan
Jonathan Smith was the perfect hire for a Michigan State team looking for some stability after the Mel Tucker era caught fire. The work Smith did at Oregon State, a historically tough place to beat, was impressive.
The Beavers were ranked 11th in the College Football Playoff last year, en route to reaching their third consecutive bowl game. This was a team that went 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 ranked transfer in the country (according to 247 Sports), is an immediate solution for MSU at quarterback. The legitimate dual threat got some time working behind DJ Uiagalelei last season.
Smith’s biggest problem will be fixing a defense that was second-worst in the conference last year, just ahead of Indiana, and was hit hard by exits in the portal that continued through the spring when expected defensive tackle Derrick Harmon and defensive end Bai Jobe left the program.
Conclusion: Michigan State will go as far as Chile will take them. If he struggles this season, it will become more IU-friendly.
More: Breaking down the biggest-impact transfers Indiana football will face in 2024
Week 8 vs. Washington
Washington won’t look much like the team that reached the national title game with a 14-1 record last year.
Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama, had 10 players drafted and 30 players entered the transfer portal. Attrition has left them without a single returning starter on offense.
Washington hired Jedd Fisch to replace DeBoer, and he scored a huge recruiting win by convincing
Quarterback Will Rogers will withdraw his name from the transfer portal. DeBoer hired Rogers before he left as heir apparent to Michael Penix Jr.
The former Arizona coach solved a big piece of the puzzle by signing Rogers, who is one of the most experienced starters in the country with a 22-15 record and 11,775 career passing yards.
Fisch also got some weapons for Rogers out of the transfer portal by signing Cal’s leading receiver Jerome Hunter and Jonah Coleman, the Wildcats’ leading rusher last year.
Conclusion: Washington is feeling the cost of its own success. The Huskies won’t have as high a ceiling as they did a year ago, but they have a chance to finish in the top half of the Big Ten.
More: Indiana football’s spring game highlights Kurtis Rourke’s position at the top of the QB hierarchy
Week 7 vs. Week 7 Nebraska
Matt Rhule led Nebraska to a 5-7 record — the program’s most wins since 2019 — in his first season as the team’s coach. The next step for Rhule will be to help the Cornhuskers end a seven-game losing streak that dates back to the brief Mike Riley era.
The top item on Rhule’s to-do list was improving one of the worst passing attacks in the country.
Nebraska’s passing attack ranked 129th out of 133 FBS teams last season, averaging 135.9 yards per game. Iowa was the only non-triple option team that averaged fewer yards per game last season.
The Cornhuskers made an impact in that department by signing five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola. Georgia’s lone commit was the highest-rated quarterback recruit in program history.
Nebraska may face some growing pains when starting a true freshman, but the production can’t get any worse than last year. The Cornhuskers have scored fewer than 20 points in all seven losses, while their quarterbacks have combined for 16 interceptions and a 52.1 completion percentage.
Both numbers were among the worst in the country.
Conclusion: Nebraska will be a dangerous team in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers had a tremendous defense last season, which was completely overshadowed by having one of the worst offenses in the country. It should be a more balanced team this year, but not because the defense takes a step back.
More: Why Indiana’s new cornerback D’Angelo Ponds is a ‘huge achievement’ for the program
Week 10 vs. Michigan
Jim Harbaugh’s departure to the NFL dominated conversations during the 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, a number that was the fourth-highest ever.
The roster includes much of the team’s starting offense – quarterback JJ McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, tight end AJ Barner, starters Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson, as well as 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 been recruited at such a high level in recent years that Michigan is in a better position to handle that attrition than most college programs.
Michigan also lost a lot of defensive talent, but has a more proven core to build around. This group includes defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, safety Rod Moore and cornerback Will Johnson. All four players earned All-Big Ten honors, while Johnson was an All-American.
Conclusion: The Wolverines could end up competing for a third consecutive Big Ten title, but it’s easier to imagine the program taking a step back and being a little more vulnerable in the conference to teams like Indiana.
Week 11 vs. Week 11 Ohio State
Ohio State bolstered a ridiculously talented roster by signing the No. 1 signee out of high school (wide receiver Jeremiah Smith), along with top transfer safety Caleb Downs (Alabama) and running back Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss).
The Buckeyes also revamped their quarterback room by adding Kansas State transfer Will Howard and Alabama transfer Julian Sayin. Howard had a career record of 14-11 with 5,333 passing yards.
He helped the team win the Big 12 title in 2022, going 4-1 as a starter.
They join a roster filled with playmakers on both sides of the ball, including running back TreVeyon Henderson, receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and cornerback Denzel Burke.
OSU’s other big headline during the offseason was Ryan Day hiring Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator. It was an almost unprecedented move for a Power Four head coach to take a job as a collegiate offensive coordinator.
Kelly hopes that freeing himself from the vast responsibilities of a head coach will allow him to replicate the success he had as Oregon’s offensive coordinator from 2007-08, when the team set new scoring and total offense records in consecutive years.
Conclusion: Indiana may score a few more points against Ohio State than it did last year, but it’s hard to imagine the Hoosiers stumbling against a surefire title contender. As long as IU shows progress throughout the rest of the year, fans won’t remember another lopsided loss to the Buckeyes.
Click here to see Part 1 of the IU football schedule rankings.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all of its coverage clicking here.
This article originally appeared in The Herald-Times: Breaking Down the 2024 Indiana Football Schedule: Part 2
