The Big Ten continued to expand last week, adding Washington and Oregon as it swelled to 18 members during a particularly turbulent stage of conference realignment.
Like most of the additions to the league over the last few decades, Indiana doesn’t have an extensive history against its new conference mates.
The IU men’s basketball team has never traveled to Washington to face the Huskies on their home court in Seattle. The programs have met four times, with Indiana leading the series 3-1.
Washington won the first meeting 81-79 on Dec. 29, 1966 in Portland, Ore. as part of the Far West Classic, one of the biggest non-conference tournaments of its time.
In a 1978 scheduling quirk, IU and Washington played twice in the span of just over a week. Indiana won 73-56 in Bloomington on Dec. 19 as part of the Indiana Classic, and then again 71-57 on Dec. 27, once again as part of the Far West Classic in Portland. Those games came shortly after IU coach Bob Knight dismissed three players and suspended five more, including Mike Woodson.
In their most recent meeting, IU defeated Washington 102-84 at the 2013 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York. Troy Williams led IU with 22 points, and Yogi Ferrell added 20.
Indiana is 3-0 against Oregon in basketball. Like Washington, IU has never played the Ducks on their home floor in Eugene. The Hoosiers did face Oregon State in Eugene in 1953, however. If the next Eugene trip comes soon enough, it could be a homecoming for assistant coach Yasir Rosemond, who played and coached at Oregon, and Kel’el Ware, who transferred to IU from Oregon during the offseason.
All three previous Indiana meetings with Oregon came via the Far West Classic in Portland.
IU beat the Ducks 102-64 in 1966, 56-47 in 1973, and 68-60 in 1978. Woodson scored 36 points in the 1978 contest.
The IU women’s basketball program did travel to Oregon to face the Ducks in Eugene as part of the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
There’s a similarly limited history on the football side.
A meeting with Washington this season would have been particularly intriguing, as former Hoosier Michael Penix, Jr. is the Huskies starting quarterback. But this should be his last season of college football.
Indiana is 2-1 all-time against Washington. The most recent meeting came in 20o3, when then head coach Gerry DiNardo led IU into Seattle, where the Hoosiers were defeated by the No. 22 Huskies, 38-13. IU actually led that game 13-10 in the third quarter before Washington scored 28 unanswered to run away.
Former head coach Lee Corso scheduled a home-and-home series with Washington in the 1970s, and IU swept those meetings.
The lone home game came on Sept. 23, 1978, as Indiana welcomed No. 15 Washington to Memorial Stadium and upset the Huskies, 14-7. Two years earlier Corso’s Hoosiers traveled to Washington and won 20-13.
Whenever IU faces Washington next, they’ll likely be reunited with former offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer, who is now the Huskies head coach.
IU has also faced Oregon three times in football, and the Ducks hold a 2-1 advantage. IU football linebacker Anthony Jones just transferred in from Oregon, so he could get a chance to face some former teammates down the road.
Indiana’s lone win against the Ducks is one of the bigger upsets in program history. In 2004 IU traveled to Eugene and knocked off No. 24 Oregon 30-24. Lance Bennett’s 98-yard kickoff return in that game is tied for the fifth longest in program history.
Indiana and Oregon played a home-and-home series in the 1960s when Phil Dickens was the Hoosiers head coach. Oregon won 28-22 in 1963 in a game played in Portland, and the Ducks won 29-21 a year later in Bloomington. Tom Nowatzke scored all 21 IU points in that latter contest.
The additions of Washington and Oregon came not long after USC and UCLA were added. Here is IU’s history against those West Coast programs:
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