IU football has answered test after test throughout the 2025 season. But the College Football Playoff Semifinals present a challenge the Hoosiers have not yet faced this season: a rematch.
In fact, the program hasn’t had a rematch in a very long time. This is Indiana’s first rematch since 1931, when the Hoosiers swept Amos Alonzo Stagg’s Chicago Maroons. The modern era doesn’t usually feature two regular-season matchups between the same teams, so it would have to be in a bowl game or a conference championship game. And, of course, IU doesn’t have much history with either.
Much is made of the difficulty of beating a team twice in one season, and IU will be trying to do that in Atlanta. The Hoosiers beat Oregon in Eugene back in October, and the Ducks will be out for revenge.
In actuality, over the last seven years, it’s relatively split between rematches that resulted in sweeps versus rematches that ended in splits. Here is a breakdown of rematches across college football’s power conferences in recent seasons, along with a rare non-CFP bowl rematch this year.
Splits
- 2025-26: Georgia beat Ole Miss in Athens, Ga. in the regular season, but the Rebels defeated the Bulldogs last week in the Sugar Bowl
- 2025: Oklahoma upset Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. in November, but the Crimson Tide got revenge in Norman, Okla. in the CFP First Round
- 2025: Alabama defeated Georgia in September, but the Bulldogs trounced the Tide in the SEC Championship Game
- 2025: Virginia beat Duke in a big game in November, but the Blue Devils pulled a stunner in the ACC title game a few weeks later
- 2022: Kansas State lost a road game at TCU in the regular season, but KSU beat the Horned Frogs for the Big 12 title
- 2021-22: Alabama beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, but the Bulldogs won the rematch in the National Championship Game a month later
- 2021: Oklahoma State knocked off Baylor in the regular season, but Baylor turned around and won the Big 12 championship over the Cowboys
- 2020: Notre Dame upset Clemson in early November, but the Tigers defeated the Irish in the ACC title game that year, which Notre Dame competed in due to the strange nature of the COVID season
- 2018: Texas and Oklahoma split their two matchups, with the Longhorns winning the Red River Showdown game in October, and the Sooners winning the Big 12 title at the end of the year
Sweeps
- 2025: Georgia Southern beat Appalachian State in the regular season, and then won again in the Birmingham Bowl
- 2025: Ole Miss defeated Tulane early in the regular season, and then similarly dominated the rematch in the CFP First Round
- 2025: Texas Tech throttled BYU in the regular season, and the Red Raiders kept it up in the Big 12 title game
- 2024: Georgia swept SEC newcomer Texas, with a regular-season win in October and a conference title game victory in December
- 2023: Washington defeated Oregon in the regular season, and again in the final Pac-12 title game
- 2022: Utah swept USC, with a regular-season win in October and a Pac-12 Championship Game win in December
- 2021: Utah defeated Oregon twice in a three-week span, in the regular season’s penultimate game, and then again in the Pac-12 title game
- 2019: Ohio State earned a sweep over a Wisconsin team ranked in both matchups: a regular-season game in Columbus, and the Big Ten Championship Game
- 2019: Jalen Hurts’ Oklahoma team beat Baylor twice in the span of a month: a regular-season context in Waco, Texas, and the Big 12 title game three weeks later
- 2018: Washington won at Utah in September, and then did it again for the Pac-12 championship
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