Just minutes after the 2024 college football season finally came to an end, the page was turned.
In year two of the Curt Cignetti era, IU football is on the national radar following the program’s highest win total and an appearance in the College Football Playoff.
While rosters are still in a state flux with another round of the transfer portal coming in the spring, it does now seem reasonable to at least start to project the national rankings ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Can the Hoosiers make a return trip to the CFP?
ESPN is putting them in the conversation. That outlet ranks IU No. 17 in their “way too early college football top 25 rankings” published Monday evening.
Here’s what ESPN said about the outlook for the Hoosiers:
Key returning players: WR Elijah Sarratt, WR Omar Cooper Jr., OT Carter Smith, G Drew Evans, LB Aiden Fisher, CB D’Angelo Ponds, S Amare Ferrell, DE Mikail Kamara
Key losses: QB Kurtis Rourke, RB Justice Ellison, TE Zach Horton, C Mike Katic, LB Jailin Walker, S Shawn Asbury II, NT CJ West, DT James Carpenter
2025 outlook: Fresh off the greatest season in the 126-year history of the Indiana program, in which the Hoosiers won more than nine games for the first time and reached the CFP, coach Curt Cignetti is trying to reload through the transfer portal again. The Hoosiers are bringing in nearly 20 transfers, led by former Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw for 3,004 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2024. Tailback Lee Beebe Jr. (UAB), receiver Makai Jackson (Appalachian State) and tight end Holden Staes (Tennessee) were important additions on offense as well. Defensively, the Hoosiers have good production returning at linebacker and cornerback. Kamara’s return gives them a pass-rushing threat, and defensive tackles Hosea Wheeler (Western Kentucky) and Dominique Ratcliff (Texas State) could fill holes in the interior line. Indiana’s nonconference schedule is soft (Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and FCS program Indiana State at home), and it’ll play Big Ten road games at Iowa, Oregon and Penn State.
Three teams on Indiana’s 2025 schedule were included in the ESPN rankings: Penn State (No. 3), Oregon (No. 6), and Illinois (No. 13). Iowa is listed as another team “also considered.”
Ohio State (No. 1) and Michigan (No. 21) are the two other Big Ten teams in the rankings, but the Hoosiers won’t play either traditional power in 2025.
Here is IU’s full 2025 schedule:
NONCONFERENCE:
Aug. 30 – Old Dominion
Sept. 6 – Kennesaw State
Sept. 13 – Indiana State
BIG TEN:
Sept. 20 – vs. Illinois
Sept. 27 – at Iowa
Oct. 11 – at Oregon
Oct. 18 – vs. Michigan State
Oct. 25 – vs. UCLA
Nov. 1 – at Maryland
Nov. 8 – at Penn State
Nov. 15 – vs. Wisconsin
Nov. 29 – at Purdue
