Indiana and Louisville will meet at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sept. 16. That much we know for sure.
But beyond that, it is looking more and more likely that the two additional games between the Hoosiers and Cardinals currently on the schedule for 2024 and 2025 will not happen.
WDRB’s Rick Bozich is reporting the 2025 game scheduled to be played in Bloomington has been canceled. The Daily Hoosier has learned that isn’t the case just yet, but the schools are working towards a resolution to that end. The game still appears on Indiana’s official website.
Bozich has been reporting since January IU was working to cancel the 2025 game. Additional reporting by The Bloomington Herald-Times uncovered records indicating IU was in negotiations to cancel the game.
According to Bozich’s Saturday report, the 2024 game at Louisville could end up getting canceled as well.
Despite their relatively close proximity, the two border foes have met just twice on the gridiron, with Indiana claiming both contests. The Hoosiers won the first encounter 41-28 on Sept. 14, 1985 at Bloomington, and came back the following year to shut out the Cardinals 21-0 on Sept. 13, 1986, again in Bloomington.
The three-game series was agreed to by IU and Louisville in 2015, when Fred Glass was the IU AD and Kevin Wilson was still the head coach. That also came at a time when the Big Ten was just a year into its current nine-game conference schedule.
With the Big Ten conference growing and talk of even a possible 10-game league slate, it makes little sense for Indiana to schedule Power Five opponents on the non-conference portion of their schedule. We can only speculate that may be what is fueling the decision to abandon the Louisville series. Beyond Louisville, IU faces Florida International and Charlotte on its 2024 non-conference schedule, and Old Dominion and Indiana State in 2025.
Indiana has also scheduled home-and-home series with Virginia in 2027-28, and Notre Dame in 2030-31. There has been no indication to this point they are looking to cancel those contracts.
IU Football: A look at the program’s known future opponents through 2031
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