The IU football team is finally garnering some respect.
Indiana Football is ready to rock and roll.
The Hoosiers were ranked in USA Today’s Coaches’ Preseason Poll this week. It’s the first time the football team has been ranked in the official preseason poll since before Tom Allen was even born. In conclusion, it’s been a long time since Indiana University had such high hopes for a football season.
Indiana lands #17 in the Coaches Poll. 17 overall was strong enough to be considered the Big 10’s 3rd best team. The Hoosiers only trail #4 Ohio State and #15 Wisconsin within the NCAA’s oldest conference. It’s quite a statement for a Big 10 football program to be ranked ahead of both Penn State and Michigan in the preseason poll. It’s well-deserving for Indiana, as they impressively (and deservingly) beat both opponents last season.
The Big 10 had five teams in the Top 25, OSU, Wisco, Indy, Penn State, and Iowa. Penn State comes in at #20 overall while the Hawkeyes grabbed the #18 spot. IU takes on the Hawkeyes in a much-anticipated Week 1 affair in Kinnick Stadium. It will be a terrific Week 1 matchup stacking up two ranked teams right next to each other.
Indiana football will learn much about themselves immediately come Week 1. Add in another ranked contest Week 3 vs #10 Cincinnati, Indiana’s season will sink or swim very early this year. It’s an exciting time for Tom Allen’s team. They have had a strong offseason recruiting high schoolers and the transfer portal. Now, the time is almost here for IU to play games and put in the work.