The landscape of college football is changing at a rapid pace, and it wouldn't be surprising to see more changes on the way sooner rather than later.
Over the past few years, discussions have been making the rounds of the Big Ten and SEC breaking away from the NCAA to form their own super conference. It seemed like a joke in the beginning, but the talks have yet to die down over the past few years. As resentment toward the NCAA continues to expand, could the two conference actually break away?
A lot has to happen to make that a reality, as we've seen before, anything is possible in college football. If the Big Ten and SEC were to merge, here are three new rivalry matchups that the Indiana Hoosiers could have featured on their future schedules.
Alabama Crimson Tide
It's not a stretch to say that a rivalry could already be brewing between the Hoosiers and Crimson Tide. Indiana throttled Alabama by a score of 38-3 in the Rose Bowl this past January, and it's fair to say that Crimson Tide fans didn't take the blowout loss well.
Given Cignetti's success in Bloomington, Indiana is now competing with schools like Alabama for blue chip recruits. Most notably, the Hoosiers and Crimson Tide are currently locked in a high-stakes recruiting battle for 5-star WR Monshun Sales.
Throw in the discourse surrounding Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson from this past NFL Draft, and Indiana and Alabama have been at odds with one another for a while now. If the Big Ten and SEC merge, both Indiana and Alabama could be open to this rivalry matchup.
Georgia Bulldogs
Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs have been the cream of the crop in college football so far in the 2020s. Georgia won back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022, and have lost just seven games over the last five seasons. They've made the College Football Playoff in four of those five seasons, and a rivalry matchup with Cignetti and the Hoosiers would be must-watch television.
Smart and Cignetti and two of the best coaches in the business, and watching them go head-to-head would be a treat for all college football fans out there. Smart has Georgia as a National Championship contender on a yearly basis, and after winning it all last season, Cignetti has Indiana well-positioned to compete for another championship this season.
It's clear that both Smart ad Cignetti give their respective programs plenty of staying power in 2026 and beyond, which makes potential matchups between the Hoosiers and Bulldogs wildly intriguing.
Kentucky Wildcats
Other contenders for this list include the Texas Longhorns, Ole Miss Rebels, and LSU Tigers. But we are featuring the Kentucky Wildcats purely because of geography. Lexington is the closest SEC city to Bloomington, as IU and UK are separated by only 180 miles which equates to about a three hour drive between the two campuses.
The Hoosiers and Wildcats have had plenty of intense battles on the hardwood, but the schools have not met on the gridiron since 2005. Indiana and Kentucky used to be an annual matchup, as they met regularly from 1967-2005 and faced each other every year from 1987-2005. If the two power conferences combine, what better time to bring the Hoosier and Wildcat rivalry back?
Indiana and Kentucky have met 36 times in football, and Indiana owns the all-time series edge 18-17-1. Indiana also won the last meeting by a score of 38-14 on September 17, 2005 in Bloomington.
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