A lot has been made about the non-conference schedules for the Indiana Hoosiers under Curt Cignetti.
Cignetti has been open about his approach to scheduling, and has drawn the ire of opposing fan bases in the process. Most notably, he fired shots at the SEC when defending the Hoosiers' scheduling practices by saying his program has simply chosen to "adopt the SEC philosophy."
Love it or hate it, it's clear his strategy has worked. Plus, Indiana has nothing left to prove after going 16-0 and beating Ohio State, Oregon (twice in total), Alabama, and Miami (FL) in the postseason en route to a historic National Championship last year.
Moving forward, Indiana's haters just got even more ammo when it comes to the scheduling dynamic.
Home-and-home between Indiana and Notre Dame cancelled
On Monday, it was announced that a future home-and-home series between Indiana and Notre Dame has been cancelled. The games were slated to take place in 2030 and 2031.
The in-state rivals last met in the 2024 College Football Playoff, which was won by Notre Dame in South Bend. The Fighting Irish went on to fall to Ohio State in the National Championship Game. Indiana won it all the following season.
The move was likely prompted by the announcement of Notre Dame and USC renewing their historic rivalry on the gridiron. After a couple years off, the iconic rivalry is slated to return in 2030 and 2032. Those matchups will take place in Week 1 of the same seasons, which likely factored in to the Indiana vs Notre Dame matchups to be done away with.
With the Indiana vs Notre Dame series being dropped, fuel has only been added to the fire of the noise surrounding Indiana's non-conference schedules.
Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers don't need to listen to the outside noise about non-conference scheduling
Since taking over for the program with the most losses in college football history, Cignetti is 27-2 and has delivered a Big Ten title, Heisman Trophy winner, and National Championship.
At Indiana.
In just two seasons.
It's arguably the greatest turnaround in the history of sports. Yet all anyone wants to talk about is Indiana's non-conference schedule over the last two years.
Just look at what the Hoosiers did last season.
They beat No. 9 Illinois by 53 points. They snapped Oregon's 18-game home winning streak at Autzen Stadium. They went 9-0 in Big Ten play. They beat the defending National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten title game. They demolished Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl. They beat Oregon again (this time by 34 points). And then they beat Miami (FL) in the National Championship Game.
What do those games have anything to do with non-conference games from four months prior? The answer is nothing.
In the end, Indiana became the best team in college football by beating the top teams on the biggest stage. So moving forward, Cignetti and company don't need to listen to the outside noise when it comes to scheduling. His body of work speaks for itself. After what he's accomplished at a program where nobody thought what he's done was even possible, Cignetti doesn't need to worry about winning over critics of Indiana's non-conference schedule.
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