Michael NiziolekThe Herald-Times
BLOOMINGTON — The difficulty level of Indiana football's schedule ramps up at the end of the season.
The Hoosiers have back-to-back matchups against Michigan, the defending national champions, and Ohio State with an open week in between. They scored 10 points combined on 385 yards of offense against their rivals last season.
Indiana’s new staff would be thrilled to pull off an upset against either perennial contender — new coach Curt Cignetti called out both programs when he got on the mic when he was first introduced at Assembly Hall—but the results of those games won’t define the season.
Let’s take a look at the schedule in greater depth, ranking the opponents from easiest to toughest:
Click here for Part 1: Ranking Indiana football’s 2024 schedule from easiest opponents to toughest
Week 5 vs. Maryland
Can Maryland coach Mike Locksley win without quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa? Locksley’s record with the quarterback is 23-18 and 8-41 (5-10 at Maryland) without him.
While the Terps search for a replacement, Locksley will lean on a talented defense to lead the team forward. He brings back seven starters from a group that ranked No. 40 in scoring (22.5 points allowed) and No. 31 in total defense (334.1 yards allowed).
Those were the best numbers of Locksley’s tenure.
Maryland has a pretty dynamic front seven coming back even after losing linebacker Jaishawn Barham (Michigan) to the transfer portal. The anchor of the group is middle linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II, who has 34 career starts over four seasons.
The other good news for the Terps is that whoever wins the starting quarterback job will have some really gifted skill players to work with. Tai Felton and Kaden Prather are a dynamic one-two punch at receiver and Roman Hemby is one of the more well-rounded backs in the conference.
Bottom line: Maryland’s 27 point victory over Indiana was the largest margin of victory in the series between the two teams. The Terps might extend their win streak over IU to four games this fall, but this should be a much more competitive contest.
More: Projected 2024 Indiana football defensive depth chart after spring practice
Week 9 vs. Michigan State
Jonathan Smith was the perfect hire for a Michigan State team looking for a little stability after the Mel Tucker era went up in flames. The job Smith did at Oregon State, a historically difficult place to win, was impressive.
The Beavers ranked as high as No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings last year on their way to reaching a third straight bowl game. This was a team that went just 1-11 in 2017, the year before he took over.
Smith added 24 transfers including a trio of former Beavers — quarterback Aidan Chiles, tight end Jack Velling and offensive lineman Tanner Miller.
Chiles, who was the 8th ranked transfer in the country (according to 247 Sports), is an immediate solution for MSU at quarterback. The legit dual threat got some playing time working behind DJ Uiagalelei last season.
Smith’s biggest problem will be fixing a defense that was second-worst in the conference last year just ahead of Indiana and got hit hard by departures in the portal that continued through the spring when expected starting defensive tackle Derrick Harmon and defensive end Bai Jobe left the program.
Bottom line: Michigan State will go as far as Chiles takes them. If he struggles this season, this one becomes more IU-friendly.
More: Breaking down the top impact transfers Indiana football will face in 2024
Week 8 vs. Washington
Washington won’t really resemble the team that reached the National Title game with a 14-1 record last year.
The Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama, they had 10 players drafted and 30 players enter the transfer portal. The attrition left them without a single returning starter on offense.
Washington hired Jedd Fisch to replace DeBoer and he got a big recruiting win by convincing
quarterback Will Rogers to withdraw his name from the transfer portal. DeBoer landed Rogers before he left as Michael Penix Jr. 's heir apparent.
The former Arizona coach solved a big piece of the puzzle by retaining Rogers, who is one of the more experienced starters in the country with a 22-15 record and 11,775 career passing yards.
Fisch landed some weapons for Rogers out of the transfer portal as well by signing Cal leading receiver Jerome Hunter and Jonah Coleman, the Wildcats leading rusher last year.
Bottom line: Washington is feeling the cost of its own success. The Huskies won’t have nearly as high of a ceiling as they did a year ago, but they have a shot at finishing in the top half of the Big Ten.
More: Indiana football's spring game highlights Kurtis Rourke's spot at top of QB pecking order
Week 7 vs. Nebraska
Matt Rhule guided Nebraska to a 5-7 record — the program’s most wins since 2019 — in his first season as the team’s coach. The next step for Rhule will be helping the Cornhuskers end a streak of seven straight losing streaks that dates back to the brief Mike Riley era.
The main item on Rhule’s to-do list was improving one of the worst passing attacks in the country.
Nebraska’s passing offense ranked No. 129 out of 133 FBS teams last season while averaging 135.9 yards per game. Iowa was the only non-triple option team that averaged fewer yards per game last season.
The Cornhuskers made a splash in that department by landing five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola. The one-time Georgia commit was the highest-rated quarterback recruit in program history.
Nebraska could face some growing pains by starting a true freshman, but the production can’t get worse than it was last year. The Cornhuskers scored less than 20 points in all seven of their losses while their quarterbacks combined for 16 interceptions and a 52.1 completion percentage.
Both numbers ranked among the worst in the country.
Bottom line: Nebraska is going to be a dangerous team in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers had a tremendous defense last season that was completely overshadowed by having one of the worst offenses in the country. They should be a more well-balanced team this year, but not because the defense takes a step back.
More: Why new Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds is a ‘big get’ for the program
Week 10 vs. Michigan
Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL dominated the conversation during the offseason, but his departure will have less of an impact than all the talent the Wolverines lost to the league in the wake of winning a national title.
Michigan set a school record with 13 players drafted in 2024, a number that was the fourth most all-time.
The list includes much of the team’s starting offense — quarterback JJ McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, tight end AJ Barner, starting wideouts Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson as well as starting guards Trevor Keegan (37 career starts) and Zak Zinter (42 career starts).
The good news for new coach Sherrone Moore is that Harbaugh recruited at such a high level in recent years that Michigan is in a better position to handle that attrition than most college programs.
Michigan lost plenty of defensive talent as well, but has a more proven core to build all around. That group features defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, safety Rod Moore and cornerback Will Johnson. All four players earned All-Big Ten honors while Johnson was an All-American.
Bottom line: The Wolverines might end up competing for a third straight Big Ten title, but it’s easier to envision the program taking a step back and being a bit more vulnerable in the conference to teams like Indiana.
Week 11 vs. Ohio State
Ohio State bolstered a ridiculously talented roster by signing the No. 1 overall high school signee (wide receiver Jeremiah Smith) along with the top-rated safety transfer Caleb Downs (Alabama) and running back Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss).
The Buckeyes also revamped their quarterback room by adding Kansas State transfer Will Howard and Alabama transfer Julian Sayin. Howard had a 14-11 career record with 5,333 career passing yards.
He helped the team win a Big 12 title in 2022 going 4-1 as a starter.
They join a roster filled with playmakers on both sides of the ball including running back TreVeyon Henderson, receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and cornerback Denzel Burke.
The other big headline for OSU during the offseason was Ryan Day hiring Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator. It was a nearly unprecedented move for a sitting Power Four head coach to take a job as a collegiate offensive coordinator.
Kelly hopes unburdening himself of the vast responsibilities of a head coach will allow him to replicate the success he had as Oregon’s offensive coordinator from 2007-08 when the team set new records for scoring and total offense in back-to-back years.
Bottom line: Indiana might score a few more points against Ohio State than it did last year, but it’s hard to imagine the Hoosiers tripping up a sure-fire title contender. As long as IU shows progress throughout the rest of the year, fans won’t remember another lopsided loss to the Buckeyes.
Click here for Part 1 of IU football’s schedule rankings.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
