Indiana spent the entirety of its existence right around the bottom of the ladder in college football as a whole, let alone the Big Ten.
No programs lost quite like the Hoosiers, who did so more than any other teams in the conference before being passed by Northwestern this past season. Gridiron grief was a given in Bloomington for decades with most eyes drawn to IU’s men’s basketball program. Any short bursts of success just icing on the cake that was hoops.
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Not anymore.
Indiana is the sport’s national champion after a 12-0 run in the regular season, a win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship and ensuing victories over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Oregon in the Peach Bowl and Miami in the National Championship Game. It’s the first 16-0 finish in college football in over a century. In doing so, Indiana leapt into the ranks of the haves after spending decades in the dregs of the have nots.
Seven of the Big Ten’s 18 current teams have won a national championship as a member of the conference. Only three have won one since 1968: Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes have sat firmly atop the Big Ten’s football hierarchy for decades, being supplanted at the top by no teams save for one another during that span. Now Indiana’s come along and thrown itself atop the conference.
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Now, before you get incensed, this is not to say Indiana’s title equals Michigan and Ohio State’s several. It is to say both of those programs entered the 2025 season with all the tools and resources to win both the Big Ten and national championships and came up with neither, falling short of Indiana in the standings or, for the Buckeyes, on the field. Ohio State could’ve avenged that conference championship loss but fell to the same Miami team Indiana beat to win it all.
Other teams have won the conference under Michigan and Ohio State’s watch, blips before a return to the status quo. There’s immortality to that, those trophies last forever, but they lack the lasting luster of a national title, which none of Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue or Penn State captured after winning the Big Ten.
Indiana did that.
Is Indiana at the level of Michigan or Ohio State, its two immediate predecessors as national champions? Practically, no. Should it be considered ahead of the rest of the conference? Yes. Again, only those three programs have a title as a member since 1968.
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After those three? It’s a weird mix with a note given to the prior qualifier of “as a member.”
Big Ten programs with titles since 1968 that were won as members of another conference (or independent) include USC, Penn State, Nebraska, Washington. Out of those four only Penn State has won the conference, doing so in 2005, 2008 and 2016. Both USC and Washington have yet to win ten or more games as a member and Nebraska has been notoriously inept.
Then there’s the curious case of Oregon, a program without a title. The Ducks are no doubt near the top of the hierarchy, arguably just below the trio of Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana, given their conference championship in 2024. Unlike the Hoosiers, they followed that up with a trouncing in the Rose Bowl at the hands of the Buckeyes no less.
There’s plenty of great football programs in the Big Ten. All of USC, Oregon, Penn State, Washington and probably Nebraska can win a title. The resources are there, they just need proper usage. They all just need to prove they’re actually capable.
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Michigan and Ohio State didn’t. Now neither does Indiana.
This almost certainly won’t last forever, contenders have risen and fallen throughout history, just look at a few of the programs listed above. But for now, Indiana’s right around the top.
