The Indiana Hoosiers play the biggest game of their football program's existence this weekend. IU takes on the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
To OSU, this isn't a bigger game than "The Game" last week in Ann Arbor against TTUN. The Buckeyes have won the B1G title game five times since 2011. Beating Indiana would be nice to answer the question of who the most complete team in the conference is, but the more important question is who would win in a hypothetical rematch.
The Hoosiers are no boogeyman to Ohio State fans. Curt Cignetti has led an incredible effort in 2025, aided by ace offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, but until they start actually winning games, Cleveland.com's Stefan Krajisnik doesn't see Indiana being taken as seriously as Buckeye rivals like the Clemson Tigers of the late 2010s and early 2020s and the Oregon Ducks in the late Mario Cristobal era and early Dan Lanning days in Eugene.
Not when IU hasn't beaten OSU since the Ronald Reagan administration and the series record is 80-18.
"Rivalries — outside of obvious ones such as Ohio State vs. (TTUN) — lose their luster when one team is dominant. There has to be a back-and-forth for hatred to truly brew," Krajisnik prefaced before saying, "Ohio State wouldn’t have cared much about Clemson early in Ryan Day’s tenure if the Tigers hadn’t won the 2019 Fiesta Bowl. Oregon would be an afterthought if Ohio State hadn’t lost to the Ducks in 2021 and 2024 — plus, the Big Ten newcomer has won some notable recruiting battles against the Buckeyes."
"Ohio State and Indiana can have a more intense rivalry because geography and history suggest the two programs should. However, IU needs to start making some noise on the field. Saturday presents an opportunity."
Ohio State is on its longest Big Ten title drought since 1992
In this brave new world of College Football, the Buckeyes have not won the Big Ten since the 2020 season, but have made the CFP twice since, of course, winning it all in 2024/2025. That's the longest draught since a championship-less era in Columbus since 1987-1992.
Ohio State fans do not care. If last week was like a Super Bowl to many Buckeye fans, this week may as well be the Pro Bowl.
Actually, maybe the Big Ten Championship Game will go the way of the Pro Bowl before long.