Indiana Will Be One of Two Top-25 Teams Who Still Hasn't Faced a Power Conference Team Through Week 3

Another week, another lopsided matchup. Thus is life for Indiana these days.

Life as a top-4 squad is a relatively new life, though Saturday will mark the 11th time that IU has played a game in that spot under Curt Cignetti. Back before IU was a top-4 team, it could have a sleepy non-conference schedule that wouldn't be discussed.

But yeah, IU is living a different life now. It's the type of world in which we can point out the dubious club that it'll be a part of by the end of Week 3.

Indiana and Penn State will be the only ranked teams who have yet to face a Power Conference foe through Week 3

Real quick.

Go back to late-2024 and tell someone that IU would be a top-4 team in late-September before it even plays a Power Conference team. It would've been less believable than telling someone that IU would produce a Heisman Trophy winner and/or a No. 1 overall pick.

But as it stands, IU will be part of this somewhat dubious club with Penn State.

Call it brand bias if you will. I'll instead call it a "yeah, but" for any sort of praise directed at those three teams.

We know that IU is in a much different spot as the defending champs who boast the nation's longest winning streak (18). Unless a meteor hits Bloomington and IU is forced to forfeit the game, it won't lose to a Western Kentucky team who has allowed 119 points in two games so far.

But where the skepticism is warranted for the likes of Indiana and Penn State is speaking in absolutes. Even a top-25 team like Utah, who basically played against air in its matchup against Arkansas in Week 2, has already been more tested.

I know the pushback to bringing up such a subject.

Didn't IU follow this same script last year? And how did that work out?

Fair point. Also a fair point? IU responded to that 3-0, non-Power Conference start by throttling No. 9 Illinois in Game No. 4.

Games 4-6 for IU were when we found out that IU was going to be a true contender. Perhaps Illinois' ranking was inflated, but winning road matchups at Iowa and Oregon the following games had the Hoosiers in a much more proven place by midseason.

By midseason this year, I'm not so sure that IU will have faced a Power Conference bowl team.

Yes, I do mean that as disrespect to the likes of Northwestern, Rutgers and Nebraska. The gap between those squads and the foes that await IU in the latter half of the season could prove to be massive.

It's worth monitoring because IU could be riding a 22-game winning streak into the Ohio State game — I realize that Cignetti is the last person who would call it that because last year's team is different than this year's team — and we won't know how good IU is.

Will that be a problem? It could.

Think back to a group like 2015 Ohio State, who was the unanimous preseason No. 1 and the defending national champs.

The Buckeyes were 10-0 that season, but they didn't exactly cruise through the first 2.5 months. When they finally faced a ranked foe, No. 9 Michigan State went into Columbus and ground out a win without starting quarterback Connor Cook.

We know that it's a different Playoff system now, and even if IU does endure a "rockier-than-the-record-shows" start, it could get a chance to recover come Playoff time. That's the good news.

The bad news is that it's still better to find your flaws in September than late-October. IU doesn't appear to have that luxury this season.

In the meantime, wait a few more weeks to draw any definitive conclusions about the 2026 version of IU.

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