College Football HQ

Indiana no longer has the most losses in college football history

Alex Weber|
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti walks on the sideline during the second quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti walks on the sideline during the second quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

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Indiana Hoosiers

In Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 opus, Magnolia, you hear a certain phrase repeated several times: "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us." Well, after finally climbing out of college football's cellar, Indiana football may actually be through with its downtrodden past. That's right, the Hoosiers are no longer the losing-est program in CFB history.

On Saturday, Indiana tussled with a three-win Penn State team for 3+ hours before, on a third and goal with seconds remaining, a Nittany Lion defender plowed over Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback Fernando Mendoza as he flung a pass to wideout Omar Cooper, who snagged the ball and just barely tapped that right toe down in the end zone for what everyone now considers the Catch of the Season in college football. Also, maybe the call of the year by the referee who spotted it in real time.

Take a look:

Not only did Indiana vanquish the preseason No. 1 team on their home field to hand them a sixth loss of the season, but the Hoosiers stayed afloat as a top-two team in the country and have a College Football Playoff berth and Big Ten title game appearance virtually locked up. The biggest achievement of the day came in the history books, though.

Indiana entered the 2025 football season leading the country in most all-time losses as a program. Sure, that can be a fickle stat because ultimately, you have to play a lot more games, and have a deep history, to even earn that many losses. But either way, it's not a title you want for your football progam. An easy way to get out of that hole: Simply don't lose!

That's exactly what Indiana has done as they move to 10-0 now on the year, meanwhile, Big Ten compatriot Northwestern hasn't quite kept a clean sheet and just dropped their fourth game of the season. That happens to be the Wildcats' 716th loss in program history, which yes, tops Indiana's figure.

For now, that ugly IU football past is totally through with the current program. Head coach Curt Cignetti even emphasized as much during interviews as part of Saturday's game.

During a wildly entertaining yet terse 15-second exchange in the pregame, Fox's Jenny Taft brought up the fact that Indiana had never won at Penn State in Beaver Stadium. "This team has never played here," was his only rebuttal. As taft followed up asking what concerns him about Penn State, he issued another legendary line: "Nothing concerns me," he said with a furious brow-furrowing and head shake. "The time to be concerned is over. It's time to attack and play."

It's time for Indiana to set records in the win column, not bury their nose in failures of the past.

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Alex Weber
ALEX WEBER

Born and raised in the state of Kentucky, Alex Weber has published articles for many of the largest college sports media brands in the country, including On3, Athlon Sports, FanSided, SB Nation, and others. Since 2022, he has also contributed for Kentucky Sports Radio, one of the largest team-specific college sports websites in the nation. In addition to his work in sports journalism, Alex manages content for a local magazine named ‘Goshen Living’ and coaches cross country and track.

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