I disagree. It's a scheduling gaffe if you don't improve as a team the way you envisioned when the contract was signed. The contract was announced in August of 2015 (
LINK).
So it was signed entering year 5 of the CKW era that had showed steady improvement. Including a 2014 Non-Conference game against Missouri that IU won. That was followed up by splitting games with Wake Forest in '15 & '16. And winning against UVA in '17 & '18. Followed by the 8-4 slate in '19 and the COVID year in '20. How IU played during this era is why they made the contract with ND for the end of the 20s, which I thought at the time was a little ambitious.
I'm of the opinion that if you want to be taken seriously as a football program you schedule in stages. When you're at the bottom in a tough conference, you schedule 3 non-con wins. As you improve, you add one semi-competitive game. Then a forecasted competitive game. When you're actually a year-in & year-out contender is when you add a marquee game.
The ND series was jumping the line. The UL series was within the plan.
