2018 - remember last year? The Hoosiers sat 4-2 after sweeping their non-conference schedule, beating Rutgers, and losing to Ohio State and Michigan. Sound familiar. The downward spiral started with a flat performance at home vs Iowa, a near-miss vs Penn State, another flat performance at Minnesota, and a home win vs Maryland before losing to Michigan and Purdue to end the season.
2015 - IU took a close loss to OSU and a loss at PSU after a 4-0 start earned by sweeping non-conference foes (including a road win at Wake Forest). The losing kept coming with the 25-point choke job vs Rutgers followed by back-to-back-to-back losses to top 15 opponents in MSU, Iowa, and Michigan. Road wins at Maryland and Purdue to close the season salvaged a 6-win campaign and got the team a trip to the Pinstripe Bowl.
2010 - A sweep of non-conference foes bookended the annual losses to Michigan and Ohio State. A 30-point blowout loss at Illinois led to close home losses to Northwestern and Iowa before the still-embarrassing 83-20 beatdown at Wisconsin happened. The squad then played a neutral site game vs PSU before taking the Bucket in West Lafayette in what would be Bill Lynch's final game as head coach.
2005 - A sweep of three non-conference opponents plus a B10 win over Illinois balanced a loss at Wisconsin to start the season at 4-1. The season went downhill in a hurry as the Hoosiers lost the next six conference games, never getting closer than 17 points to any opponent in Terry Hoeppner's first year as head coach.
1991 - A rare game (and loss) to Notre Dame opened the season. That was followed by a win over Kentucky, tie vs Missouri, then a 4-1 run through the Big 10 with wins over MSU, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Minnesota along with a loss to Michigan. The 4-2-1 start produced a 6-4-1 finish and a trip to the Copper Bowl. I was a junior at IU and had no idea how good I had it as a football fan.
1990 - This was another 4-2-1 start back in the days when Northwestern and Missouri were cupcakes and the Hoosiers mustered a tie vs OSU. A sweep of three non-conference foes, win over Northwestern, and tie of OSU led to back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Michigan. IU managed to go 2-2 the rest of the way and earn a trip to the Peach Bowl.
Note - there have been three better-than-4-2 starts in this time period:
2015 - IU took a close loss to OSU and a loss at PSU after a 4-0 start earned by sweeping non-conference foes (including a road win at Wake Forest). The losing kept coming with the 25-point choke job vs Rutgers followed by back-to-back-to-back losses to top 15 opponents in MSU, Iowa, and Michigan. Road wins at Maryland and Purdue to close the season salvaged a 6-win campaign and got the team a trip to the Pinstripe Bowl.
2010 - A sweep of non-conference foes bookended the annual losses to Michigan and Ohio State. A 30-point blowout loss at Illinois led to close home losses to Northwestern and Iowa before the still-embarrassing 83-20 beatdown at Wisconsin happened. The squad then played a neutral site game vs PSU before taking the Bucket in West Lafayette in what would be Bill Lynch's final game as head coach.
2005 - A sweep of three non-conference opponents plus a B10 win over Illinois balanced a loss at Wisconsin to start the season at 4-1. The season went downhill in a hurry as the Hoosiers lost the next six conference games, never getting closer than 17 points to any opponent in Terry Hoeppner's first year as head coach.
1991 - A rare game (and loss) to Notre Dame opened the season. That was followed by a win over Kentucky, tie vs Missouri, then a 4-1 run through the Big 10 with wins over MSU, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Minnesota along with a loss to Michigan. The 4-2-1 start produced a 6-4-1 finish and a trip to the Copper Bowl. I was a junior at IU and had no idea how good I had it as a football fan.
1990 - This was another 4-2-1 start back in the days when Northwestern and Missouri were cupcakes and the Hoosiers mustered a tie vs OSU. A sweep of three non-conference foes, win over Northwestern, and tie of OSU led to back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Michigan. IU managed to go 2-2 the rest of the way and earn a trip to the Peach Bowl.
Note - there have been three better-than-4-2 starts in this time period:
- 1993 - 7-1 start
- 1994 - 5-1 start
- 2007 - 5-1 start
