No. 5 Indiana hosts No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. Kickoff is 11 a.m. Central (noon ET) on Fox, and Fox's Big Noon Kickoff pregame show will be on site. It is the first top-five matchup at Memorial Stadium, and the first top-10 game played there. ESPN's College GameDay will not be in town.
The last two champions
Indiana won the national championship in 2025, finishing 16-0. Ohio State won it the year before. The Hoosiers are 6-0 (3-0 in the Big Ten) and own the longest active win streak in the FBS at 22 games, one short of Ohio State's own 23-game run. They have won 19 straight at home and have not lost at Memorial Stadium since November 2023. Third-year coach Curt Cignetti has never lost a home game there.
Ohio State is 5-1 (3-0 in the Big Ten). Its only loss came Sept. 12 at Texas, 24-23, after the Buckeyes let a 20-point lead slip. Since then they have beaten Kent State 59-3, Illinois 42-19, Iowa 31-14 on the road and Maryland 45-16 last Saturday. Eighth-year coach Ryan Day has the nation's stingiest defense by one measure: 4.0 yards allowed per play, the lowest in the country.
What to watch
Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover has 15 touchdown passes and no interceptions, and the Hoosiers lead the Big Ten with 20 sacks. They have won or tied the turnover battle in 30 straight games, and last Saturday they came back from 11 points down to beat Nebraska 20-17.
Ohio State's Julian Sayin has thrown for 1,772 yards, fourth in the nation, with 17 touchdowns. Receiver Jeremiah Smith has 916 yards, second nationally, and 11 touchdowns. Cignetti's assessment of Smith: "He's the best player I remember in a long, long time."
The history
Ohio State has dominated the series, but Indiana won the most recent game: 13-10 in the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 6, 2025. It was the Hoosiers' first win over the Buckeyes since 1988. Before that, Ohio State won 38-15 in Columbus in November 2024, the first loss of the Cignetti era, and 23-3 in Bloomington in 2023.
Game day
The game has been sold out for months, and fans have been asked to wear red for a red-out. Indiana set its stadium attendance record, 56,088, against Illinois last September. Day and Cignetti have a combined 115-15 record at their schools.