Game preview: IU football hosts Indiana State in non-conference finale
- Josh Pos
- 4h ago
Big Ten play is just around the corner. However, Indiana will have to wait one week, as it plays host to Indiana State on Friday night in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers are fresh off a 56-7 beatdown of Kennesaw State. Also coming off a victory are the Sycamores, who beat Eastern Illinois 38-14 at home last week.
The game under the lights is the first of two consecutive home night games for Indiana at Memorial Stadium.
Ahead of Friday’s non-conference finale, here is Inside the Hall’s preview of the clash between the Hoosiers and Sycamores.
Game information
Who: No. 22 Indiana (2-0, 0-0 in Big Ten) vs Indiana State (2-0, 0-0 in Missouri Valley)
Where: Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium
When: Friday, September 12th, 2025. 6:30 p.m. EST
TV: BTN, TBA (Play-By-Play), TBA (Analyst), TBA (Sideline)
Radio: Don Fischer (Play-By-Play), Buck Suhr (Analyst)
The line: Indiana -48.5 (DraftKings)
SP+ prediction: Indiana 47, Indiana State 6 (99 percent chance of an IU win)
Meet the opponent
Curt Mallory, the son of beloved former IU coach Bill Mallory, leads Indiana State.
The Sycamores, picked to finish second-to-last in the MVC, have won each of their first two games convincingly, beating McKendree (Ill.) and Eastern Illinois. Elijah Owens and Keegan Patterson have split reps at quarterback in the early season and are likely to continue doing so on Friday night.
Friday evening’s tilt between the Hoosiers and Sycamores will be the eighth time the two programs have met. Indiana leads the all-time series seven games to none. The last game was also on Friday night in 2023 and saw IU win easily, 41-7.
Injury Update
Cignetti announced no new injury updates in his Monday press conference.
Freshman defensive back Byron Baldwin remains “day to day,” according to Cignetti.
The required Big Ten availability report will be released two hours before kickoff, at 4:30 p.m. EST on Friday.
Storylines
Can Indiana pull away early?
A comparable team to Western Illinois, which Indiana thrashed 77-3 last season, the Sycamores are a far inferior program to IU. Games against FCS opponents are meant to be sure-fire wins.
The Indiana offense will have its way from the very beginning, as it did last year. Indiana State lacks any player who can match the physicality of the Hoosiers.
In last year’s rout of Western Illinois, Indiana built a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Hoosiers extended it to 42-3 by halftime. There weren’t many passing plays in the first half in which an IU receiver wasn’t wide open. Indiana must be winning convincingly by the end of the first quarter. If not, angst will begin to settle in.
The college football world has Indiana under its pressure-filled microscope, and any misstep, especially against an FCS team, will be negative.
How long will the starters play?
When it comes to taking out his starters, Cignetti has been very conservative.
He waited until the fourth quarter, when the team was drubbing Western Illinois and Purdue, to replace all the starters fully. Simply put, Cignetti is merciless.
That may change on Friday night. Not because Cignetti has developed less of a desire to beat other teams by as many as possible. With a huge Big Ten opener against Illinois coming up, Indiana can’t afford to have a starter get injured. Especially in a game against Indiana State in a short week.
If things go as usual against FCS teams, Cignetti might have no reason to play starters after halftime.
Outlook
The bore of weak non-conference games is finally coming to an end. Friday night will likely be the last time Indiana plays at Memorial Stadium without a sold-out crowd in attendance.
There has always been a separation between the two programs. However, the distance hasn’t ever been greater than it will be on Friday evening.
A win won’t be enough for Cignetti and Indiana. Ideally, Indiana builds a lopsided halftime lead, giving the coaching staff a chance to rest starters for the second half.
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