With the expansion of the College Football Playoff, many teams across the nation are looking for the easiest route to the 12-team tournament, and one of Notre Dame’s future opponents, Indiana, as Brett McMurphy reported that they decided its 2027 and 2028 scheduled series against Virginia was too much for them and backed out.
As social media often does, it reacted not very kindly to the news, as the Hoosiers opted to dull down its already unimpressive schedule. When looking at the Hoosiers future non-conference schedule, it’s pretty light, as they don’t play a team from Power-5 team, with the Irish scheduled in 2030 and 2031. This coming season, they’ll face Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State. Not exactly murderers row.
The question now is what will happen to the series, which we’ll get to later on. First, let’s take a look at some of the best social media reactions to Indiana backing out of its series against Virginia.
Curt Cignetti goes against his own quote
I thought that Curt Cignetti and Indiana were “undaunted”? https://t.co/L3DmbCc5Q5
— College Football Watcher (@CFBWatcher) July 15, 2025
Cignetti talks a big game, but when push comes to shove, it didn’t work out very well for him this past fall. His first year with the Hoosiers did see them lose to the Irish in the first-round of the CFP, a season where they lost Both games against ranked opponents. The Big Ten schedule was one of the easiest in the conference, and it sure doesn’t look like Indiana is “undaunted,” as Cignetti has claimed.
Scared of Virginia?
Scared of UVA 👀👀👀❓️⁉️ https://t.co/8ExU7J5FSSpic.twitter.com/vfm7343Hbw
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) July 15, 2025
It’s kind of odd that the Hoosiers would make this decision, as the Cavaliers are one of the weaker teams in the ACC. They went 5-7 last year, not making a bowl game, and the future isn’t very bright. You’d figure that any win over a P5 team would help a team‘s CFP cause, but Indiana isn’t thinking that way.
Is Indiana scared?
Indiana has backed out of their home-and-home series with Virginia 😳
The Hoosiers are paying UVA $500,000 to not have to play them, and instead are scheduling Kennesaw State and Austin Peay for those games in 2027 and 2028 instead.
IU also previously canceled a series they had… pic.twitter.com/f9bCCbOKaj
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) July 15, 2025
I honestly don’t think this is the case, it’s more about creating an easier path to the CFP for them. There not a big chance that Virginia turns the program around by the time the two would play, so you’d have to believe that the Hoosiers would be favored in both contests. It’s still a decision that is confusing to me.
Cakewalk
Indiana Hoosiers’ upcoming non-conference schedule:
2025:
vs. Old Dominion
vs. Kennesaw State
vs. Indiana State
2026:
vs. Colorado State
vs. Western Kentucky
2027:
vs. Kennesaw State
vs. Indiana State
vs. UMass
2028:
vs. Austin Peay
vs. Eastern Michigan
2029:
vs. Ball… pic.twitter.com/MEGbVileGB
— College Sports Only 🏈 🏀 ⚾️ (@CollegeSportsO) July 15, 2025
The Kobe Bryant gif is perfect, this is a very soft upcoming non-conference schedule. Sure, the Big Ten is one of the deeper leagues, but the Hoosiers are taking the easy way out. Sure, every team across the nation does this too, but not nearly at the same level.
What about Notre Dame?
GO IU‼️🏆#IUFB#GOIUpic.twitter.com/LjcL8nlqwa
— Curt Cignetti (@CCignettiIU) June 22, 2025
I honestly don’t think the scheduled games will change, most likely due to the fact that Cignetti will either be fired, retire or leave for a different job. He did sign an extension that will run through the series, but the soon to be 65-year old might not get to the end of his contract. As one of the oldest head coaches in all of college football, his time isn’t long in the game.
Now it is hard to tell the direction that the Hoosiers would go if he’s gone by that time, but so much can change from now until then. Hopefully nothing changes and the two teams end up playing each other.
This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Indiana dropped Virginia from its schedule, is Notre Dame next?
