With spring practice out of the way and majority of roster reconstructions complete, it’s time to look ahead to rankings for the 2025 football season.

Indiana was nowhere to be found in any preseason models last year — human or computer.

But after an 11-2 season that included an 8-1 Big Ten record and a CFP appearance, the perception of IU football has changed dramatically under the direction of second-year head coach Curt Cignetti.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach published his “2025 post-spring Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings” on Thursday and slotted Indiana in as the preseason No. 17 team.  If IU is ranked in the preseason AP top-25 released in August, it will be their first appearance in that preseason poll since 2021, and just the third time since 1969.

Here’s what Schlabach wrote about Indiana:

2025 outlook: The Hoosiers stunned the college football world by reaching the CFP in coach Curt Cignetti’s first season. And they’ve gone back into the transfer portal to fill some holes to try to run it back. Fernando Mendoza was one of the top quarterbacks in the portal after throwing for 3,004 yards with 16 touchdowns in 2024. Three transfers could start on the offensive line, and Makai Jackson and California transfer Jonathan Brady should help a solid receiver corps.

Hosea Wheeler and Dominique Ratcliff will anchor the middle of the defensive line, and Mikail Kamara’s return was a big boost for the defense. It’s going to be difficult for Indiana to match last season’s success, but its nonconference schedule (Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and FCS program Indiana State) gives it a chance to get off to a good start.

The Hoosiers will face three ranked teams in 2025 according to the ESPN projection, and they are all in Schlabach’s top-11:  No. 1 Penn State, No. 8 Oregon and No. 11 Illinois.

Indiana will go on the road to face No. 1 Penn State and No. 8 Oregon, along with an Iowa team likely not far from the top-25.  And they’ll host No. 11 Illinois in the Big Ten opener in mid-September.

Joining those ranked teams from the Big Ten are the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 5.  2025 will mark the first time since 2008 that IU and Ohio State do not meet during the regular season.

Indiana’s full 2025 schedule is as follows:

Aug. 30 – Old Dominion
Sept. 6 – Kennesaw State
Sept. 13 – Indiana State

BIG TEN:

Sept. 20 – vs. Illinois
Sept. 27 – at Iowa
Oct. 11 – at Oregon
Oct. 18 – vs. Michigan State
Oct. 25 – vs. UCLA
Nov. 1 – at Maryland
Nov. 8 – at Penn State
Nov. 15 – vs. Wisconsin
Nov. 29 – at Purdue

IU football: Position-by-position look at 2025 roster changes (UPDATE – WR Brady added via portal)

For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.

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The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

Related

J. Kyle Mann begins the show by talking to The Ringer’s Joe House about the upcoming NBA draft class and how some of the top prospects would fare with his beloved Washington Wizards (00:00). Then, 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner joins the show to discuss his evolution at Creighton, NBA hopes, some misconceptions surrounding his game, and more (33:09).

Check out The Ringer’s 2025 NBA Draft Guide here.

Host: J. Kyle Mann
Guests: Ryan Kalkbrenner and Joe House
Producers: Ben Cruz and Troy Farkas

OKLAHOMA CITY — In a game dominated by pitching, the No. 23 Oklahoma State softball team lost a 2-1 decision to Arizona State in quarterfinal play of the Big 12 Tournament played at Devon Park. 

 

The Cowgirls dropped to 33-18 overall, while the Sun Devils improved to 35-18 on the year.  

 

After three scoreless innings, Arizona State’s Samantha Swan drove the first pitch of the fourth inning over the left field fence.  

 

 

The Sun Devils broke the tie in the sixth with what amounted to the game-winning sacrifice fly from Tanya Windle. 

 

 

OSU learns its postseason destination on Sunday, May 11 as part of the NCAA Softball Tournament Selection Show, scheduled to air at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2. 

 

For season-long coverage of Oklahoma State Softball, visit okstate.com and follow @CowgirlSB on X and @osusoftball on Instagram. For tickets, visit okstate.com/tickets  

or call 877-ALL-4-OSU. 

 

 

WP: K. Brown (19-6); LP: R. Meylan (21-8); SV: None 

HR: OSU – None 

HR: ASU – Swan (2) 

Duration: 2:19 

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Lehigh’s Patriot League Tournament opener against Boston University Thursday at the Army Softball Complex has been suspended due to inclement weather. Play was halted in the middle of the fifth inning with BU leading 1-0 on a Sophie Naivar solo home run. The tournament will be resumed at a time to be determined. Day two of the tournament was already postponed to Saturday..
 
The Mountain Hawks have a 4-1 advantage in hits through five innings, behind two singles by first-year Kelly Fricker, a single by sophomore Peyton Sward and a double by senior Lindsey Martin. Lehigh has left five runners on base through the first five innings.
 
In the circle, junior Chloe Hess has allowed a run on a hit thus far with two strikeouts a walk.
 
The winner of the Lehigh-Boston University game will face top seed Army West Point in a winner’s bracket game Saturday, while the losing team will face No. 4 Bucknell in an elimination game.
 
Follow Lehigh Softball on X/Twitter and Instagram and like on Facebook for exclusive updates throughout the season.
 

Nick Saban is expected to co-chair President Donald Trump’s commission on college sports, On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed, and the other co-chair is expected to be a well-known college athletics booster. The Athletic first reported Saban would be a co-chair.

Yahoo Sports first reported Trump’s plans to form a commission focused on college sports. The Athletic also added the president will be “very engaged” because of the national importance he sees in college athletics.

Trump is also reportedly considering an executive order which would create more scrutiny around NIL, according to the Wall Street Journal. That news came down after the president and Saban met ahead of last week’s commencement address at Alabama.

The commission on college sports is expected to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts,” according to Yahoo Sports. It is expected to be a months-long endeavor.

News of Trump’s plan to consider an executive order and form a commission come with the backdrop of the House v. NCAA settlement, which continues to go through the final approval process. Attorneys filed an updated brief Wednesday evening that sought to address Judge Claudia Wilken’s concerns about roster limits, and the plan would create a grandfather provision for athletes who lost their spots. A decision on final approval is expected in the coming weeks.

However, plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Berman called out Nick Saban and President Donald Trump’s discussions as the settlement seeks final approval. Legal experts say an executive order could create more problems, and Berman called for the conversations to cease while both sides work toward final approval for the House v. NCAA settlement.

“While he was a coach, [Nick] Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,’” Berman said in a statement. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement. College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

NCAA leadership has taken multiple trips to Capitol Hill for discussions about NIL and college sports. Last month, leaders from across collegiate athletics took a trip to Washington, D.C. for College Sports Day. Saban has also spoken in front of Congress about regulation, notably doing so in a roundtable hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year.

NCAA president Charlie Baker and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also spoke multiple times about the need for national legislation to help regulate NIL. Saban also did so on ESPN’s College GameDay this past football season, calling for stability with both NIL and the transfer portal.

Score By Periods

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Baylor BU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Texas Tech TTU	0	0	0	0	4	0	X	4	4	0

W: NiJaree Canady (24-5)
L: Walker, Lillie (12-11)

OKLAHOMA CITY – Baylor Softball fell against No. 1 seed Texas Tech, 4-0, Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament. 
 
THE RUNDOWN
Texas Tech and Baylor had a 0-0 contest for much of the second-round matchup as the Bears sat down the Red Raiders in order in the first inning before issuing a walk in the second. 
 
Baylor allowed TTU to record its first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a single through the left side, but a lineout ended the threat. 
 
Texas Tech retired 17-straight from the Baylor lineup as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year was perfect through 6.2 innings. 
 
The Red Raiders took the 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, after a couple of hits and errors to score three unearned and one earned run. 
 
Faith Piper broke up the perfect game for NiJaree Canady and the Red Raiders in the top of the sixth but that would be all for the Bears as they would remain scoreless heading to the seventh inning. 
 
The Bears tried to get a rally going in the top of the seventh after Texas Tech made a pitching change and a walk and two singles loaded the bases, but the Red Raiders brought Canady back in who recorded the last two outs to secure the win. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

 – BaylorBears.com –