Regular season football matchups that cross Power Five conferences are rare enough as it is. But for whatever reason, one Big Ten school has decided to cancel one of the few non-conference Power Five games on their schedule.
According to Michael Niziolek of The Herald Times, Indiana is in negotiations with Louisville to cancel their 2025 football game at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. The game was supposed to be the last of three games in a series between them.
Per the report, Indiana and Louisville are working towards a resolution to the Hoosiers’ request, but nothing has been finalized as of yet.
The first game is slated to be played this coming season at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, followed by the second game at L&N Stadium the following year. Beyond that, things are now up in the air apparently.
Breaking news: Indiana in negotiations with Louisville to cancel 2025 football game between the schools that was supposed to be at Memorial Stadium, was to be final matchup in a three-game series originally agreed to in 2015 https://t.co/mSo57YoUVy
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) August 10, 2023
The series between the Indiana and Kentucky-based schools was first made back in 2015 – before the craziness of the Big Ten Conference realignment but also before the Big Ten made significant changes to its in-conference schedule.
Nevertheless, it’s a bad look for Indiana, who don’t exactly have a lot of powerhouses on their non-conference schedule over the next few years.
The only other series Indiana football has against Power Five schools over the next decade are a home-and-home series against Virginia in 2027 and 2028, followed by a home-and-home series against Notre Dame in 2030 and 2031.