CBS Sports projects win total for Indiana football ahead of 2025 season

As spring practice is in full force, Indiana football is attacking this offseason from an entirely different perspective than the year prior. With Curt Cignetti and his staff now in year two with the program, expectations and standards have been clearly set following a terrific and arguably overachieving first season on the sidelines.

After combining for nine wins over the three seasons before Cignetti’s arrival, Indiana football made a College Football Playoff appearance in year one of the new era of Hoosiers’ football, going 11-2 on the season. The only two losses were to the two teams playing in the National Championship game; Notre Dame and Ohio State.

So what can expectations be for year two? Is the College Football Playoff the goal yet again?

While it’s still early in the offseason, predictions are spreading like wildfire — especially teams’ win totals.

According to Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports, he set the line for Indiana football at 8.5 wins.

“The Hoosiers were a major surprise last year, and while they won’t collapse in 2025, it’s hard to hit it that big in the portal for consecutive seasons,” Fornelli wrote. “The odds are this team will fall back to Earth a bit, but it says a lot that Indiana fans will be mad at me for thinking their football team will go 8-4.”

Breaking down the Hoosiers’ schedule, Fornelli has Indiana losing all but one game away from Memorial Stadium. That one win? Purdue.

The other four away games, and all of the losses he predicts for Indiana, are at Iowa, Oregon, Maryland and Penn State.  

Indiana knows people around the country think the 2024 season was a fluke. Or just luck. So, there is a sense of urgency and an underdog mentality that sticks with this group — especially the players returning — heading into the summer and eventually the fall.

“Look, this is a football team that didn’t finish the season very well,” Cignetti said last month. “Went up and played in the College Football Playoff and didn’t play like we wanted to play. We have some things to prove.

“But that’s all in the past. These are a whole bunch of new guys, new team. Every team in America is pretty much that way, probably 90 percent of them. Everyone is 0-0 right now, and they will be heading into game 1 in the fall. It’s all earned, not given, between the white lines.”

The Hoosiers kick off year two under Curt Cignetti on August 30 against Old Dominion.

SEE ALSO: Everyone across the country will ‘come out of spring football undefeated’. But Indiana football is out for more. It’s a group that feels it still has ‘some things to prove’

Make sure to follow Hoosier Illustrated, part of the Full Ride Network, on Twitter @Indiana_FRN, Facebook and YouTube to stay up to date on all of the news, updates and coverage of Indiana University athletics. You can also listen to the Talking’ Bout the Hoosiers podcast on Spotify.

Looking for a place to get more Indiana content? Hoosier Illustrated has partnered with Tom Brady’s company ‘Autograph’ to streamline our coverage, so you can continue to do what you do best – follow IU sports. Use the CODE: Indianafr to get started today. For more info, you can start here.