Since Indiana football’s College Football Playoff First Round loss to the University of Notre Dame just over eight months ago, Hoosier fans have long awaited the opening kickoff of the 2025 season after the program’s best season in 2024.
The players feel the same.
Throughout spring practice, summer workouts and fall camp, Indiana’s offense and defense were tasked with constantly facing each other.
They’re ready to have a new opponent.
“Nothing like going out there to crack someone in a different color,” redshirt junior offensive lineman Carter Smith said during media availability Tuesday. “I’m really excited.”
For senior linebacker Aiden Fisher and redshirt senior offensive lineman Pat Coogan, who transferred in from Notre Dame during the offseason, a new opponent means new people to direct their trash talk toward. The two have jawed at each other all offseason and are “kind of sick of it at this point,” Fisher said.
Old Dominion University is the Hoosiers’ first opponent of the season, with the contest slated for 2:30 p.m. Saturday on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.
Although Indiana won its 2024 season opener against Florida International University, many fans left the stadium at halftime, which became Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti’s focus during his postgame press conference. Keeping fans in their seats after the break was a tradition he aimed to start.
Now, a year later, Indiana’s student section is sold out for each of the seven home games.
“Looking back at the FIU game last year and the difference for our first game this year, it’s going to be night and day,” Fisher said. “I think that we’re going to put a great product on the field, and the fans are really going to want to be a part of that, and it’s really exciting to see and kind of feel the support around here.”
Despite Old Dominion being a member of the Sun Belt Conference and coming off a 5-7 season, it will be a “very tough challenge,” according to Cignetti.
When Cignetti and his coordinators were still leading James Madison University, his squad faced the Monarchs in 2022 and 2023. Despite a dominant 34-point victory in 2022, the Dukes earned just a 3-point win a year later.
With Cignetti’s past familiarity with Old Dominion — a team he “really respects” — Saturday’s contest offers a time to see where Indiana stands.
“We'll learn a lot about our team in Game 1 like we did last season,” Cignetti said during a press conference Monday. “You're establishing the habits that they're going to carry you through the season, installing, developing players, learning about your team. Now it's time to go to war. It's serious business now.”
Fisher and Smith echoed Cignetti’s mindset: the former “can’t wait” to take the field while the latter wants to “come out and smack some heads.”
Follow reporters Conor Banks and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) throughout the Indiana football season.
