INDIANA FOOTBALL GAME NOTES VS. OLE MISS
Setting The Scene
• No. 7 Indiana (6-1, 6-1 B1G East) faces Ole Miss (4-5, 4-5 SEC West) in the 35th Outback Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 2. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. EST at Raymond James Stadium (Tifway 419 Bermuda Grass) on ABC.
• IU is playing in consecutive January bowls for the first time in school history.
• The Hoosiers are in their first Outback Bowl and their second bowl in the state of Florida (2020 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl).
• Indiana is making its 13th bowl appearance and its fourth in the last six seasons. (more on page 59)
• IU is ranked for a program record ninth-consecutive week, coming in at No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 and at No. 8 in the Amway Coaches Poll presented by USA Today Sports.
• The Hoosiers have been ranked in the Top 10 six times in 2020, the second-most in school history (9 weeks in 1945).
• Indiana collected its first Top-10 ranking in the Nov. 8 AP Poll (No. 10) since Sept. 22, 1969 (No. 10).
• IU’s No. 7 rating is its best in the AP Poll since Nov. 27, 1967 (No. 4).
• The Hoosiers three Top-25 victories are tied for the second-most in the country behind Alabama’s four.
• Their three Top-25 wins also matched the 1945 team’s program record.
• Indiana’s 6-1 record is its best start since 1993 (7-1).
• IU is 14-6 overall and 11-5 in league play since the beginning of the 2019 campaign. Its 14 victories share fourth and its 11 Big Ten wins share third among all B1G teams during that span.
• With their victory over Maryland, the Hoosiers clinched a winning league record in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1987-88 and for the sixth time overall (1967-68, 1944-46 and 1936-37).
• Indiana’s six conference wins are tied for the most in school history (1967, 1987).
• IU’s 11 Big Ten victories are tied for the most in program history over a two-year span (1987-88).
• The Hoosiers collected their first win over No. 16 Wisconsin (14-6) since defeating the Badgers in back-to-back seasons on Oct. 6, 2001 (63-32) and on Oct. 12, 2002 (32-29), the former coming at Camp Randall Stadium.
• Indiana recorded its first road victory over a ranked opponent since No. 18 Missouri on Sept. 20, 2014 (31-27), and its first B1G road win over a ranked opponent since No. 22 Michigan State on Nov. 10, 2001 (37-28).
• Wisconsin’s six points marked its lowest total against IU since Oct. 24, 1992 (3), and it was U-W’s first game without a touchdown since Oct. 3, 2015, against Iowa.
THE GAME
• Indiana and Ole Miss will meet for the first time on Saturday.
• This marks IU’s fifth bowl game against an SEC opponent: 1988 Peach Bowl (27-22 loss to Tennessee on Jan. 2), 1988
Liberty Bowl (34-10 win over South Carolina on Dec. 28), 1990 Peach Bowl (27-23 loss to Auburn on Dec. 30), 2020 TaxSlayer
Gator Bowl (23-22 loss to Tennessee on Jan. 2).
• The Hoosiers hold a 27-22-1 (.550) all-time record against SEC opponents.
• Indiana is looking for its first bowl victory since a 24-0 whitewashing of Baylor in the 1991 Copper Bowl on Dec. 31.
• IU is playing its first non-conference game of the year.
• The Hoosiers have won nine of their last 10 out-of-conference contests.
• The Hoosiers matched a school record with five-straight league victories (1967) before losing at No. 3 Ohio State and have won 11 of their last 14, their most successful stretch in conference games in program history.
• Indiana defeated Michigan State, 24-0, to reclaim the Old Brass Spittoon for the first time since 2016 and earn its first win in East Lansing since 2001.
• IU’s 38-21 victory over No. 23 Michigan was its first over the Wolverines since Oct. 24, 1987 (14-10).
• The Hoosiers 36-35, overtime win against No. 8 Penn State in the season opener was the sixth against a Top-10 opponent in school history, with the last coming at No. 9 Ohio State (31-10) on Oct. 10, 1987.
• It marked Indiana’s first Top-10 victory at Memorial Stadium since Nov. 25, 1967 (No. 3 Purdue, 19-14).
• IU has defeated PSU, U-M, MSU and UW in the same season for the first time in program history and beaten the Wolverines and Spartans in the same year for the first time since 1967.
• Senior WR Ty Fryfogle and junior LB Micah McFadden earned third-team Associated Press Al-America honors.