The Big Lead

Indiana football cancels series with Virginia in favor of 'Cupcake U' slate

The Indiana Hoosiers football program has canceled its series with the Virginia Cavaliers in favor of playing smaller programs.

By Tyler Reed

Indiana's Mike Katic and the Hoosiers hoist the bucket after the Indiana versus Purdue football game at Memorial Stadium.
Indiana's Mike Katic and the Hoosiers hoist the bucket after the Indiana versus Purdue football game at Memorial Stadium. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Indiana Hoosiers football program had its greatest season in the history of its program this past year.

The Hoosiers would finish the regular season 11-1, which earned them a spot in the first expanded College Football Playoff, where they would lose to Notre Dame in the opening round.

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It was a historic season in Bloomington last year, but all that goodwill is being erased with the news of the team scraping a home-and-home series with Virginia.

Michael Niziolek of The Herald-Times has reported that the Hoosiers will be paying the Cavaliers $500,000 for canceling the series that was set to take place in 2027-28.

In the absence of a game with Virginia, Indiana will fill the void with games against Kennesaw State, Austin Peay, and Eastern Illinois in future seasons.

Sure, we've all heard about how playing smaller programs gives those programs a spotlight they would not regularly receive, but there's a hidden truth in college sports that people need to stop tiptoeing around.

College sports are professional sports leagues. The world of paying players means programs are going to find new ways to make a profit. One way to do that is to play on a bigger stage more often.

Power conference teams play way too many small programs in hopes of squeaking into the playoff. However, you could be like Notre Dame and lose to one of those teams and still make the postseason. This move by Indiana feels weak, but they are not the only program that does stuff like this.

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