In the year 1899, the University of Iowa joined the Big 10 Conference, the same year Indiana University would join.
Although the two teams both joined the conference in 1899, they wouldn’t meet for the first time on the football field until 1912.
Since that first meeting, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana Hoosiers have squared off a total of 78 times.
Current Matchup Standings
Through the 78 matchups between the University of Iowa and Indiana University football teams, the record currently stands at 46-28-4, in favor of the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes have a home record against the Hoosiers of 25-11-2, while the Hoosiers have a home record of 17-21-2, also in favor of the Hawkeyes.
During this span, Iowa’s longest win streak is 10 games, which came between the years of 1953-1964. Indiana’s longest win streak lasted four games, from 1976-1979. The Hawkeyes do currently have a four-game win streak in their last four matchups with the Hoosiers.
Indiana University did not beat the University of Iowa until their sixth matchup, in 1932, an alarming 20 years after their first matchup. During this span, the Hawkeyes won the first four games, and the two teams tied in their fifth contest.
History of Iowa Hawkeyes Football
The University of Iowa Hawkeyes football program has an all-time record of 680-571-39, which equates to a winning percentage of .542.
Throughout the program’s history, they have won 13 conference championships and five national championships. The Hawkeyes have been to 34 bowl games, in which they have a record of 17-16-1.
During the school’s football program history, they have spent a total of 357 weeks in the AP Poll, with 11 of those ranked as the AP’s number one team.
History of Indiana Hoosiers Football
Throughout the history of the Indiana Hoosiers football program, they have an all-time record of 502-701-44, which is a winning percentage of .420.
The school has only two conference championships in its existence. The Hoosiers have appeared in 13 bowl games, winning only three of those and losing each of the other 10.
Throughout its history, Indiana University’s football team has spent a total of 67 weeks ranked in the AP Poll but has never been ranked number one.
Iowa Hawkeyes’ Biggest Wins
When two teams play each other nearly 80 times over the course of history, there are bound to be some very lopsided scores in certain matchups.
The Iowa Hawkeyes have shut out the Indiana Hoosiers football team a total of eight times over the years. Ironically, two of those shutouts came in 0-0 ties, both before the year 1935, but nevertheless, they were shutouts.
The Hawkeye’s two largest margins of victory came in the only two games in history, in which Iowa scored over 60 points against the Hoosiers, both of which were also shutouts. On November 8, 1913, the home team Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Indiana Hoosiers by a score of 60-0.
It wasn’t until 1997, on October 25th, when the Hawkeyes put 60 points on the board again, this time defeating the Hoosiers 62-0, the largest margin of victory in a match between the two teams ever.
Other notable blowouts in the series include the Hawkeye’s victories of 41-0 in 1921, another shutout, 47-7 in 1957, and 49-3 in 1983. As part of the Hawkeyes’ current win streak over the Hoosiers, their last two wins include scores of 42-16 in 2018 and 34-6 in 2021.
Indiana Hoosiers’ Biggest Wins
As we move on to examine the successes of the Indiana Hoosiers football team over the Iowa Hawkeyes, there aren’t nearly as many of those lopsided victories that were seen by the Hawkeyes.
Including those two 0-0 ties, the Hoosiers have shut out the Hawkeyes a total of six times, compared to Iowa’s eight. Indiana University’s largest margin of victory over the University of Iowa came on October 28, 1944, by a score of 32-0.
An impressive victory by any means, but definitely gets overshadowed by each of Iowa’s shutout victories of over 60 points.
While the Hawkeyes do control the historical series, the Hoosiers do have some impressive margins of victory of their own, such as their 1945 win by a score of 52-20, and 34-14 in 1976.
After being defeated 41-0 by Iowa, Indiana held the Hawkeyes scoreless for three straight games, from 1932-1935. Unfortunately, over that span, the Hoosiers only won one of those games, tying twice at 0-0 and winning once at 12-0.
While the Hawkeyes do certainly have more lopsided victories and higher scores than those of the Hoosiers, they definitely do have some impressive wins of their own.
Closest Games
Much like the series has seen a number of lopsided scores, they have seen even more very close contests. Over the years, the Hawkeyes and Hoosiers have tied four times, all four of those coming before 1945, in their first 16 matchups.
Ironically, the two teams tied in back-to-back matchups, in 1934 and 1935, by scores of 0-0 and 6-6. The other two ties came by scores of 0-0 in 1931 and 7-7 in 1943. Of the 78 games played between the Hawkeyes and Hoosiers, 33 of them have been decided by seven points or less, not including the ties, and of those 33, Iowa has won only 12.
This shows that while the University of Iowa does have solid control over the series history with Indiana University when the games have been within seven points, the Hoosiers are the ones with a significant edge. One of Indiana’s more notable wins over Iowa came in 2006, at home against a number 15-ranked Iowa team, in which the Hoosiers won 31-28.
In this game, the Hawkeyes had more total yards of offense, more first downs, and fewer turnovers than the Hoosiers, but it was Indiana that would emerge victorious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7AkeWl2iMg
Iowa Hawkeyes Longest Win Streak
The Iowa Hawkeyes, who have controlled the series against the Indiana Hoosiers, have had multiple win streaks over the years. They have beaten Indiana University’s football team four or more consecutive times, on five separate occasions since their first meeting in 1912.
The longest of these win streaks lasted a total of 10 games, which started in 1953 and ended in 1964. During this span, the series was split evenly at five games each in Iowa City, Iowa, and Bloomington, Indiana.
Of the 10 games won by the Hawkeyes, three were decided by six points or less, with the other seven being decided by anywhere from 11-40 points, which included back-to-back lopsided victories on the road, in Indiana, by scores of 27-0 and 47-7, in 1956 and 1957.
Indiana Hoosiers Longest Win Streak
The Indiana Hoosiers’ longest win streak over the Iowa Hawkeyes came between the years of 1976 and 1979, lasting four games.
In those games, only one was played at home, in Bloomington, Indiana. Aside from their third win of the streak, which was played in Indiana and ended with a score of 34-14, each of the other three games, all played in Iowa City, Iowa, were decided by seven points or less.
Indiana’s first road win of the streak came in 1976, by a score of 14-7, their second in 1977 by a score of 24-21, with their final coming in 1979, winning by four points, at 30-26.
The Indiana Hoosiers have had the Iowa Hawkeyes number in close games, historically, and that was no different in the four-game span in which the Hoosiers defeated the Hawkeyes, their longest win streak in the matchup to date.
Iowa’s Current Win Streak
Looking back over the last four contests, dating back to 2014, the Iowa Hawkeyes are in the midst of a four-game winning streak over the Hoosiers. Those four games have been split evenly at two games in Iowa and two games in Indiana. During this span, the Hoosiers have come as close as an eight-point loss to the Hawkeyes (2015), but have been beaten by as many as 28 points (2021).
During this span, the Hawkeyes have finished their seasons ranked first, third, first, and fourth in the Big 10 West, while the Hoosiers have finished ranked last (seventh), sixth, fifth, and last (seventh) in the Big 10 West, in reverse order of seasons the two teams played, from 2021-2014.
Historically, the Iowa Hawkeyes have fared well against the Indiana Hoosiers on the gridiron, with a winning percentage of .615, which dates back over 100 years. With that said, of the 33 contests that were decided by seven points or less, the Hoosiers have a winning percentage of .636, which does say a lot for the level of fight the Hoosiers have shown in those one-score battles.
While the Hawkeyes’ longest win streak of the Hoosiers is 10 games, they have matched Indiana’s longest win streak of four games, five times, and do currently hold a four-game winning streak.
It will be very exciting to follow the series in the years to come.
