Indiana stands one win away from making college football history.
The Hoosiers have transformed from Big Ten cellar-dwellers to national championship contenders in just two seasons under Curt Cignetti. After their playoff run as last season’s feel-good story, Indiana now looks like the country’s most dominant team despite having no championship pedigree.
If the Hoosiers beat Miami in the national championship game, they’ll accomplish something that hasn’t happened in college football in more than a century.
Has a team ever gone 16-0 in college football?
Only one team has finished 16-0 at college football’s highest level: the 1894 Yale Bulldogs.
North Dakota State matched that record at the FCS level in 2019, when the Bison completed an undefeated season with Trey Lance at quarterback.
If Indiana wins the championship, it’ll be the first team to finish 16-0 at the sport’s top level in 131 years.
1894 Yale football dominance
Yale’s record tells only part of the story. The 1894 Bulldogs outscored opponents 485-13 and recorded 13 shutouts in 16 games.
The Bulldogs were coming off a dominant 10-1 season that began with eight straight shutouts but ended with a 6-0 loss to Princeton. In 1894, there was no stopping Yale.
The team featured five All-Americans and was retroactively named national champion despite no championship system existing at the time.
William Rhodes coached Yale just three years after graduating from the school himself.
1894 Yale schedule
| Date | Matchup | Result |
| Sept. 29 | at Trinity | W, 42-0 |
| Oct. 3 | vs. Brown | W, 28-0 |
| Oct. 6 | at Crescent Athletic Club | W, 10-0 |
| Oct. 10 | vs. Williams | W, 23-4 |
| Oct. 13 | vs. Lehigh | W, 34-0 |
| Oct. 17 | vs. Dartmouth | W, 34-0 |
| Oct. 20 | at Orange Athletic Club | W, 24-0 |
| Oct. 24 | vs. Boston Athletic Association | W, 23-0 |
| Oct. 27 | at Army | W, 12-5 |
| Oct. 31 | vs. NY Athletic Association | W, 42-0 |
| Nov. 3 | at Brown | W, 12-0 |
| Nov. 7 | vs. Tufts | W, 67-0 |
| Nov. 10 | vs. Lehigh | W, 50-0 |
| Nov. 14 | Chicago Athletic Association | W, 48-0 |
| Nov. 24 | vs. Harvard | W, 12-4 |
| Dec. 1 | vs. Princeton | W, 24-0 |
Yale never allowed more than five points in any game that season.
Key players from 1894 Yale roster
Record-keeping from that era was incomplete, but Yale’s roster included several standout players:
• QB George Adee (All-American)
• FB Frank Butterworth (All-American)
• E Frank Hinkey (All-American)
• G Bill Hickok (All-American)
• C Phillip Stillman (All-American)
• HB Bill Armstrong
• C Anson Beard
• E Lyman Bass
• T Charles Chadwick
• E John Campbell Greenway
The team also featured players like Clarence DeWitt, Alexander Jerrems, James McCrea, and Sam Thorne among others.
Why 16-0 became impossible
Once college football developed national structure and standardized schedules, teams typically played only 8-12 games per season. A 16-0 record became mathematically impossible.
Even with 12 regular season games plus a conference championship game, there was no path to 16 wins without a playoff system.
During the four-team College Football Playoff era, 15-0 was the best possible record. Teams could win 12 regular season games, their conference championship, and two playoff games.
The 12-team playoff changes everything. Teams now must win at least three playoff games to capture a national title.
A team going 12-0 in the regular season, winning its conference championship, and taking three playoff victories would finish 16-0. That’s exactly the path Indiana is trying to complete.
Indiana’s historic 2024 season
| Date | Matchup | Result |
| Aug. 30 | vs. Old Dominion | W, 27-14 |
| Sept. 6 | vs. Kennesaw State | W, 56-9 |
| Sept. 12 | vs. Indiana State | W, 73-0 |
| Sept. 20 | vs. Illinois | W, 63-10 |
| Sept. 27 | at Iowa | W, 20-15 |
| Oct. 11 | at Oregon | W, 30-20 |
| Oct. 18 | vs. Michigan State | W, 38-13 |
| Oct. 25 | vs. UCLA | W, 56-6 |
| Nov. 1 | at Maryland | W, 55-10 |
| Nov. 8 | at Penn State | W, 27-24 |
| Nov. 15 | vs. Wisconsin | W, 31-7 |
| Nov. 28 | at Purdue | W, 56-3 |
| Dec. 6 | vs. Ohio State | W, 13-10 |
| Jan. 1 | vs. Alabama | W, 38-3 |
| Jan. 9 | vs. Oregon | W, 56-22 |
| Jan. 19 | vs. Miami | TBD |
The Hoosiers sit at 15-0 heading into Monday’s championship game against Miami. One more victory would complete the first perfect 16-game season at college football’s highest level since the 1890s.
