Trying to stick to the every two weeks theme. A bit trickier than Wisconsin, is the all-time best Indiana teams
Teams I can't speak to
1945: Went 9-0-1 and won their first conference title. They outscored teams 279-56, and 34 of the points allowed came in 54-14 and 52-20 back to back wins midseason over Nebraska and Iowa (with Iowa scoring all 20 in the 4th quarter once they were down 52-0). They allowed 22 points over their other 8 games combined (2.8 ppg), with 4 shutouts, including 3 in a row to end the season, which included 49-0 over #20 Minnesota and 26-0 over #18 Purdue. They finished #4 in the AP Poll due to a 7-7 tie to Northwestern. From a historical standpoint, their RB, George Taliaferro, was the first African American to lead the conference in rushing. This was the last year before the Big Ten lifted the conference bowl ban, and began sending their champ to the Rose Bowl, so no postseason for the Hoosiers.
1967: The second and, most recent, Indiana team to win a Big Ten title. They went 9-1 in the regular season, with a loss at Minnesota in the second to last game being the lone blemish. They then faced #3 Purdue in their final game with the Big Ten championship on the line, upsetting the Boilermakers 19-14, and ruining a potential de facto national championship game in the Rose Bowl between USC and Purdue. Instead Indiana made their lone trip to Pasadena, losing 14-3 to O.J. Simpson and #1 USC.
I think it obviously has to be one of those, with 1945 seemingly better. So the more interesting question is between a bunch of decent teams...
1979: 8-4 with a Holiday Bowl win over #9 BYU, finished #19.
1987: 8-4 with a Peach Bowl loss to #17 Tennessee in the final 2 minutes. They reached as high as #11 in the polls in late October after a win over Michigan, which remains their only win over Michigan since that 1967 team. This is also the only IU team to finish in the top 2 of the Big Ten since the 1967 conference championship team.
1988: 8-3-1 with a Liberty Bowl win over South Carolina, finished #20. Anthony Thompson won the Silver Football as Big Ten MVP, but finished 9th in the Heisman. His best year was actually the next year, 1989, but the team was no good. 1988 peaked in the polls at #14 in mid-October, but Michigan got their revenge and crushed them the following week 31-6. They lost to the Big Ten's top 3 teams, two by blowout (31-6 to UM, 38-12 to MSU and 21-20 to Illinois), but won their other 5 Big Ten games by double digits, 4 of them by more than 20, including a 41-7 win over OSU on national TV.
2001: 5-6, but hear me out. To convince Randle El not to go pro, Cam Cameron promised to play him at WR. So he spent all offseason, spring ball, fall practice playing WR. Hoosiers opened at NC State, got hammered 35-14, and Randle El agreed to move back. They started 0-3, and 1-5, as the offense figured things out, but they won 4 of their last 5. Won by over 30 in Madison, beat a ranked MSU team on the road, and wound up tied for 4th in the conference. Playing three P5 teams for your OOC schedule is not something you'd see anymore. I think if Indiana had done what was best for Indiana and not what was best for Randle El, they could have won a Big Ten title in the most down year I can ever recall the Big Ten having. A pretty bad Illinois team won the conference despite getting blown out in Ann Arbor, and they were the only Big Ten team to finish the season with fewer than 4 losses.
2015: Probably about the hardest luck 6-7 you'll see, mixed with a crazy hard schedule. Lost to #1 Ohio State by 7 after leading late. Lost by 3 to Rutgers. Lost at #7 MSU in a game they were down 5 with 5 minutes to play, lost by 8 to #10 Iowa, lost in 2OT to #15 Michigan in a game they had won, lost in 2OT to Duke in the bowl game. Probably dont' deserve to be in this conversation, but I think they were as good as some of those 8-4 type teams, and should have had a record that reflected that.
