Indiana University Football Spring Game is Tonight on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium IU football concludes spring practice with the spring game this evening in Bloomington. For many who were unable to get to Bloomington for the national championship celebration in January, this will be the first opportunity to greet Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers in person since the historic 2025 season ended. And unlike January, the weather forecast is signaling a much more pleasant evening, with temperatures in the 70s with light wind and no rain. Admission to the game is free.
Here is the full schedule for tonight at Memorial Stadium. 3 p.m. – Tailgating and parking lots open (Free parking at Gates 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12). 3-6 p.m. – Final stop of national championship trophy tour (North End Zone, enter gate E-1). 6:30 p.m. – Gates open. 6:30 p.m. – IU football giveaway station, East Concourse, gage E-3 (posters, magnets, schedule cards, etc.) 7:45 p.m. – On field player drills begin. 8:00 p.m. – Spring game begins. In-game: NFL Draft coverage on big screens, coaching awards presentations.
Similar to the past two years, the game is expected to be a two quarter competition between the offense and defense. This was the scoring system used last year:
Touchdown – 6 points
Extra Point – 1 point
Field Goal – 3 points
Turnover Gained – 4 points
Defensive Stop – 3 points
Safety – 2 points
For those who can’t be there in person, the game will air live on the Big Ten Network. BTN says they’ll re-air their coverage as follows: Apr 24, 2026, 2:00 AM, Apr 26, 2026, 10:00 AM and Apr 27, 2026, 6:00 PM. There will be a full evening of IU Football Programming at 6 PM they will show the Peach Bowl win over Oregon, 7 PM the Big Ten Championship game over Ohio State and after the spring game at 9:30 PM it will be the Journey featuring Fernando Mendoza, Aiden Fisher and Elijah Sarratt and their personal journey’s to where they are today.
Indiana University Football Ready to Make More History with the NFL Draft Indiana football will likely make history at the 2026 NFL Draft starting tonight with the first round followed by the second and third rounds on Friday and the fourth through seventh rounds on Saturday. Curt Cignetti’s program has a big list of prospects who will likely be selected in Pittsburgh, with some others who could also hear their names called. This could easily set an IU record for most players taken in one NFL Draft. The Hoosiers haven’t had three players in the same draft since 2016, and they’ve done that only one other time in the last 34 years. Indiana’s record is seven, accomplished in 1976 — when the draft went 17 rounds and 487 picks long.
Fernando Mendoza is essentially a lock for the No. 1 overall pick, which will make him the first Hoosier selected in the first round since Thomas Lewis (1994). He’d become IU’s second-ever No. 1 pick, joining Corbett Davis (1938). Any result other than the Las Vegas Raiders taking Mendoza with the first pick would be one of the biggest surprises in NFL Draft history. Indiana could also have multiple first-round picks for the first time in program history, with Omar Cooper Jr. trending up. Mendoza is omitted from this roundup, as he’s projected as the No. 1 pick across the board. But here is a look at where the rest of Indiana’s NFL Draft prospects are going in various mock drafts, with four days until everything gets going.
Omar Cooper Jr.-NFL.com (Chad Reuter): first round, No. 23 overall to Philadelphia. The Athletic (Dane Brugler): first round, No. 21 overall to Pittsburgh. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): first round, No. 22 overall to Miami, in a trade. ESPN (Mel Kiper Jr., only two rounds): first round, No. 16 overall to New York Jets. Pro Football Network (only three rounds): first round, No. 24 overall to Cleveland. Bleacher Report (Brent Sobleski, only three rounds): first round, No. 24 overall to Cleveland. New York Post (Vincent Bonsignore, only three rounds): first round, No. 14 overall to Baltimore. CBS Sports (Mike Renner, only three rounds): first round, No. 16 overall to New York Jets. Athlon Sports (Luke Easterling, only four rounds): first round, No. 16 overall to New York Jets. Walter Football (six rounds only): second round, No. 33 overall to New York Jets.
D’Angelo Ponds- NFL.com (Chad Reuter): second round, No. 43 overall to Miami. The Athletic (Dane Brugler): second round, No. 50 overall to Detroit. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): second round, No. 39 overall to Cleveland. ESPN (Mel Kiper Jr., first two rounds only): second round, No. 59 overall to Houston. Pro Football Network (only three rounds): second round, No. 56 overall to Jacksonville. Bleacher Report (Brent Sobleski, only three rounds): second round, No. 39 overall to Cleveland. New York Post (Vincent Bonsignore, only three rounds): third round, No. 70 overall to Cleveland. CBS Sports (Mike Renner, only three rounds): second round, No. 44 overall to New York Jets. Athlon Sports (Luke Easterling, only four rounds): second round, No. 49 overall to Minnesota. Walter Football (six rounds only): third round, No. 70 overall to Cleveland.
Elijah Sarratt-NFL.com (Chad Reuter): third round, No. 70 overall to Dallas. The Athletic (Dane Brugler): third round, No. 67 overall to Las Vegas. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): third round, No. 71 overall to Washington. Pro Football Network (only three rounds): second round, No. 63 overall to New England. New York Post (Vincent Bonsignore, only three rounds): third round, No. 87 overall to Miami. CBS Sports (Mike Renner, only three rounds): third round, No. 75 overall to Miami. Athlon Sports (Luke Easterling, only four rounds): fourth round, No. 102 overall to Las Vegas. Walter Football (six rounds only): third round, No. 74 overall to Kansas City.
Aiden Fisher- NFL.com (Chad Reuter): sixth round, No. 206 overall to Cleveland. The Athletic (Dane Brugler): fifth round, No. 176 overall to Kansas City. Pro Football Network (only three rounds): third round, No. 92 overall to Dallas. Walter Football (six rounds only): sixth round, No. 212 overall to New England.
Louis Moore- NFL.com (Chad Reuter): sixth round, No. 183 overall to Arizona. The Athletic (Dane Brugler): sixth round, No. 210 overall to Kansas City. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): fifth round, No. 162 overall to Baltimore. Pro Football Network (only three rounds): third round, No. 87 overall to Miami.
Kaelon Black-NFL.com (Chad Reuter): sixth round, No. 186 overall to New York Giants. The Athletic (Dane Brugler): sixth round, No. 201 overall to Green Bay. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): seventh round, No. 246 overall to Denver. Walter Football (six rounds only): fourth round, No. 124 overall to Jacksonville.
Pat Coogan-NFL.com (Chad Reuter): sixth round, No. 201 overall to Green Bay. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): seventh round, No. 223 overall to Washington. Walter Football (six rounds only): fifth round, No. 157 overall to Detroit.
Riley Nowakowski-The Athletic (Dane Brugler): seventh round, No. 231 overall to Atlanta. USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): sixth round, No. 214 overall to Indianapolis.
Mikail Kamara-USA Today (Ayrton Ostly): fifth round, No. 177 overall to Dallas.
Indiana University Men’s Basketball to Open the 2026-27 Season Hosting Eastern Illinois Year two of the Darian DeVries era will begin with a home game against Eastern Illinois. Indiana will host the Panthers on Monday, Nov. 2 according to a report by Alex Rosinksi. EIU is coached by former IU basketball player Marty Simmons. IU leads the all-time series 3-0, with the last meeting coming in 2024-25. Simmons and the Panthers finished 13-20 last season. They were ranked No. 324 in KenPom. This is the fifth reported game on the 2026-27 schedule, and the third home game against a low or mid-major teams.
Here’s what we know so far: 2026-27- Nov. 2, 2026: vs. Eastern Illinois, at Bloomington. Nov. 5, 2026: vs. Bellarmine, at Bloomington. Nov. 9, 2026: vs. Syracuse, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis. Nov. 27, 2026: vs. Bowling Green, at Bloomington and Dec. 27, 2026: vs. Kentucky, at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis (ticketed as IU home game).
Indiana University Baseball Handles Ball State 20-10 in Muncie With the wind blowing out and the sun shining down, the Indiana Baseball team (19-22, 6-12) enjoyed some friendly offensive conditions at the ballpark on Tuesday afternoon. Sophomore outfielder Hogan Denny hit a pair of home runs and drove in seven runs to help the Hoosiers to a dominant 20-10 win over Ball State (19-21, 13-8 MAC) at Shebek Stadium. Freshman designated hitter Owen ten Oever has a knack for the big moments and proved that in Tuesday’s win. He came to the plate with the bases loaded in the first inning and smashed a grand slam over the wall. Additional RBIs in the inning from Denny and sophomore outfielder Cole Decker helped IU to a 6-0 lead before its defense even took the field. Denny, Decker and ten Oever combined to go 9-15 with three home runs and 15 RBIs. Denny finished a triple short of the cycle after producing two home runs, a double and a single. He was walked in his final appearance at the plate to hold him from IU’s first trip around the cycle since 2008.
Freshman second baseman Landen Fry matched his career high with three hits in the game. Freshman right-handed pitcher Ivan Mastalski was fantastic in a three-inning start to the game. He allowed just two earned runs (both unearned) and left the game with a 13-2 lead to his name. Senior left-handed pitcher Anthony Gubitosi (W, 2-0) had the best relief appearance of the bunch. He worked 2.2 scoreless frames with a pair of punchouts. Redshirt sophomore righty Evan O’Neill worked the final frame. IU’s offensive output was the ninth 20-run performance under head coach Jeff Mercer. In a twist of irony, it’s only the second in a game against midweek pitching (20 – vs. Kentucky; March 15, 2022). The Hoosiers have scored 20-or-more runs in a game in every one of Mercer’s completed seasons in Bloomington. An important weekend awaits the Hoosiers in a return to conference play this weekend (April 24-26). Iowa makes the trip to Bart Kaufman Field with a one-game lead on IU in the conference standings. IU will look to jump above the cut line for the Big Ten Tournament with a series victory in Bloomington.
Claire Cullen No-Hits Knights as Taylor University Softball Splits with No. 20 Marian The Taylor University softball team hadn’t taken a season series from Marian since 2014. The drought ended Tuesday as Claire Cullen threw a five-inning no-hitter in an 8-0 run-rule win in the doubleheader opener at Gudakunst Field. It was TU’s third win of the season over the Knights, who entered the contest ranked No. 20, and the Trojans clinched the series. Marian won the nightcap 8-7 after staging a late comeback, but TU (23-21, 18-14 CL) still finished 3-1 in the regular season against the nationally-ranked Knights (28-13, 20-12 CL), winning two of those by run-rule decisions. Cullen walked two, hit two and struck out four on 80 pitches, while earning her 10th win inside the circle. The Trojans collected 12 hits off Marian starter Lexi Smith and reliever Alayna Tesnar.
Lizzy Sinders went 3-for-3 with a season-high four RBIs, Grace Mullins added three hits and an RBI, Delaynee McCreary drove in a run and Kaylee Larkin doubled and scored twice. The Trojans scored at least once in four of their five trips to the plate in the matchup. Larkin and Mullins each produced an RBI double in the first inning to put the Trojans ahead 2-0, before Sinders delivered her first of three RBI knocks in the third frame for a 3-0 lead. Barton’s sacrifice fly pushed the margin to 4-0 in the third and three batters later, Sinders delivered a pair of runs on a two-out knock up the middle for a 6-0 lead. TU clinched the run-rule victory with back-to-back RBI singles by McCreary and Sinders in the bottom of the fifth.
The nightcap started in similar fashion when Mullins tied her season high RBI mark with a three-run double in the first. Ava Everman added a sacrifice fly, and the Trojans were quickly back in front 4-1 after an inning of play. A Sinders double and a wild pitch in the second inning pushed TU’s advantage to 6-2. However, the Trojans managed just one hit from the third through the fifth. MU’s Mati Hughes homered in the third, and two unearned Marian runs in the fourth cut the margin to 6-5.
Marian took the lead in the sixth when Ally Malone singled home Delaney Rundle to tie it, and Mallorie Beutel doubled down the right-field line two batters later to drive in two more. Hughes added an RBI single in the seventh for an 8-6 margin in favor of the visitors. Larkin answered with a leadoff homer to ignite a rally attempt in the bottom of the seventh. It was the senior’s 10th blast of the season which bounced off the scoreboard deep in right-center field to pull the Trojans within a run at 8-7. Then, Delaney Barton singled with two outs for her season-best third hit of the contest, but Taylor stranded the tying run at first. Marian center fielder Abbey Hofmann robbed an extra-base hit from Ava Everman during the rally, with a leaping catch up against the fence. MU starter Macy Coan picked up her 13th win, going the distance in the circle with 139 pitches. Taylor travels to Saint Francis for today’s doubleheader before returning to Gudakunst Field on Saturday for its Senior Day twinbill against Goshen.
The IHSAA Is Debating the Addition of a Shot Clock for Varsity Basketball Games The Indiana High School Athletic Association is mulling new shot clock rules for varsity basketball games. According to IHSAA Executive Committee meeting minutes, members of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) have presented a shot clock rule to the IHSAA. The proposed rule would introduce a 35-second shot clock for varsity basketball games by the 2028-29 season. The meeting minutes only indicated that the proposal was introduced and discussed. The Media has reached out to the IHSAA for information on what the next steps for the proposal are. A report from the National Federation of State High School Associations, indicates that shot clocks are used for high school basketball games in 32 states. Some states have instituted new shot clock rules relatively recently. High school athletic associations in Alabama, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida and Oklahoma have all approved new shot clock rules in the last year.
Shot clock rules have been debated at varying levels of basketball for decades. In 2015, the NCAA took its shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Prior to 2015, the NCAA had not changed its shot clock rules since the 1993-94 season when it reduced the shot clock time from 45 seconds to 35 seconds. In the NBA and NCAA, the shot clock is partially reset when a defensive foul is committed, or the ball hits the rim and an offensive rebound occurs. The IHSAA meeting minutes did not specify what would happen to the shot clock in an Indiana high school basketball game if a defensive foul or an offensive rebound occurs. The NBA has had the longest-standing shot clock rules at any level of basketball. According to the league’s website, the NBA instituted its 24-second shot clock rule in 1954. The rule has stood ever since.
Taylor University Men’s Lacrosse Rallies for Critical WHAC Victory The Taylor men’s lacrosse team dominated the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference clash at Michigan-Dearborn, surging past the hosts (6-10, 3-8 WHAC) for a 12-11 victory. The win pushed TU’s program record single-season wins total to nine but more importantly, the road triumph locked Taylor into the fourth seed in the upcoming WHAC Tournament and guaranteed the Trojans their first-ever postseason game at Wheeler Field.
The back-and-forth affair kept the two sides close throughout, with UMD using a late third quarter flurry to open a small advantage at 11-8 heading to the final 15 minutes of action. It would be all TU down the stretch, with Taylor outscoring the hosts by a 4-0 clip with a trio of strikes off the stick of Henry Cooper. An unassisted score from Cooper got the Trojans going with 9:53 remaining and Kaden Mast found Cooper for a second goal just over two minutes later to draw TU within a goal. The equalizer came at the 4:00 mark, with an unassisted goal from Mast, before Jackson Dale connected with Cooper for the eventual game-winner with 3:26 to play.
Cooper closed the night with five goals, with three coming in the decisive final rally, while Mast posted three goals and two assists. Will Saxby added two goals and one assist, with Dale dishing out four assists. On the defensive end of the field, Dmitri Williams and Ricky Swift combined for five caused turnovers, Lucas Pacer and Grant Elzinga combined for 11 ground balls and Ben Harrell notched nine saves in goal. The combo of Jack Roth and David Celesti also performed well in the faceoff game, winning 17-of-27 to set up the Trojan attack throughout the contest. RV Taylor (9-7, 5-6 WHAC) will close its regular season on Saturday, April 25 with a 2:00 pm start at No. 1 Madonna (15-1, 11-0 WHAC), before hosting Michigan-Dearborn or Lawrence Tech (4-11, 3-8 WHAC) on Tuesday, April 28 in the WHAC Tournament Quarterfinals.