College football officially begins this month.
Now that it's August, there are just days to go until Week Zero, and since the season is quickly approaching, we're rolling out our preseason top 25.
After revealing our teams in the back half of our top 25, we continue our previews of the top 12 teams in the country with the team trying to go back-to-back.
Previously: Teams Nos. 13-25, No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 11 Alabama, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 8 Texas Tech,No. 7 Miami, No. 6 Georgia, No. 5 Texas, No. 4 Ohio State …
No. 3 Indiana2025 record: 16-0
Odds to win national championship: +800
Odds to make College Football Playoff: -300
The season couldn't have gone any better. You can't nitpick a 16-0 national title run. Especially when you're a school like Indiana winning the national championship for the first time ever.
Sure, there were a couple close calls, like the game-winning drive at Penn State — a moment that solidified Fernando Mendoza as the Heisman favorite — and a 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game. But Indiana dominated both Alabama and Oregon by a combined score of 94-25 to reach the national championship game before taking down Miami 27-21.
Josh Hoover has big shoes to fill as the starting quarterback of the Indiana Hoosiers. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images for ONIT)Justin Casterline via Getty ImagesThe QBJosh Hoover
All Hoover has to do is lead Indiana to the national title while winning the Heisman like Mendoza did in his only season with the Hoosiers.
No, the expectations aren't that high for the TCU transfer, but it's reasonable to expect that he will be the third different transfer quarterback to lead Indiana to the College Football Playoff in the last three seasons.
Like Mendoza and Kurtis Rourke, Indiana's 2024 starter, Hoover has been putting up very good numbers while still relatively under the radar. After taking over as TCU's starter in 2023 as a redshirt freshman, Hoover threw for 71 TDs across 35 games and has averaged 8.1 yards an attempt in his career. That number has been 8.4 yards in each of the past two seasons, and Hoover threw for 3,472 yards while completing 66% of his passes in 2025.
What he might not be, however, is the running threat Mendoza was for the Hoosiers. Mendoza rushed for seven scores — his final one will live on as an iconic Indiana moment — and had 276 rushing yards. Yes, college football counts sacks into a QB's rushing yardage total, but Hoover rushed for four yards in 2025 and has minus-10 rushing yards for his entire career.
He enters the season with 12-1 odds to win the Heisman as the No. 7 favorite.
Non-QB to watchRB Turbo Richard
Indiana needs to replace both Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby after they each rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2025. Hemby led the team with 1,120 yards and seven scores, while Black had 10 rushing touchdowns and 1,039 yards.
Enter Richard, who played the first two seasons of his career at Boston College.
Over 11 games in 2025, Richard rushed 145 times for 749 yards and nine scores. He was by far Boston College's best option on offense; no other player averaged more than five yards a carry.
Richard is a good bet to exceed 1,000 yards if he stays healthy, though he'll probably work in tandem with Khobie Martin like Black and Hemby did in 2025. Martin was an incredibly good third option last year with 78 carries for 508 yards. Don't be surprised if he continues to average over six yards a carry even with a bigger workload.
Charlie Becker averaged 20 yards a catch for the Indiana Hoosiers last season. (Photo by CFP/Getty Images)CFP via Getty ImagesEric Edholm's NFL Draft prospect to watchWR Charlie Becker
Scouts are excited about the arrival of Michigan State transfer Nick Marsh, but Becker feels like he's in line for a big season after opening the championship season a year ago as a bit player. Slowly but surely Becker made his impact on IU's offense, earning a role alongside NFL draft picks Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt and becoming a terrific deep threat with a knack for delivering in the clutch. Becker stands an impressive 6-foot-4, moves exceptionally well for his size and always seems to come down with the ball, even in heavy traffic. His game compares favorably to the Colts' Alec Pierce.
College fantasy football player to watchWR Nick Marsh
Becker exploded over the second half of the season and will be Hoover's deep threat. As he opens up space down the field, Marsh should have plenty of room to operate underneath and in the intermediate part of the field. He's a great potential draft pick if you're playing in a full PPR league.
Marsh had 59 catches for 662 yards and six scores over 12 games at Michigan State in 2025 and also had more than 600 receiving yards in 2024. There's also plenty of opportunities available in the Indiana passing game. Outside of Becker, who had 34 catches for 679 yards and four touchdowns last year, the receiving room is basically overhauled.
Also keep an eye on Shazz Preston, who spent the last two seasons of his career at Tulane. Preston had 43 grabs for 723 yards and four touchdowns in 2025. Even though there are a lot of new faces in Indiana's receiving room, don't expect a major step back from last season.
Biggest gameOct. 24 at Michigan
We included Ohio State's trip to Indiana as the Buckeyes' biggest game. And in reality, the Big Ten title game rematch is Indiana's biggest game too. But we're including the Michigan game here because it's on the road and comes a week after that Ohio State matchup.
It's also the third time Indiana plays on the road in a four-game stretch in October. While the Hoosiers have a very manageable Big Ten schedule, October will not be a cakewalk with trips to Rutgers and Nebraska ahead of that Ohio State game. A win at Michigan to make a 4-0 or 3-1 month ahead of a Halloween homecoming game against Minnesota will be a big deal.
Why Indiana is No. 3Are you really going to doubt Curt Cignetti at this point? There's no need to Google him to find out how good his teams consistently are. There's no reason to think this Indiana team is going to be unlike the ones that have gone a combined 27-2 in his first two seasons.
While the offense reloaded with transfers at a lot of key positions, the defense also brought in key transfers while retaining players who played a leading role. LB Rolijah Hardy returns after he was Indiana's leading tackler and had eight sacks. LB Isaiah Jones is back too.
Penn State transfer AJ Harris and Wisconsin transfer Preston Zachman bolster the secondary and the return of Stephen Daley because of the recent ruling by a federal judge in Colorado can't be overstated. Daley, who missed the playoff with a knee injury he sustained celebrating after the Big Ten title game, had 5.5 sacks and 19 total tackles for loss during the regular season in 2025.
Indiana gets the nod ahead of Ohio State in our rankings thanks to hosting the Buckeyes and a Big Ten schedule that's more favorable. The Hoosiers host USC in November and avoid games against Oregon and Penn State. The non-conference schedule is also a non-factor. While we certainly wouldn't bet on Indiana going back-to-back, we're also not going to rule it out. This team is loaded once again.
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