LOS ANGELES — Indiana football heads into the Rose Bowl with the least amount of bowl wins among Power Four teams.
The No. 1 Hoosiers (13-0) will face an Alabama team in this year’s CFP quarterfinals with the most bowl wins (46).
Here’s a look at IU’s spotty postseason history:
Indiana football has never won the Rose Bowl
Indiana was a true Cinderella story during the program’s lone previous trip to the Rose Bowl at the end of the 1967 season. The Hoosiers had an eight-win turnaround with the likes of quarterback Harry Gonso, receiver Jade Butcher, running back John Isenbarger and All-American linebacker Ken Kaczmarek leading the way.
The Hoosiers pulled off a memorable win over a No. 3 ranked-Purdue team with a goal line stand to lock up a spot in the Rose Bowl against USC and then-Heisman candidate O.J. Simpson. The Hoosiers did a nice job of bottling up Simpson — he had 128 yards rushing, his third-lowest total of the season — but couldn’t get anything going offensively in the 14-3 loss.
Indiana football’s only other game at the Rose Bowl was a regular season matchup against UCLA last year.
Indiana football hasn’t won a bowl game since 1991
Indiana hasn’t won a bowl game since beating Baylor 24-0 in the 1991 Copper Bowl. The Hoosiers are 0-6 since the wub — four of those losses were one-possession games — and also lost to Notre Dame last year in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Indiana football’s all-time record in bowl games
Indiana has played in 13 bowl games in addition to reaching the first round of the CFP last season and are 3-11 in those games. The Hoosiers’ most recent appearance in a bowl game came in the 2021 Outback Bowl against Ole Miss.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football Rose Bowl history: Have Hoosiers ever won Rose Bowl?
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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