The Indiana Hoosiers posted one of the best seasons in program history, going 6-1 with their lone loss coming against undefeated Ohio State. Despite this, the team seems to be feeling a bit disrespected — even by its own conference.
Indiana’s uniforms for the Outback Bowl covered up all traces of the Big Ten logo. Its normal spot on the team’s uniform was instead occupied by the Outback Bowl logo. The same was done to their helmets, with the normal location of the Big Ten logo instead displaying coach Tom Allen’s “LEO” motto.
After being snubbed of a Citrus Bowl appearance it appears Indiana will not have any Big Ten logos on their uniforms for the Outback Bowl. #iufb
The helmet bumper B10 logo was replaced with “LEO” and the jersey logo covered by the Outback Bowl patch. pic.twitter.com/UVrzLIi9Tf
— Ryan Cotter (@Rygi13) January 1, 2021
Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star pointed out that Indiana placed its bowl logo on the opposite shoulder last year, indicating that this was not simply a case of something needing to be removed to create space for the Outback Bowl logo. Osterman also pointed out that Northwestern found space for both the Big Ten logo and Citrus Bowl logo earlier Friday.
So why would Indiana snub the conference like this? Many Hoosiers fans were angry that the team was relegated to the Outback Bowl behind Northwestern, which got the Citrus Bowl bid despite losing to Indiana 34-3 during the regular season. It may be that the Hoosiers felt that the Big Ten should have done more to lobby on their behalf for a better bowl game, perhaps at the expense of three-loss Iowa State’s Fiesta Bowl spot.
It’s also worth pointing out that the Hoosiers would have played in the Big Ten Championship if not for a late conference rule change to accommodate Ohio State. Indiana seemed fairly relaxed about that, though.
