Unless there's a home playoff game, Saturday's Senior Day game at noon against Wisconsin will probably be star linebacker Aiden Fisher's final game at Memorial Stadium.
He is third on the team in tackles and first in quarterback hurries, despite missing almost two full games with an injury.
Ahead of the second-ranked Hoosiers (10-0) facing the Badgers (3-6), Fisher recalled coming to Bloomington as one of the players coach Curt Cignetti brought with him from James Madison.
"Yeah, honestly, it was a weird feeling," Fisher said. "At first, I didn't know if anybody was going to, you know, have hard feelings with a coach bringing his own guys."
Fisher says he concentrated on building relationships off the field with his new teammates. Eventually, he emerged as a leader on the defense, a role that suits him well, said teammate and linebacker Rolijah Hardy.
"He’s a great leader," Hardy said. "He's always been the loudest one in the room."
IU has a 21-2 record in Fisher's two seasons in Bloomington. He said he'll be in a reflective mood before Saturday's Senior Day game.
"Yeah, I'm an emotional person," Fisher said. "So you know when Saturday comes, there might be some moments in there with me and my mom, my sisters, my stepdad. But just thinking about, you know, when I first got here to to, you know, where I am now as a person and a player."
Cignetti emphasized that Saturday is hardly the end for the Hoosiers. They play at Purdue in the regular-season finale before a probable match against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship.
After that, a College Football Playoff berth awaits, perhaps even a first-round bye.
"I think all the guys really are focused in on today and what lies ahead, but those guys have been tremendous foundational pieces for the program back at JMU and here at Indiana," Cignetti said. "They're great players, great people, great leaders. There's a number of them.
"I doubt that any of them are thinking about the end right now because everybody understands sort of where we're at and what's possible."