If No. 9 Indiana beats No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday, it might rank as the greatest victory in Hoosiers football history.

Certainly so in the modern era.

Frankly, the competition for such a moniker isn’t all that deep, particularly in the 53 years dating back to the 1967 Rose Bowl season. What others would even rank? Let’s take a look at the top 10 Indiana victories of the past half-century, starting with the most recent:

Nov. 7, 2020 • vs. No. 23 Michigan

Indiana hadn’t beaten Michigan since 1987, but that didn’t matter when the 23rd-ranked Wolverines rolled into Bloomington in the 3rd week of the ’20 season. No. 13 Indiana jumped all over UM, looking by far the superior team to the one that had beaten the Hoosiers in 24 straight and 39 of 40. IU rolled up 460 total yards, jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead and cruised to a 38-21 victory. The Hoosiers didn’t only knock the monkey off their back, they strangled it.

Oct. 24, 2020 • vs. No. 7 Penn State

Indiana’s victory over then-No. 7 Penn State in the season opener was the catalyst that started the Hoosiers’ massive resurgence. Not only was it a huge victory, it didn’t lack for drama, either. Coach Tom Allen made a couple of gutsy calls, deciding to allow Penn State to score late, thus saving time for his offense to tie it with a touchdown and 2-point conversion, and then going for 2 in the first overtime. The latter proved the difference, when quarterback Michael Penix Jr. scrambled and reached for the pylon in a 36-35 victory.

Nov. 30, 2019 • at Purdue

Winning in West Lafayette always serves as a meaningful victory for Indiana, but it was made even more so in 2019 when Allen’s Hoosiers had a chance to go for victory No. 8. It proved to be a heck of a game, too. The Hoosiers beat the Boilermakers 44-41 in double overtime, winning back the Old Oaken Bucket when Peyton Ramsey scored on a 1-yard keeper. It ended a crazy game in which Purdue had rallied from 18 down in the 2nd half, only for Indiana to recover in the extra sessions. IU’s 8-4 regular-season record was the Hoosiers’ best in more than 3 decades.

Nov. 28, 2015 • at Purdue

The Hoosiers hadn’t been to the postseason since 2007 when Kevin Wilson and Co. took on Purdue in West Lafayette Thanksgiving weekend in 2015, needing to beat the Boilermakers to become bowl eligible. Not only did they beat Purdue, they smoked them to the tune of 54-36, improving to 6-6 — Indiana would go on to lose to Duke in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl — and retaining the Old Oaken Bucket. It was a significant win: Indiana scored a school-record 54 points, won its 2nd consecutive Big Ten road game (a first since 1993) and had their 2nd-best regular-season mark in 20 years.

Nov. 17, 2007 • vs. Purdue

When coach Terry Hoeppner was hired as Indiana’s coach before the 2005 season, his goal was to get Indiana into the postseason. Unfortunately, the coach’s untimely death from brain cancer in the summer of 2007 prevented him from seeing it through. But Bill Lynch and the Hoosiers remembered their former coach in the best way possible, turning the “Play 13” motto — a reference to the season’s 13th game being a bowl — into a reality. It took beating nemesis Purdue on the last day of the regular season to get it done, but the Hoosiers did it in dramatic fashion, when Austin Starr made a 49-yard field goal with 30 seconds left for a 27-24 victory.

Oct. 14, 2006 • vs. No. 15 Iowa

Under Hoeppner, the Hoosiers seemed to be on an upward trajectory — a “rocket ship,” perhaps — when they welcomed in No. 13 Iowa to Memorial Stadium. Behind a 3-touchdown day from receiver James Hardy, IU rallied, scoring 24 of the game’s final 31 points for a 31-28 victory. It marked Indiana’s 1st win over a top-15 opponent since they beat No. 9 Ohio State in 1987. The Hoosiers were up and down in ’06, Hoeppner’s 2nd season, but the win over the Hawkeyes showed the program to be headed in the right direction.

Dec. 28, 1988 • vs. South Carolina in Liberty Bowl

In the postseason for the 3rd consecutive year, the Hoosiers wanted to cap the late-’80s run under Bill Mallory with a Liberty Bowl victory. And they got just that, with a 34-10 win over South Carolina to end IU’s season with an 8-3-1 record. Indiana led from the start, but it was a huge play early in the 4th that put the game away, when quarterback Dave Schnell, the game’s Offensive Most Valuable Player, hit receiver Rob Turner with an 88-yard score and a 27-10 lead. IU set a Liberty Bowl record with 575 yards while holding the Gamecocks to only 153. The D was dominant, with 3 interceptions, a recovered fumble and 6 sacks.

Oct. 24, 1987 • vs. Michigan

By late October of 1987, Mallory’s Hoosiers were cruising, having beaten Northwestern, Ohio State and Minnesota, the latter 2 on the road, in consecutive weeks. The only blemish was a Week 2 loss at Kentucky. So on Oct. 24, the 15th-ranked Hoosiers hosted No. 20 Michigan in front of more than 51,000 in Memorial Stadium. The Hoosiers struck first, getting a short field to score a touchdown off a blocked punt, but they trailed the Wolverines 10-7 at the half. In the 3rd, the Hoosiers mustered just enough offense to drive nearly 70 yards, capping it with a 3-yard touchdown run by Schnell. Even though more than a quarter remained, the Hoosiers held on for a 14-10 win.

Oct. 10, 1987 • at Ohio State

Two weeks before the Michigan game, the Hoosiers scored their 1st big win of ’87. The game in Columbus to take on No. 9 Ohio State was anticipated as a real tester, after the Hoosiers had started the year 3-1. But it wasn’t all that close. Indiana scored a 31-10 victory against the Buckeyes, silencing the more than 90,000 in attendance in Ohio Stadium.

Dec. 21, 1979 • vs. BYU in Holiday Bowl

The Holiday Bowl at the end of the ’70s proved to be an exciting one, including 8 lead changes, as Indiana, who advanced to the postseason thanks to a 7-4 record, took on Brigham Young in San Diego. It was a thrilling 4th quarter, as the Cougars scored 1st to increase their lead to 37-31. But Lee Corso’s Hoosiers weren’t finished; Indiana’s Tim Wilbur scored on a 62-yard punt return, and with the extra point, the Hoosiers held a 38-37 lead. But they couldn’t breathe easy until BYU’s kicker missed a 27-yard field goal with only 11 seconds left.