Throughout the past several weeks, there has been a never-ending discourse on Indiana's College Football Playoff case. From Indiana fans, to SEC supporters, to just college football followers in general, it seemed like everyone had an opinion on the Hoosiers before their big matchup against Ohio State this past weekend.
The general consensus from around the country was that if Indiana played the Buckeyes close, even with a loss, IU was safe. This did not happen, though, making some around the country immediately count the Hoosiers out after the 38-15 loss in Columbus.
Those voices may have spoke too soon, though, as later on in the day, chaos ensued. No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 14 BYU, No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 16 Colorado and No. 19 Army all lost, shaking things up for those who previously thought Indiana shouldn't earn a bid to the playoff.
While some may believe that it was these upset losses that will make the difference for Indiana, head coach Curt Cignetti believes that, independent of what those other teams did on Saturday, his team belongs in the 12-team playoff.
After Indiana's loss to Ohio State and before any of the other games went final, he was asked if he thinks his team has proven their worth to the committee.
His response: "is that a serious question? I'm not even going to answer that. The answer is so obvious."
While Curt Cignetti certainly believes his group deserves a spot, there are many voices, both media and fans alike, who have questioned Indiana's resume and worthiness to be a part of the CFP.
With all this being said, let's take a deeper dive into Indiana's resume and how it stacks up to the rest of the country before another set of rankings are released Tuesday night.
Indiana came into the Ohio State game with the 106th strength of schedule in the country, which was the main cause for concern from those who believed that IU needed to impress against the Buckeyes to earn a place in the playoff.
While the Hoosiers did lose handily, 38-15, their strength of schedule rose 55 places after the matchup against OSU, moving up to 51st in the country.
This mark is now higher than other playoff hopefuls like Oregon (52nd,) Miami (59th,) and Notre Dame (78th.) While IU still isn't all that impressive in the strength of schedule department, after playing Ohio State this metric is no longer a glaring weakness, bursting the bubble of those whose only argument for Indiana to miss the playoff was based on Indiana's SOS.
After the loss to Ohio State, though, the strength of schedule argument may have gone away, but a new argument against the Hoosiers was created: they just can't compete with the big boys of college football, some citing the 23 point loss to the number two team in the country as a sign that Indiana isn't ready for the big stage.
Kurtis Rourke was asked postgame if he thinks Indiana has done enough to prove its worth to the committee, even with the loss to the Buckeyes.
Rourke responded by saying "Yeah, I hope so. We trust ourselves against anybody, and we look forward to hopefully an opportunity to get a rematch at some point. But just knowing that next week is the big game and we gotta go handle Purdue, and then take it one game at a time."
The Indiana QB believes that his team has done enough to get in, and the computers agree, as IU ranks 7th in strength of record, a metric weighting a teams record to its strength of schedule.
This is a great stat to look at, as it allows strength of schedule to be contextualized in a way that doesn't punish good teams on the singular basis that they may have played a subpar schedule.
ESPN's FPI is also a metric that many look at when deciding who they believe should get CFP berths. It's a ranking that is predictive in nature, meaning that based on what has happened so far, the FPI projects who would win on a neutral field.
Indiana ranks 11th, which alone would put them into the 12-team College Football Playoff, but coupled with the number seven ranking in strength of record, gives the Hoosiers a very strong case to get in.
In addition to these metrics, Indiana's case got better because of some other results around the country. Both Michigan and Nebraska won on Saturday, giving IU two more wins over bowl eligible opponents, as both UM's and NU's wins got them over the six win threshold.
This brings the amount of wins IU has over bowl eligible teams to three, still not a strong number, but much better than it was just a week ago, while also matching Tennessee's number in the category.
Between all these metrics and numbers, it seems as if Indiana has a very strong argument for making the College Football Playoff, something that linebacker Aiden Fisher agrees with.
Fisher was asked twice about his team's playoff chances and if he believes the Hoosier deserve a spot. On one occasion he answered "100%" in regards to if he believes IU deserves a bid, while also saying "you look at that film and it'll tell you we're is physical as anybody in the country" referencing that he believes his defense can compete with anyone that they would potentially face in the CFP.
While Fisher and the rest of the team believe they've proved their case, they also realize that in order to have any shot of getting in, they need to beat Purdue.
Fisher said that "I'm more so focused on Purdue right now rather than the playoffs coming up. So, you know, we'll handle Purdue and you guys can, you know, judge that for yourselves."
Indiana has a 97.6 percent chance to defeat the Boilers on Saturday, which almost perfectly lines up with its 97.7 percent chance to make the playoff so, essentially, win the Old Oaken Bucket and Indiana would also clinch a College Football Playoff berth, yet Cignetti is only focused on the game alone.
This is why Curt Cignetti said "I think it's probably more important now that I focus on our next game. A big in-state rival against Purdue that Indiana hasn't beaten in how many years? Since 2019. I think that needs to be everybody's focus."
While Cignetti and company may only be focused on the next game up, the rest of the nation is focused on if Indiana will make the CFP, as the Hoosiers have an interesting case ahead of the next rankings release Tuesday at 7 p.m. eastern.
–––––
Like this content? Join the conversation on TheHoosier.com's premium message boards and subscribe today!
– Follow TheHoosier on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!
– Subscribe to TheHoosier on YouTube for more content
– Interact with fellow fans on TheHoosier's Premium Football Board and Premium Hoops Board
