Indiana is ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll and No. 11 in the College Football Playoff rankings. On Sunday, however, the same committee that used Indiana as a good win for Ohio State, failed to respect IU's resume the same way.
Indiana not only didn't make a New Year's Six Bowl, it also got passed up by No. 14 Northwestern for the Citrus Bowl vs Auburn. So, a 6-1 Indiana program found itself in the Outback Bowl against a 4-5 Ole Miss team.
From college football analysts to current and former players, everyone was speaking their mind about the disrespect this IU program was given. That even included former AD Fred Glass.
"I’m not AD anymore, nor officially affiliated with IU, so I can tell you what I think, and that is this: Our program, our coach and our kids got done in by the good-old-boy Big Ten football power structure,” Glass said, according to Zach Osterman of the Indy Star.
"They’re used to coming into our state and poaching our best high school players and counting us a ‘W’ on their schedules. That’s why they don’t advocate for us.
"Is there any real doubt we’re the second-best team in the conference? Look at the polls, even the CFP. Look at the common opponents. To those who are trying to kill a resurgent Indiana football program, I say, it’s not going to work. You’re just putting more logs on the fire. I love Tom Allen, and I love these kids.”
IU's lone loss was a seven-point loss to No. 3 Ohio State on the road.
Northwestern, while playing in the Big Ten Championship game and losing 22-10 to Ohio State, had one more loss than IU and also lost to a Michigan State team that Indiana dominated, 24-0.
For why Indiana didn't make it in a NY6 Bowl? Committee chair, Gary Barta, addressed that.
"'It was a historic year... they (just) didn't have the quality wins that Iowa State had," Barta said. Barta is also the AD at Iowa.
While Indiana's three ranked wins may not hold much weight anymore, Northwestern got credit for its win over Wisconsin, moving up in the rankings, while IU didn't.
As for Iowa State, its two ranked wins over No. 17 Texas and No. 18 Oklahoma at the time, should not overshadow the fact that it has three losses, including a blowout loss to UL-Lafayette.
Fred Glass believes there is only one reason behind the nonsense that the College Football Committee has put into place.
"There are influential people who don’t want Indiana to be good in football."
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