Indiana is 8-1, sixth in the AP poll and third in the Coaches Poll, and it has not beaten a single team in the AP Top 25. The first College Football Playoff rankings come out Tuesday night, and the committee gets to answer the question everybody’s arguing about: record or résumé?
The only ranked team Indiana has played this season was Ohio State. The Buckeyes came to Bloomington on Oct. 17 and won 19-15. Ohio State is 11th in the AP poll now.
Here’s the whole list of wins, from ESPN:
- North Texas, 52-16
- Howard, 55-0
- Western Kentucky, 38-0
- Northwestern, 29-23
- at Rutgers, 47-15
- at Nebraska, 20-17
- at Michigan, 13-6
- Minnesota, 23-16
To be fair to the Hoosiers, four of those teams have winning records: Northwestern (6-2), Michigan, Nebraska and Minnesota (all 5-3). Indiana won every one of those four by seven points or fewer. That’s not nothing. It’s also not a No. 3 résumé.
And I’ve seen the squeaking up close. Our Fade last week was Indiana -19.5 against Minnesota. Indiana won by seven. I’ll be over here.
My answer: résumé. The Coaches Poll has one-loss Indiana ahead of 8-0 Utah and 8-0 UCLA, and that’s the part that doesn’t make sense. Being 8-1 against that schedule means you’re good. It doesn’t mean you’ve proven you’re one of the three best teams in America.
The good news for Indiana: the proof game is on the calendar. After an open week, No. 18 USC comes to Bloomington on Nov. 14. Win that one and we can talk about the top five.
Record or résumé, Faders? Tell me on X or Instagram at @fiveandafade.
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Jeremy Durham is a sports columnist for TriStar Daily and the founder of Five and a Fade.
