The Indiana Hoosiers were on a bye week in Week 10 of the college football season. The Hoosiers have started the season with an 8-1 record and were ranked No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, which came out last week. But when the second CFP rankings were released on Tuesday night, Indiana found itself in a shocking spot.
Indiana falls five spots in CFP rankings during bye week
Despite not playing over the weekend, the Hoosiers fell from No. 4 all the way to No. 9 in the latest CFP rankings. The drop came as other teams around the country came up with key wins, but seeing the Hoosiers fall that far is shocking to say the least.
Georgia moves to the No. 1 spot, while Utah moved up to No. 2. Other teams in front of Indiana include No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Miami, and No. 8 Tennessee. Three of the teams ranked ahead of Indiana have two losses: Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee.
Indiana's five-spot fall in the CFP rankings is complete nonsense
CFP chair Hunter Yurachek tried his best to explain the reasoning behind Indiana's drop, but Hoosier fans aren't having it. Most notably, Yurachek cited Indiana’s offense and QB play as a factor in IU’s drop to No. 9 in the rankings. However, the Hoosiers were on a bye last week, meaning that the offense and QB play didn't change since being ranked No. 4 in the initial CFP rankings. So that doesn't make much sense.
Yurakchek also stated that Indiana had its bye week at the wrong time. “When the teams around you lose in the rankings and win big games, it affects where you land,” Yurachek said. “Even in the week you didn’t lose or in some cases like Indiana didn’t play, those are some of the toughest conversations in the room and why we saw such significant movement.”
"Indiana was probably the victim of having a bye week at the wrong time, a time where there were seven games within our top 25," Yurachek added. "Some of those big wins occurred right around where they were, starting with Notre Dame’s big win over Miami, Texas over Missouri, UCLA win on the road and beat a Minnesota team, a Minnesota team that had gone to Indiana the week prior. Indiana needed a 60-yard field goal as time expired to send that game into overtime and win that game."
It doesn't help that every single Big Ten team that Indiana has played this season lost in Week 10. That heavily impacts IU's record strength as well as their strength of schedule. In other words, Indiana's resume took a big hit. Yurachek noted that hose metrics played a part in IU's fall from No. 4 to No. 9.
But at the end of the day, Indiana didn't do anything to justify falling five spots. The Hoosiers are the same team they were when they were ranked No. 4 last week. The committee shouldn't be punishing Indiana for what other teams have done. All IU has done this season is find a way to win. Having three two-loss teams in front of them is simply unacceptable. The committee is all over the place with their processes right now, which brings plenty of justified frustration to fans. At some point, the committee needs to reward teams for what they've accomplished rather than constantly reshuffling the rankings based on what happens around them.
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