The Indiana Hoosiers fought, clawed, and scratched for everything they got his season, which included respect from the college football world. The Hoosiers went undefeated through their first 10 games of the season, something no other team in this program has accomplished, but it still didn't seem like enough.
No one wanted to give Indiana the credit they deserved as even by the time they were selected for the College Football Playoff, many people continued to say they didn't deserve to be in there.
Luckily, the AP Top 25 rankings always seemed to give Indiana some love, especially as they won games later in the season. After Ohio State won the National Championship last night, the AP Top 25 released their final rankings of the season, and Indiana actually got a favorable ranking.
BREAKING: Final College Football AP Poll👀https://t.co/oyF5JdBCYF pic.twitter.com/98UDyu76pI
— On3 (@On3sports) January 21, 2025
The Hoosiers finish the season ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 behind every other team that made the College Football Playoff, except for SMU and Clemson, teams they were ranked ahead of in the actual CFP.
If there is anything that fans would probably want changed, it would maybe be that the Hoosiers probably should have been ranked higher than Tennessee, who got beat worse by Ohio State and had one more loss than the Hoosiers throughout the season. The Volunteers only beat one team that is actually ranked in the final rankings and lost to an unranked opponent during the regular season.
Other than that, the AP Top 25 seems to be fairly ranked, as both Boise State and Arizona State did enough to get their first-byes and should be ranked higher than the Hoosiers. Now Indiana and the rest of the college football world await the release of the final College Football Playoff rankings to see what the selection committee's final thoughts on the Hoosiers were.