New video appears to show when Stephen Daley hurt himself after Big Ten title win

There is no other way around it. This is so unfortunate for Stephen Daley and the Indiana Hoosiers. While celebrating with fans at Lucas Oil Stadium after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes to win the Big Ten Championship, Daley suffered what appeared to be a freak leg injury. It will knock him out of the College Football Playoff, ending his season at IU, and possibly his college football career as well.

Daley spent his first three seasons of college football over at Kent State before transferring over to Indiana this past offseason. He had been a relentless presence coming off the edge for IU prior to getting injured. Daley's play is part of the reason why Indiana is the last undefeated team in college football, as well as defensive coordinator Bryant Haines being up for the Broyles Award this season.

Here is video evidence of Daley hurting himself while trying to give fans in the stands some high fives.

The good news for Indiana is the Hoosiers will have the better part of a month off to prepare for whoever they face in the Rose Bowl. Top-seeded Indiana will face the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game between Oklahoma and Alabama in Norman. Jan. 1 seems like a long ways away, but Indiana must now figure out how it can counterbalance losing such an important piece of its defense now.

With Indiana being so well-coached, one would expect Curt Cignetti's staff to make the adjustments.

What Indiana has to do to overcome losing Stephen Daley for the playoff

From a pure talent standpoint, Indiana could potentially be up against it as the College Football Playoff moves along. Yes, the Hoosiers are well-coached enough to win multiple games in the tournament, as they should. However, each round gets progressively harder, as depth prevails over everything. It is why Indiana must find ways to overcome losing such a great piece from its defense.

What Indiana needs to do is to lean on its offense to outpace the opposition a bit. If they have to play low-scoring games like they did vs. Ohio State again, that makes the Hoosiers incredibly vulnerable to possibly lose the only game that matters moving forward: The next one. To help boost the defense, we may need to see Cignetti and Fernando Mendoza run a more ball-control offense to keep it fresh.

In the end, losing one player for the season is not going to sink Indiana, but it will have a negative impact on the team no doubt. This is a team that has won as a team all season long. One would expect that if Indiana were to become national champions, that would be the plan of action for them. Daley will be there to support his teammates the rest of the way, but this injury is still so unsettling.

For now, Indiana must focus in on itself even more to find ways to make sure it has enough depth.