No. 10 Indiana disrepected by CFP Committee, will face No. 7 seed Notre Dame

The Indiana Hoosiers were one of the few teams in College Football to finish the season with less than two losses. Despite their ability to stack wins in their historic season the Hoosiers will be forced to play 11-1 Notre Dame in South Bend during the opening round of the College Football Playoffs on the road in South Bend.

While Notre Dame like many others contributes their strength of schedule compared to Indiana as the reason for their higher rankings, it should be noted that Indiana was not in charge of their schedule and unlike most teams in the playoff, Indiana has the least poor loss out of the group.

Teams can only win the games they are scheduled to play and while Indiana does not have a notable win, their only loss was to eight-seed Ohio State who is 10-2 and hosting a playoff game. While Ohio State has the head-to-head advantage, Notre Dame and others claim to their home playoff game loses weight when you look at their losses.

Notre Dame lost a home game to Northern Illinois, a team from the MAC. Indiana's margin of win against their non-Power 5 opponents was 45.3 points per game. Tennessee who is ranked ninth lost to 6-6 Arkansas and has two losses. Even Ohio State lost to Michigan, a team Indiana defeated if we really want to go that route.

The truth is unless Indiana went undefeated, the Hoosiers were always going to play on the road. Ohio State has gotten into a four-team playoff going 11-1 without a conference title. In fact, Ohio State has made the playoffs multiple times without a conference title. Why? Because Woody Hayes won a bunch of games fifty years ago.

Notre Dame may have won against Texas A&M but that's not a significant win. The Fighting Irish's ranked wins are over Army, Navy, and Louisville. Navy and Army are a part of the Group of Five. Louisville had four losses. Five of Notre Dame's wins are against teams who currently do not have winning seasons. Notre Dame makes their own schedule. Indiana has had to abide by the Big 10.

The difference is that Knute Rockne went to South Bend instead of Bloomington. Indiana's lack of respect comes from one thing and one thing only, a lack of history and branding. If we look at the overall picture, Indiana should be playing at home.