And then there were eight... The Indiana Hoosiers are one of only a handful of teams left still competing for this year's College Football Playoff National Championship. Curt Cignetti's squad was one of four teams to get a first-round bye into the national quarterfinals. More importantly, they are the top-seeded team in the tournament. If they win their next three games, they will be champions.
Where things stand now, Indiana will take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl. Whoever wins that game will take on the winner of the Orange Bowl between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Oregon Ducks in the Peach Bowl. Should IU advance past that game, they will play either the Ohio State Buckeyes, Georgia Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels, or the Miami Hurricanes in the national title bout.
At this time, Indiana has the easiest path of any team left in the playoff. This is a construct to them being the No. 1 seed, as well as having both Ohio State and Georgia on the other side of the bracket. Indiana will not have to play both of those teams to win this year's national title. That being said, this is untrodden territory for the Hoosiers. Can they overcome their bad football history to win it all here?
Let's now power rank the seven remaining teams, based on overall viability of being a threat to IU.
7. No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels
Even though the Ole Miss Rebels are quite talented, they do not pose hardly any threat to Indiana when it comes to winning a national title. They are on the other side of the bracket from Indiana. Ole Miss will have to avenge its lone loss from earlier in the season to Georgia, a team it could not keep out of the end zone for the life of it. After that, Ole Miss would have to win the Fiesta Bowl to make it.
There are two other things working against Ole Miss here. The first is Georgia head coach Kirby Smart does not lose rematches. He is 4-0 all time in such situations. The other is quite obvious. Pete Golding is brand-new as their head coach, having just taken over for Lane Kiffin at the start of the playoff. Golding may prove to be a great coach one day, but Cignetti will coach circles around him...
Indiana vs. Ole Miss is one of the most unlikely national championship matchups for many reasons.
6. No. 10 Miami Hurricanes
The other major underdog team on the other side of the bracket from the Hoosiers would have to be the Miami Hurricanes. While they did get a road win over Texas A&M in the first round, Miami scored a grand total of 10 points on offense. Even though the Hurricanes have the roster to compete with seemingly anyone left in the field, do they have the quarterback and head coach to win three more?
The Mario Cristobal of it all, and the fact that Carson Beck will put the football in harm's way is not great combination for the Hurricanes to win two more games to even face Indiana in a potential title bout setting. Yes, that game will be in Miami, but it is also Fernando Mendoza's hometown. Let's be honest. Indiana is more likely to come up short of making it to Miami than for The U to play at home.
Miami will need to beat Ohio State and then either Georgia or Ole Miss to even play for a national title.
5. No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide
In some aspects, the Alabama Crimson Tide should be higher than No. 5... Could they potentially knock off Indiana in the Rose Bowl? Crazier things have happened in the wonderful world of college football. That being said, Alabama has a one-dimensional offense. The Crimson Tide really struggle to run the football. It has been a yearlong problem for them. Indiana has a far more well-rounded team.
So even though Alabama is the next team up on Indiana's schedule, the Hoosiers are roughly a touchdown favorite over the Crimson Tide for a good reason. Alabama had to play a tough road game at emerging rival Oklahoma to even advance. Indiana will be well-rested coming into this game, whereas Alabama could be running on fumes. An upset is possible, but it does not feel overly likely.
Alabama is still a dangerous team, but Indiana seems to be having one of those years in spite of that.
4. No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders
For as great of a season the Texas Tech Red Raiders have had, there are levels to this. Their best wins are over a good, but not great BYU team twice... Their other game of significance was a loss to Arizona State in league play. Joey McGuire may have a great roster, but the playoff may be a different beast than what they are used to. Indiana could play them in the Peach Bowl, but they may be out of it.
Truth be told, you can really flip a coin over how you feel about the Orange Bowl matchup between No. 4 Texas Tech and No. 5 Oregon. The Ducks are coming off their first win in the playoff in over a decade. However, this will be the first foray into it for the Red Raiders. Simply put, the Red Raiders will be at a coaching and quarterbacking disadvantage if they were to take on Indiana in the semifinals.
Texas Tech may be able to win a playoff game, but seeing it get past Indiana is a bit of a tough sell...
3. No. 5 Oregon Ducks
Next up would have to be the Oregon Ducks. Again, they have the most up-in-the-air national quarterfinals matchup of anyone, as they will be taking on the Big 12 champion Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Orange Bowl. Oregon has made the playoff twice before this season. Let's not overlook the fact that Dan Lanning has been in these games for years, dating back to his time with Georgia.
While Oregon may very well get past Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, the combination of attrition, steadiness, and travel may be working against them. They will have played two playoff games, whereas Indiana would have only played one should they meet again in a rematch. Asking this team that has so much ebb and flow about them to travel to Miami and then to Atlanta is a bit too much.
Beating the same team twice in one season is hard, but Oregon may have run out of gas by that point.
2. No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes
You could probably flip a coin for the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 here. For the sake of simplicity, let's have the Ohio State Buckeyes in at No. 2. They will be playing the Miami Hurricanes in the Cotton Bowl. Should they win, they will take on either the Georgia Bulldogs or the Ole Miss Rebels in the Fiesta Bowl. If they come out of that game alive, then maybe they will play Indiana for it all in Miami.
Again, beating the same team twice in one year is so hard, but Indiana may be equipped to pull that off over Ohio State. The other big component, one having nothing to do with Georgia, is Ohio State has not really played a tough schedule up to this point. It lost its toughest matchup to date so far vs. Indiana in the Big Ten Championship. They got pushed around a bit in Week 1's home win over Texas.
Ohio State can definitely win the whole thing, but this team is nowhere near battle-tested just yet.
1. No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs
Are you ready for the Tom Crean Bowl? That could be what is coming down the track should Indiana win its side of the bracket and Georgia wins its next two games. The Dawgs draw Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl in a rematch from the regular season. Even though beating a team for a second time is so hard, Kirby Smart does not lose rematches. He is arguably the best head coach in the college game.
After that, Georgia will have to face either Ohio State or Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. Both of those opponents wil make the Dawgs work for it. However, they have the depth and coaching to overcome any potential attrition thrown their way. Although their two College Football Playoff National Championships came in the old four-team format, Georgia did repeat back in 2021 and again 2022.
If Indiana were to face Georgia in the national championship, the Hoosiers might meet their equal.