Indiana’s place in the first College Football Playoff rankings came in right where the Hoosiers wanted to be: No. 4.
That spot, revealed Tuesday night by the CFP selection committee, would give Indiana a first-round bye if the season ended today and set up a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of No. 5 Alabama and No.
12 Boise State. It’s a strong opening position for a team that has spent the season building a case for a top-four seed.
Peegs.com’s Jared Kelly and Jeff Rabjohns offered their immediate read on Indiana’s placement and the full rankings, weighing whether the Hoosiers were slotted fairly and what the committee got right or wrong.
Indiana enters the week at 8-1 overall and 5-1 in Big Ten play, with three regular-season games still to go. The Hoosiers are on a bye this week before returning home to face USC at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.
The numbers from ESPN’s Football Power Index also paint a favorable picture. Indiana has an 84.6 percent chance to reach the 12-team CFP field and a 16.0 percent chance to play in the National Championship game, the fifth-best odds in the country. ESPN’s model also gives the Hoosiers a 38.7 percent chance to win the Big Ten and a 7.2 percent chance to win the National Championship.
IU is favored in each of its final three regular-season games - against USC, at Washington and Purdue - but the path back to the Big Ten Championship Game still isn’t fully in its control. UCLA and Ohio State are currently ahead of Indiana in the conference standings based on record and tiebreakers, so the Hoosiers will need some help to get back there.
The full College Football Playoff Top 25 released Tuesday night was:
Miami
Georgia
Utah
Indiana
Alabama
Kentucky
Texas
UCLA
BYU
Ole Miss
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Tennessee
LSU
Texas Tech
Wake Forest
Houston
Missouri
Iowa
USC
South Carolina
Arizona
Oregon
Florida
Boise State
In Other News...
Indiana Is Suddenly At The Center Of A Playoff Rankings Fight
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2026 season have already put Indiana in the middle of a familiar kind of November argument, the sort that tends to follow the Hoosiers whenever the bracket conversation starts getting serious. The committees initial top 25 set off immediate debate over several high-profile teams, with Alabama landing in the top five despite a mixed rsum against ranked opponents and Notre Dame showing up lower than it did in the AP poll, a placement that seemed to reflect the committees usual emphasis on strength of schedule.
Indianas spot drew even more attention after committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said Ohio States head-to-head win over the Hoosiers was not part of the rankings discussion. For a team trying to protect its place in the playoff picture, that kind of detail matters, because it suggests the committee is weighing Indiana on its broader body of work rather than one result alone. It also leaves the Hoosiers right where they often are in this stretch of the season, waiting to find out whether the numbers and the debate will line up in their favor. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas CFP Ranking Just Sparked A Debate Hoosier Fans Can't Ignore
The first College Football Playoff rankings of 2026 gave Indiana a place near the top of the board, slotting the Hoosiers at No. 4 behind Miami, Georgia and Utah. For a program still trying to prove it belongs in that elite conversation, the placement alone is enough to fuel plenty of discussion, especially with Ohio State sitting below Indiana and Alabama also drawing attention at No. 5.
Hunter Yurachek said the committee is comparing teams within pods and weighing things like how a team has played through key injuries as well as strength of schedule, which helps explain some of the movement but not all of the debate. For Indiana fans, the bigger question is how much respect the Hoosiers really have earned in the committee room, and whether this early ranking is a sign of staying power or just the start of a familiar argument. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas Bye Week Just Made Curt Cignettis Toughest Decision Clear
Curt Cignettis bye week arrived with a clear item at the top of Indianas to-do list: sorting out the quarterback situation before USC comes to town. Josh Hoover and Grant Wilson both got extended looks against Minnesota, and the contrast was hard to miss. Hoover finished 8-of-19 with a touchdown and an interception, while Wilson was steadier through the air, going 9-of-17 with a touchdown and no picks while also adding some production on the ground.
Now the staff gets a full week to weigh what it saw and decide which direction gives the Hoosiers the best chance to keep moving forward. The evaluation is not just about one game, either, because the next opponent is a USC team that can punish mistakes and force a quarterback to be efficient. Indiana does not have to rush the call, but it does have to make one, and the bye week has turned that into the most important decision on the schedule. [Read more 🡒]