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One of the most surprising teams in college football this season has been the Indiana football team. The Hoosiers are currently 9-0 and they are ranked #8 in the country. Curt Cignetti is in his first season as the head coach at Indiana, and he has completely flipped the script during year one. The Hoosiers are a very good team, but Fox analyst Joel Klatt doesn't think they are getting the respect that they deserve.
The College Football Playoff committee released its first rankings of the 2024 season on Tuesday night, and the Indiana football team came in at #8. There are five teams with a loss ahead of them, and if there was a different logo on that helmet, Joel Klatt thinks that the Hoosiers would be ranked higher.
“If you want to use the eye test, Indiana would be far better and far higher than what they are right now in the rankings,” Klatt said during an episode of his podcast. “You're telling us, because of a team like Texas or Tennessee or Penn State, that the eye test matters. And I'm here to tell you that Indiana passes the eye test more so than even some of those teams.”
Indiana has taken care of business easily against every team that has been put in front of them. They haven't played a ton of really tough opponents, but they are passing the eye test every week.
“What other team right now has the type of performance resume, and I'm not talking about schedule resume, but performance resume of Indiana,” Klatt said. “They've beaten every team that they've played by 14 or more. Their average margin of victory right now is in the high 20s. It's like 29, they're the number two scoring offense in the country. They're the number seven scoring defense in the country. This is a really freaking good football team, and if they had any other logo on the side of their helmet, they would be ranked a lot higher.”
At the end of the day, there seem to be a lot of inconsistencies with the College Football Playoff committee, and Joel Klatt sees a lot of brand bias as well when it comes to Indiana. These are issues that a lot of people have had ever since the CFP committee became a thing.
“Listen, if you want to say they don't have the actual schedule resume in order to be ranked higher, you might have an argument,” Klatt continued. “You might have an argument. And I get it. You see their strength of schedule, it's sitting there at what is it? 103, you know. But their point differential right now is first. Their best wins, not great, Nebraska and Washington, but they're still nine to know. So maybe they don't pass the resume test. But here's the problem, is that if we're just going by a resume test then that means BYU would be higher, which they're not. So the inconsistency of the college football playoff committee is what is so infuriating for me. It's infuriating which speaks to a clear brand bias in that room. If this, if either of these teams had a different logo on the side of their helmet, they'd be ranked a lot higher because there's not a lot of difference between these resumes and what Miami has given us, and they're right up there.”
Perhaps the Indiana football team will get some more respect if they can find a way to get a win against Michigan this weekend. The Wolverines are the defending national champions, and a victory for the Hoosiers would get them to 10-0.
Michigan and Indiana will kick off at 3:30 ET from Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana on Saturday. The game will be airing on CBS, and the Hoosiers are currently favored by 13.5 points.
