BLOOMINGTON – Indiana debuted at No. 8 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season Tuesday night.
Revealed during the committee’s initial top 25, the Hoosiers landed within the top 12 that would, if the season ended today, qualify them for the College Football Playoff.
The first bracket reveal slotted Indiana into the ninth seed in the field, despite landing No. 8 overall. That’s because the top four seeds (each of which comes with a first-round bye) go to the four highest-rated conference champions.
The projected top seeds out of the ACC (Miami), Big Ten (Oregon) and SEC (Georgia) all landed in the committee’s top four. No. 9 BYU, the next highest-ranked projected champion, slid into the fourth bye because it was the fourth highest-ranked conference champion in the field.
That bumped IU down one slot into ninth, despite being ranked No. 8. That pushed the Hoosiers one place out of hosting a first-round Playoff game. It’s worth noting No. 7 Tennessee must play at No. 3 Georgia later this month.
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Curt Cignetti has Indiana at 9-0 for the first time in program history with the Hoosiers winning every game by at least 14 points. In conference play alone, Indiana has wins of 29, 49 and 37 points, and two of those three wins were on the road.
The latest ULM Coaches Poll has IU ranked No. 10, while the AP poll has the Hoosiers ranked No. 8.
IU hosts Michigan at 3:30 p.m., Saturday on CBS.
College Football Playoff first top 25 rankings
- Oregon (9-0)
2. Ohio State (7-1)
3. Georgia (7-1)
4. Miami (9-0)
5. Texas (7-1)
6. Penn State (7-1)
7. Tennessee (7-1)
8. Indiana (9-0)
9. BYU (8-0)
10. Notre Dame (7-1)
11. Alabama (6-2)
12. Boise State (7-1)
13. SMU (8-1)
14. Texas A&M (7-2)
15. LSU (6-2)
16. Ole Miss (7-2)
17. Iowa State (7-1)
18. Pittsburgh (7-1)
19. Kansas State (7-2)
20. Colorado (6-2)
21. Washington State (7-1)
22. Louisville (6-3)
23. Clemson (6-2)
24. Missouri (6-2)
25. Army (8-0)
How does new College Football Playoff work?
For the uninitiated among you, the 12-team playoff works like this:
∎ The top five conference champions by ranking receive automatic bids. This means at least one Group of Five team automatically gets in. The other four champions will come from the Power Four (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12), so it’s best to think of the Playoff as a top 11 most years (or perhaps smaller; more in a minute).
∎ The other seven spots in the field are selected at large. There are no requirements by conference for these spots. They go to the seven highest-ranked non-champions.
∎ It’s often presumed the G5 champion will not be among the top 12. If for the purpose of this conversation we use the US LBM Coaches Poll, that’s the case. No. 14 Boise State would take that bid in this example. The Broncos also grab that bid from outside the top 12 if we use ESPN’s Football Power Index (they’re No. 19).
∎ Remember: Procedures specify each of the top five conference champions gets an automatic bid. That does not always mean that team will be in the top 12. For example, the current Big 12 leader, BYU, is undefeated but on the fringes of this conversation with Indiana, at No.10in the coaches poll and No. 28 in the FPI. So the field can narrow further if teams not ranked in the top 12 from within the Power Four grab auto bids as well.
∎ As you probably know, the top four seeds get byes to the quarterfinal. The remaining eight are seeded 5-12, 6-11, 7-10 and 8-9, with the higher-seeded team hosting a first-round game on its campus. The bracket does not reseed at any point.
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