The first College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled at 7 p.m., Tuesday on ESPN. Where IU football lands has piqued the interest of not just Hoosiers fans, but college football experts, too.
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 fresh ULM Coaches Poll has IU ranked No. 10, while the AP poll has the Hoosiers ranked No. 8. Where will the committee rank Indiana in the new 12-team format?
Fox Sports' Joel Klatt got a first-hand look at IU's dominance, calling Indiana's 56-7 demolition of Nebraska, and he's been one of the more vocal supporters of IU's playoff case, despite Indiana's lack of marquee wins.
"If last year, we saw Michigan and Georgia play cake schedules -- cake -- and they were handling them, and what was everyone saying, like 'Well, I know they're not playing anybody, but they're just beating everybody so badly. So it doesn't matter.' Why is that excuse not afforded Indiana? Why?" Klatt said on his podcast this week.
"My hope is all you committee members on the College Football Playoff committee get your coffee today on a Monday morning, you're going sit in your rooms, and I hope you're listening to this. You want to know why? I know your process. I've been in your seat. I went down and took part in the mock process under Bill Hancock. I know exactly what you're about to see, the data you're about to see and the fashion in which you're about to see it.
"Committee members, you're about to see: resumés without logos. And I implore you to rank the resumé and not the logo. Because if you do that, I think Indiana is going to be a lot higher than people think. And they should be. And they should be. Curt Cignetti has done one helluva job and I'm tired of people criticizing their schedule. We've seen Ohio State play a soft schedule early in the season. We've seen Georgia last year, Michigan last year. None of those teams get criticized. We just say, 'They're doing what they should.' Well Indiana is doing what they should, and so they should be rewarded as well."
The Hoosiers will present a fascinating early test case Tuesday night on what matters most to the CFP committee members.