Hoosier Huddle's College Football Playoff and Bowl Projections November 3

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The Indiana Hoosiers trailed for the first time all season on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. The Hoosiers responded to falling behind 10-0 by scoring 47 unanswered points and demolishing the Michigan State Spartans 47-10 in a dominant road win. The victory moved IU to 9-0 for the first time in school history and IU is tied with Oregon atop the Big Ten standings. One week after projecting the Hoosiers into the College Football Playoff bracket as the number ten seed, we are moving IU up one place into the nine seed. That would put Indiana in an extremely interesting game at Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff. 

College Football Playoff Projections

  1. Oregon Ducks – Big Ten Champion

  2. Georgia Bulldogs – SEC Champion

  3. Miami Hurricanes – ACC Champion

  4. BYU Cougars – Big 12 Champion

  5. Texas Longhorns vs. 12. Boise State Broncos (G5 Selection)

  6. Ohio State vs. 11. SMU Mustangs

  7. Penn State vs. 10. LSU Tigers

  8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. 9. Indiana Hoosiers

Big Ten Bowl Projections

I now have four Big Ten teams (Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State) in the College Football Playoff so the Big Ten’s bowl slotting process begins after those top four teams. 

Citrus Bowl – Iowa vs. Ole Miss

Reliaquest Bowl – Minnesota vs. Missouri

Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Syracuse vs. Illinois

Music City Bowl – Michigan vs. South Carolina

Independence Bowl – Nebraska vs. Utah

Pinstripe Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Georgia Tech

Holiday Bowl – Colorado vs. Washington

Detroit Bowl – Michigan State vs. Northern Illinois 

Indiana at Miami in College Football Playoff First Round

I currently have the Indiana Hoosiers projected to finish the regular season at 11-1 but missing out to Ohio State and Oregon for the Big Ten Championship Game. I do believe that would be enough to get the Hoosiers into the 12-team playoff field. In this case, that would mean a trip to South Bend to matchup with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Make no mistake, it was a great weekend for the Indiana Hoosiers. They walloped Michigan State on the road and then got a bunch of assistance in other games around the country as potential playoff teams fell and former IU opponents got big wins. Clemson lost their second game of the season and is likely eliminated from contention. Pittsburgh and Iowa State both fell from the ranks of the unbeaten. Texas A&M dropped their second game with a heavy defeat at South Carolina. Washington knocked off USC to improve to 5-4 and 3-3 in the Big Ten. Besides hoping for a big win over Michigan this coming Saturday, IU fans would love to see BYU fall to Utah, Georgia to hand Ole Miss their third loss and eliminate the Rebels, Kansas to get rid of Iowa State by giving the Cyclones a second defeat and Washington to stun Penn State in Happy Valley. The most important thing, of course, is for the Hoosiers to keep on taking care of business. 

The initial College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled on Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm and Hoosier Huddle will have ongoing coverage of this historic Indiana season.