Hoosier Huddle's Bowl Projections - October 14
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Written by T.J. Inman
For most teams, the 2024 college football regular season is halfway complete. The Indiana Hoosiers rested this past weekend after winning their first six games of the season and reaching bowl eligibility. Curt Cignetti and his Indiana Hoosiers have much bigger things in mind than just reaching a bowl game but goal number one is always to reach six victories and go bowling and IU’s win in Evanston accomplished that feat.
College Football Playoff Projections
Texas Longhorns – SEC Champion
Ohio State Buckeyes – Big Ten Champion
Clemson Tigers – ACC Champion
Iowa State Cyclones – Big 12 Champion
Oregon Ducks vs. 12. Boise State Broncos (G5 Selection)
Georgia Bulldogs vs. 11. LSU Tigers
Miami Hurricanes vs. 10. Texas A&M Aggies
Penn State Nittany Lions vs. 9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Big Ten Bowl Projections
I have three Big Ten teams (Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State) in the College Football Playoff so the Big Ten’s bowl slotting process begins after those top three teams.
Citrus Bowl – Indiana vs. Ole Miss
Reliaquest Bowl – Nebraska vs. Missouri
Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Syracuse vs. Wisconsin
Music City Bowl – Michigan vs. Oklahoma
Independence Bowl – Illinois vs. Utah
Pinstripe Bowl – Rutgers vs. Georgia Tech
Holiday Bowl – Colorado vs. Washington
Liberty Bowl – Cincinnati vs. Northwestern
Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Arizona State vs. Iowa
Detroit Bowl – Michigan State vs. Northern Illinois
Indiana vs. Ole Miss in Cheez-it Citrus Bowl
I currently have the Indiana Hoosiers projected to finish the regular season at 9-3 and being selected for the Citrus Bowl against the Ole Miss Rebels. The Hoosiers benefit from losses by USC and Rutgers that nearly ensure those two are going to be below IU in the pecking order. Upcoming matchups against Nebraska, Michigan and Washington (each currently 2-1 in the Big Ten) will go a very long way towards determining which bowl game each of those teams will end up in. Other bowl games to consider for IU fans are the Music City Bowl, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and the Reliaquest Bowl but a 10-2 or 11-1 record brings the College Football Playoff into play. It certainly appears to me that an 11-1 IU team (loss to Ohio State and misses qualifying for the Big Ten Championship Game by losing the head-to-head tiebreaker to OSU) would make the College Football Playoff. ESPN’s prediction model had the Hoosiers making the playoff 99 percent of the time in that scenario. A second loss and a 10-2 record would drop that probability well below 50 percent.