Penn State sidestepped the chaos of Week 13 with a 26-25 win at Minnesota, and with a 10-1 record and a lone loss to No. 2 Ohio State, the Nittany Lions stayed put at No. 4, one spot ahead of Notre Dame. The Irish have made a push, blowing out then No. 19 Army 49-14 last week, but with a loss to Northern Illinois on the resume, it appears that James Franklin needs to worry about a different team from Indiana.
Indiana and Penn State have similar resumes. 10-1 with a loss to Ohio State, though Indiana’s came on Saturday by 23 points, and the Hoosiers don’t have a win as impressive as Penn State’s victory over now No. 23 Illinois. Lucky for Cignetti, he could use three-loss SEC teams, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M as his life preserver, with all three falling after upset losses in Week 13. So, while Penn State sits at No. 4, Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers slid to No. 10.
With the top four seeds going to the four highest-ranked conference champions, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State are currently projected to grab the No. 5 and 6 seeds respectively and host first-round College Football Playoff games in Columbus and Happy Valley. Ohio State would welcome Big 12 champ Arizona State, and the Nittany Lions would have a chance to follow the Buckeyes' lead and stamp out Cignetti’s budding Big Ten powerhouse.
There has been a clear upper-tier in the Big Ten this season, and out of nowhere, Indiana has joined it, alongside Oregon, Ohio State, and Penn State. The conference is already crowded enough at the top as the Ducks, Bucks, and Lions await the inevitable return of Michigan after a down year in its national title defense. So, they don’t want Cignetti, who just signed an eight-year contract extension to stay in Bloomington, to gain more traction than a soft schedule already afforded him.
Despite being an exciting Cinderella story this season, Indiana didn’t belong on the same field as Ohio State. Outside of a well-scripted first drive with little-to-no pressure being applied by Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and a seven-minute fourth-quarter drive against prevent defense which netted 145 yards and two scores, the Hoosiers gained a whopping eight yards.
Penn State’s offense was not impressive against Knowles’s unit, anything but. However, the Nittany Lions still managed 270 yards of offense and scored 13 points despite multiple fruitless trips to the red zone. Not to mention, DC Tom Allen, held Ohio State’s loaded offense relatively in check in the 20-13 loss. James Franklin’s team came up small in a big game again, but it had a chance to win, which is a hell of a lot more than Indiana can say.
In last week’s rankings, Penn State was projected to face Georgia. Getting the Hoosiers instead of the Bulldogs would be a treat, and give the Nittany Lions their best chance of slipping into the quarterfinals. Plus, if Indiana gets throttled by the two real contenders on its schedule, the Hoosiers may not have the same buzz heading into the offseason as they did at 10-0.