Where is Indiana football in the second CFP rankings?
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BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football having to fend off a near-upset against Penn State didn’t impact its spot in the latest College Football Playoff rankings that were released on Tuesday night.
The Hoosiers (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) remained at No. 2 coming off a thrilling 27-24 win over Penn State. The entire top five was unchanged from the debut set of rankings released last week. This would set up a potential quarterfinals matchup against the winner of a first-round game between No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 10 Texas.
Indiana matched the best start in program history with the program’s first win at Beaver Stadium in program history.
While the Hoosiers final two regular season games are against two of the bottom teams in the conference (Wisconsin and Purdue), Curt Cignetti isn’t taking anything for granted.
“I think we need to understand that we’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” Cignetti said. “We’re not sneaking up on anyone anymore. We got Iowa’s best shot at Iowa. We got Penn State’s best shot at Penn State. Oregon was obviously a big game on the road, and we’ll get Wisconsin’s best shot. So we’ve got to have a good week of preparation.”
Indiana’s game against Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium will be the team’s last regular season home game. The Hoosiers will honor a group of seniors before the game — a list that includes linebacker Aiden Fisher, defensive end Mikail Kamara and wide receiver Elijah Sarratt — that were key to the program’s turnaround.
“I think all the guys really are focused in on today and what lies ahead, but those guys have been tremendous foundational pieces for the program back at JMU and here at Indiana,” Cignetti said. “They’re great players, great people, great leaders. There’s a number of them.”
Week 2 CFP top 25 rankings
1. Ohio State 9-0 (-)
2. Indiana 10-0 (-)
3. Texas A&M 9-0 (-)
4. Alabama 8-1 (-)
5. Georgia 7-1 (-)
6. Texas Tech 9-1 (+2)
7. Ole Miss 9-1 (-1)
8. Oregon 8-1 (+1)
9. Notre Dame 7-2 (+1)
10. Texas 7-2 (+1)
11. Oklahoma 7-2 (+1)
12. BYU 8-1 (-5)
13. Utah 7-2 (-)
14. Vanderbilt 8-2 (+2)
15. Miami 7-2 (+3)
16. Georgia Tech 8-1 (+1)
17. USC 7-2 (+2)
18. Michigan 7-2 (+3)
19. Virginia 8-2 (-5)
20. Louisville 7-2 (-5)
21. Iowa 6-3 (-1)
22. Pittsburgh 7-2 (+2)
23. Tennessee 6-3 (+2)
24. South Florida 7-2 (N/R)
25. Cincinnati 7-2 (N/R)
How does the College Football Playoff work?
The 12-team field features the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked schools. The four highest-ranked schools are seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye.
The remaining schools will be seeded 5-12 based on their final ranking. If any of the five highest-ranked conference champions are outside the top 12, they will be seeded at the bottom of the bracket.
Those eight schools will play in the CFP first round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds on campus (or a designated site picked by the higher-seeded team). The committee doesn’t modify the bracket to avoid rematches and there is no re-seeding.
The top four seeds will be assigned to the quarterfinals hosted by the bowls, in accordance with historic bowl relationships. The Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl are hosting the quarterfinals this season.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: CFP rankings — Where is Indiana football in second playoff top 25?
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