Who will Indiana football play in CFP bracket? Predicting path to national title
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BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football was at No. 2 in the penultimate CFP rankings that were released ahead of the Big Ten title game.
The Hoosiers (12-0) are a win away from locking up the No. 1 seed and a spot in the Rose Bowl. They should still get a first-round bye if they lose this weekend, but their seeding will be up very much up in the air — they could possibly stay at No. 2 if they lose by one score — and that opens up a bunch of possible permutations.
Here’s what their path to the CFP title game could look like:
College Football Playoff bracket predictions for Indiana football
Here is who Indiana football could play in the College Football Playoff bracket and what the Hoosiers’ path to the national championship could look like:
Indiana drops a one-score game on Saturday, but remains at No. 2. This has precedent — the losers of a league title game have kept their rankings three times with each of those instances coming against a higher-ranked opponent.
The Hoosiers will still have a better resume and metrics than the other one-loss teams, and best loss among that group.
That would set IU up for a potential SEC double-feature in the postseason.
CFP bracket prediction: Indiana football vs. Alabama in quarterfinals
Alabama loses the SEC title game to Georgia and drops one spot to No. 10 as the only three-loss team in the field. The Tide end up beating Texas A&M in the opening round to set up a matchup against the Hoosiers in the Cotton Bowl.
This would be the first matchup between the teams and have all sorts of built in storylines with both coaches going against their former team. It also would give Indiana a chance to quiet the narrative that’s taken hold in SEC country that Big Ten teams outside of Ohio State wouldn’t survive down south.
CFP bracket prediction: Indiana football vs. Georgia in semifinals
Curt Cignetti versus Kirby Smart would make for one heck of a chess match in the CFP semifinals. They spent four seasons together at Alabama and won a BCS title on Nick Saban’s staff in 2009.
Here’s how that happens:
Georgia ends up in the Sugar Bowl as the SEC’s highest-ranked team after beating Alabama on Saturday. The Bulldogs would get the winner of a No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup that based on the current rankings would pit Ole Miss against one of the remaining highest ranked conference champions.
The Rebels will have a hard time moving up or down without an upset this weekend and Virginia seems destined for No. 11, having received a favorable draw in the ACC title game against a Duke team it doubled up just a few weeks ago.
Georgia ends up getting past an Ole Miss team it beat earlier in the year to reach the semifinals for the third time in five years.
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: Indiana football CFP bracket predictions: How Hoosiers get to championship
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