Fighting Irish Today

When a team suffers a heavy loss in the College Football Playoff, the inevitable debate arises: Did they really deserve the chance to compete for a national championship?

This year, the team in the hot seat is Indiana. Their timing couldn’t have been worse—playing the standalone game on national television, with millions of eyes watching. All the focus was on them, and the result only fueled the criticism.

The Hoosiers certainly didn’t help their cause. They committed an early turnover, allowed a 98-yard touchdown run, were physically dominated at the line of scrimmage, and struggled with poor tackling throughout the game. By the time there were fewer than five minutes left, they were trailing 27-3—only to score two late touchdowns in garbage time to make the final score appear somewhat more respectable.

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti added fuel to the fire before the game, when he made a bold claim on ESPN’s College GameDay, saying, “We don’t just beat top-25 teams. We beat the s— out of them.” Needless to say, his team didn’t back that up. It’s only natural that critics would be quick to call him out.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said before the game that the Hoosiers “beat the s— out of” top-25 teams. That didn’t happen in South Bend. #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/M4FGhv6Xsy

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 20, 2024

Make no mistake: Indiana was thoroughly outplayed Friday night in South Bend. The game was never competitive, and upon rewatching, it was clear just how much Indiana struggled. So, of course, the loudest voices in sports media began questioning whether the Hoosiers deserved a playoff spot at all.

“The atmosphere was historic; the game was not,” said ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit the morning after the game. “I’m not gonna sit here and say, ‘Why was Indiana in?’”

“Well, yes, you are,” Herbstreit continued, sarcastically adding, “But Indiana, with what you guys like to talk about, they have 11 wins. They gotta be one of the best teams.” He went on, “Indiana was outclassed in that game. They should not have been on the field physically with teams that could’ve been there.”

Yet, despite the blowout, Herbstreit admitted, “They had a great year.” However, he lamented that the committee had to do a better job of determining which teams truly belong, as Indiana’s 11 wins were more a product of an easier schedule than true dominance.

“The games have to matter,” Herbstreit concluded, referencing the Hoosiers’ lack of high-quality wins.

Indiana wasn’t the only team to struggle in the first round of the 12-team playoff. SMU lost 38-10 at Penn State, Clemson fell 38-24 at Texas, and Tennessee was beaten 42-17 at Ohio State. Yet somehow, Indiana ended up with the smallest margin of defeat in the opening round.

Blowouts are hardly a new phenomenon in the College Football Playoff. They happened in the four-team format too. In 2023, Georgia defeated TCU 65-7 in the national championship, and in 2022, both semifinal games were decided by 21 or more points. Alabama’s 2021 national championship win over Ohio State was a 52-24 blowout, and Clemson fell 49-28 to Ohio State in the 2020 semifinals. So, blowouts have always been part of the playoff picture.

The gap in talent between Indiana and Notre Dame was glaring. But that disparity has existed for years, and it will continue to show in the quarterfinals this season. Still, that doesn’t mean Indiana didn’t earn its playoff berth.

Arguing that Indiana didn’t deserve to be there is a pointless exercise. The committee can only evaluate teams based on the games they’ve actually played during the regular season. They can’t predict future outcomes or re-seed the playoff after a first-round blowout.

Kirk Herbstreit and others are wrong—despite their poor performance against Notre Dame, Indiana absolutely deserved its spot in the College Football Playoff. Why? Just look at the teams that didn’t make it.

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has been vocal for weeks, arguing that his 9-3 Rebels—ranked No. 14 in the final CFP rankings—should have made the playoff. He continued his complaint after the first round, tweeting, “Way to keep us on the edge of our seats, Committee… Riveting.”

If Kiffin wanted in, his team shouldn’t have lost to a 4-8 Kentucky squad at home. By contrast, Indiana dominated teams of Kentucky’s caliber all season. Alabama, another team that many thought should have made the field, would have a much stronger case if they hadn’t lost 24-3 to a 6-6 Oklahoma team, or 40-35 to a 6-6 Vanderbilt team.

What about Miami, ranked No. 13? The Hurricanes would have a strong case if they hadn’t lost to both Georgia Tech and Syracuse, or if they’d beaten a ranked team to boost their resume. Similarly, South Carolina’s three losses to ranked teams—including Ole Miss and Alabama—don’t stack up favorably next to Indiana’s more complete resume.

One of the most common criticisms of Indiana’s playoff bid was their strength of schedule, which ranked 67th—lower than teams like SMU (57), Notre Dame (60), and Arizona State (62), but comparable to others like Boise State (79). While the Hoosiers’ strength of schedule wasn’t elite, it was solid, and they ranked ahead of teams like Ole Miss, Alabama, and Miami in strength of record.

Ultimately, even after a rough playoff showing, it’s still preferable to have teams earn their way into the playoff rather than relying on subjective rankings or hypotheticals. The games themselves must matter. Indiana earned its place by going 11-1, playing nine Big Ten games, and finishing with the nation’s highest average scoring margin.

Complaints from Ole Miss and Alabama fans about missing the playoff are hard to take seriously, given those teams’ losses to subpar opponents. The committee has to reward actual performance, not reputation or potential.

That said, the current 12-team playoff format is far from perfect. But if I had to make one change, it would be to eliminate automatic first-round byes for conference champions. In this year’s format, Boise State and Arizona State—ranked No. 8 and No. 12, respectively—got byes, even though teams like Texas and Penn State were ranked higher. These byes should go to the best teams, not just conference champions.

While I’m all for on-campus games, the current seeding system may be contributing to the blowouts we saw in the first round. The matchups could have been more competitive if the committee reseeded the teams based on their rankings, rather than just giving the top-ranked conference champions automatic byes.

For Indiana fans, this season should still be seen as a major achievement. The Hoosiers had their best season in program history, finishing 11-2, and despite the disappointing loss in the playoff, they absolutely earned their spot. So don’t let the critics sour the experience—Indiana deserved to be there, and one bad game doesn’t change that.