Before we can attempt to predict the next Indiana , we must first appreciate the absurdity, the utter improbability, of the 2024 Hoosiers making the College Football Playoff .

Indiana won three games the previous season and lost to some of the Big Ten’s worst teams. The Hoosiers, who were in their first year with coach Curt Cignetti, had only achieved nine victories twice in its history. Never before had they won 10. Oddsmakers set their over/under at 5½ victories, and the media picked them to finish 17th in the 18-team Big Ten.

The Indianapolis Star took “a pretty big leap” while predicting an 8-4 regular season for the Hoosiers. Another Big Ten newspaper of record, the Omaha World-Herald, surmised a “bowl bid is not out of the question,” while projecting 6-6.

Indiana’s accommodat

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