EUGENE, Ore. – They’re don’t want to hear it Columbus or Miami or Tuscaloosa, or any other high-rent locale in college football.

They’ll laugh at the absurdity of it all in Athens and Norman and Baton Rouge. But there’s no denying it now.

Indiana , long the armpit of college football , is as good as any team in the nation.

Read that again: as good as any in the nation .

It took Indiana coach Curt Cignetti one season to produce the best record in 126 years of Hoosiers football . It may only take another to earn the school’s first No. 1 ranking. Looking for a free mini puzzle? Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.

If the annihilation of Illinois in September didn’t do it, the meticulous 30-20 punishing exclamation point of a win over of No. 2 Oregon removed all doubt. The basket

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