Go back to this time a year ago, mid-October 2024. Penn State football was off to a promising start under 11th-year coach James Franklin, 6-0 after a thrilling victory at USC. Who’s to say at that moment, but it looked as if the Nittany Lions might finally – mercifully – be in position to reach the College Football Playoff, which has been bumped from four to 12 teams. What a time in State College.

At that exact same point, Indiana ran its record to 6-0, too. Indiana? The Hoosiers had beaten the Marylands and Northwesterns of the world under first-year coach Curt Cignetti. Cute story. Indiana had played 125 seasons of football before that. It had never won 10 games. What could change?

We rise now, entering the eighth full weekend of the 2025 college football season, staring at a completel

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