Last week we shared with you a prediction by well known national college football analyst Brett McMurphy that IU would be playing postseason football in 2024.
And now we can share several more human predictions that suggest the outlook for Indiana is at the very least better than what the algorithmic forecasts we’ve shared have been suggesting.
Now to be sure, no one is picking IU to make the first 12-team College Football Playoff in December.
But the members of an eight panel crew at CBS Sports are all higher on Indiana than the last place predictions we’ve seen from the likes of ESPN’s computer generated FPI and SP+.
Three members of the CBS Team named Indiana the “most underrated team” in the entire conference. Here’s the explanation one of the three, Will Backus, gave:
Indiana: In Curt Cignetti we trust. The guy has never had a losing season as a head coach. People thought James Madison would have a rough transition to the FBS, but the Dukes went 19-4 over the past two years and finished the 2023 season ranked. The Big Ten is another sharp incline in terms of difficulty for Cignetti, but he’s earned some benefit of the doubt. He also brought a lot of key players from JMU with him to help smooth the transition. Indiana’s not a bottom-feeder, and Cignetti has a good shot at getting the Hoosiers back to a bowl.
The view of the CBS crew highlights something that seems obvious after reviewing an extensive survey of predictions for IU.
The computer models, which factor recent seasons heavily into their formulas, probably aren’t equipped in the preseason to handle the complete overhaul we’ve seen at Indiana — both coaches and roster.
And even the Big Ten’s own media, which picked IU to finish No. 17, is likely a bit too heavily influenced by a more intimate familiarity with the less than impressive recent seasons put forth by the Hoosiers.
Conversely, here’s where the eight national media members from CBS Sports picked IU to finish in the Big Ten:
- Dennis Dodd: 11th
- Tom Fornelli: 11th
- Chip Patterson: 14th
- Shehan Jeyajarah: 13th
- Richard Johnson: 12th
- David Cobb: 11th
- Jerry Palm: 11th
- Will Backus: 13th
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