College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee chair Hunter Yurachek and CFP executive director Rich Clark took questions Tuesday evening following the second release of 2026 CFP rankings.
Indiana dropped five spots from No. 4 to No. 9 in the update. The Hoosiers were on a bye last week.
In his introductory remarks, Yurachek discussed the wild weekend that preceded the latest rankings.
“When the teams around you lose in the rankings and win big games, it affects where you land,” he said. “Even in the week you didn’t lose or in some cases like Indiana didn’t play, those are some of the toughest conversations in the room and why we saw such significant movement.”
Here are Yurachek’s other remarks related to IU.
On how Indiana dropped five spots despite not playing last weekend
Indiana was probably the victim of having a bye week at the wrong time, a time where there were seven games within our top 25. Some of those big wins occurred right around where they were, starting with Notre Dame’s big win over Miami, Texas over Missouri, UCLA win on the road and beat a Minnesota team, a Minnesota team that had gone to Indiana the week prior. Indiana needed a 60-yard field goal as time expired to send that game into overtime and win that game.
The committee is impressed with what UCLA, Texas and Notre Dame did, as well as Alabama obviously with their big win at LSU.
Every team that Indiana played, had played to date in the Big Ten, they all lost. So they this six losses that went against their record strength as well as their strength of schedule. Those metrics affected the committee’s review of Indiana this week, as well.
On how Indiana’s uncertainty at quarterback influences the Committee
I mean, obviously the quarterback play in general, the offensive play in general, is a discussion point there for Indiana. They’re a dominant defensive team. One of the best, if not the best, defensive teams statistically in the country. They have won games because of their defense, not because of their offense.
That is a point of discussion in the room when we are comparing them to other teams.
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