IU football continues to trend towards a first-round bye in the 2025 College Football Playoff following a 38-13 win over Michigan State.
All major outlets projecting the CFP field following week eight action have the Hoosiers receiving one of the four byes.
At least one person — David Hale at ESPN — has IU as the No. 1 overall team. Some outlets are dropping IU to the No. 3 seed with the expectation they’ll play in the Big Ten title game and lose, opening the door for them to be passed by another conference champion.
A new CFP policy implemented in 2025 guarantees the five highest-ranked conference champions a place in the Playoff, but will no longer include a bye for the four highest-ranked champions.
Instead, the 12-team bracket will now be seeded directly based on the final ranking of the CFP Selection Committee, with the four highest-ranked teams receiving a first-round bye. If one or more of the five highest-ranked conference champions are ranked outside the top 12, that team or teams would move up to the 12th seed, 11th seed, etc., based on the number of conference champions outside the top 12.
Getting a bye would mean IU would not host a CFP game, and instead play in one of the designated second round bowl sites: Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl.
IU’s remaining schedule is relatively favorable. They’ll face just one more team (Maryland) currently with a winning record, but there are some potential landmines.
Next week’s opponent UCLA has won three straight, and road trips to Maryland and Penn State remain.
Indiana’s full remaining schedule is as follows:
- vs. UCLA (3-4)
- at Maryland (4-3)
- at Penn State (3-4)
- vs. Wisconsin (2-5)
- at Purdue (2-5)
Here are the latest CFP projections for Indiana from some of the main national outlets:
CBS Sports: No. 3
The Athletic: No. 2
Sports Illustrated: No. 2
College Football News: No. 3
ESPN:
Here’s how ESPN’s 11 person panel projects the field:
Andrea Adelson: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Georgia Tech 7. Miami 8. Oregon 9. BYU 10. Texas Tech 11. Vanderbilt 12. South Florida
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Oregon 6. Georgia 7. Ole Miss 8. Georgia Tech 9. Miami 10. BYU 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
Bill Connelly: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Georgia Tech 5. Alabama 6. Georgia 7. BYU 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. Ole Miss 11. Texas Tech 12. Navy
David Hale: 1. Indiana 2. Ohio State 3. Texas A&M 4. Miami 5. Alabama 6. Georgia 7. BYU 8. Georgia Tech 9. Oregon 10. Vanderbilt 11. Notre Dame 12. South Florida
Eli Lederman: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia Tech 6. Miami 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Georgia 10. Texas Tech 11. Notre Dame 12. South Florida
Max Olson: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Oregon 7. Miami 8. Ole Miss 9. Georgia Tech 10. BYU 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia Tech 6. Georgia 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. BYU 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
Mark Schlabach: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Oregon 7. Ole Miss 8. Georgia Tech 9. Miami 10. BYU 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
Jake Trotter: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Alabama 4. Texas A&M 5. Georgia 6. Georgia Tech 7. Oregon 8. Miami 9. Ole Miss 10. BYU 11. Notre Dame 12. South Florida
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Oregon 7. Georgia Tech 8. Ole Miss 9. Miami 10. BYU 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
Dave Wilson: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia Tech 6. Georgia 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. BYU 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
The CFP Selection Committee members will meet weekly to produce rankings beginning next month. The committee’s rankings will be announced on ESPN. Here’s the schedule for the 2025-26 season:
- 8-8:45 p.m. | ET Tuesday, Nov. 4
- 7-8 p.m. ET | Tuesday, Nov. 11
- 8:30-9 p.m. ET | Tuesday, Nov. 18
- 7-8 p.m. ET | Tuesday, Nov. 25
- 7-7:30 p.m. ET | Tuesday, Dec. 2
- 12-3 p.m. ET | Sunday, Dec. 7 (Selection Day)
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