Despite its proximity to Chicago, Indiana is not exactly as beloved as our other neighbors.
Wisconsin is like our backyard neighbor who lets us use their pool any time. Michigan is like an old friend who stays out for “one more” after everyone else has gone home.
Indiana?
It’s a toll road that rips us off on our way to other vacation spots, or maybe a place to go for cheap fireworks.
But lately we’re in an Indiana state of mind, thanks to its two college footbaIl powers.
The basketball-crazed state could send two teams to the College Football Playoff, a scenario no one would have envisioned when the 2024 season started in August.
Notre Dame is one of them, to no one’s surprise. But the 8-1 Irish are basically a national team that just happens to be located in South Bend, Ind., close enough for the subway alumni in Chicago to consider them their own.
After a rude awakening in a Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois, Notre Dame was No. 10 in the first CFP rankings and is a safe bet to make the playoffs if it doesn’t falter in its final three games against Virginia, Army and USC.
The other potential playoff qualifier is Indiana, a football program that has been insignificant since its last Big Ten championship in 1967, when Lyndon Johnson was president, “The Andy Griffith Show” was the most-watched TV series in America and gas cost 33 cents a gallon.
Despite being natural in-state rivals, the two schools haven’t met since 1991, though they’ve scheduled a two-game series for 2030 at Notre Dame and 2031 in Bloomington, Ind.
Yet a dream scenario could have the Irish and Hoosiers meeting in the playoffs, a battle for state supremacy that would pit a traditional national power against college football’s ultimate Cinderella.
It might seem far-fetched to think the state of Indiana could be the center of the college football universe for a day, but these are crazy times we live in.
The Hoosiers are 10-0 and No. 8 in the CFP rankings. They figure to rise to No. 6 — or higher — when the next rankings are revealed Tuesday, thanks to losses over the weekend by Miami and Georgia.
An unbeaten team in mid-November playing in one of the best two conferences usually would be considered championship material, but some doubts remain about Indiana’s chances. They’re still the Hoosiers, a traditional college football bottom feeder, and their 10 opponents are a combined 13 games under .500. The only team they’ve faced that has a winning record is Nebraska (5-4).
So until the Hoosiers beat a good team, few outside of Bloomington are likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. Narrowly beating a rebuilding Michigan team 17-15 at home Saturday, after nearly blowing a 14-point lead and holding on when the Wolverines’ late 2-point conversion attempt failed, was the first inkling that Indiana might be a mirage.
But other national contenders have had ugly wins, so why not Indiana?
“If you’re going to be a championship team, you’re going to go through a game like that where you’ve just got to find a way to get ‘er done,” coach Curt Cignetti said Monday on “The Dan Patrick Show.”
The eye test suggests Indiana would be an underdog to a half-dozen SEC teams: Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
Fortunately the Hoosiers don’t play in the SEC, so that’s irrelevant. They’ve beaten every team on their schedule, most of them handily. A win is a win.
The moment of truth is coming. After an open date this week, the Hoosiers travel to Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 23 to take on No. 2 Ohio State in what will be hyped as the biggest game in IU history. They’re 9½-point underdogs according to an early line, which seems about right.
An upset win over the Buckeyes likely would send Indiana into the Big Ten championship game against Oregon, quieting the legion of skeptics. But even a strong effort in a close loss should prove the Hoosiers are not just a fluke of scheduling, and an 11-1 record likely would ensure a playoff berth.
Cignetti is already set. Whatever happens next for him is icing on the Hoosier cake.
“I win, Google me,” he famously said upon his arrival in December, a boast that turned into a popular T-shirt on campus.
Cignetti, who signed a six-year deal, will be one of the most sought-after coaches this offseason and could cash in big time after one season in Bloomington. But after leaving James Madison for Indiana and building a contender in his first season with many JMU transfers in key roles, it seems unlikely he’d use it as a stepping stone for a bigger program so soon.
On the flip side, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman has been a suspect in many Irish fans’ eyes since taking over three years ago from Brian Kelly. The shocking 16-14 home loss to NIU was the final straw for some fans, who expected Notre Dame to run the table with a relatively easy schedule.
Even with a seven-game winning streak and a dominant defense, some are wondering if they’re setting themselves up for a first-round playoff exit, which no doubt would be blamed on Freeman.
The Irish haven’t won a national championship since 1988, a sore subject for a program that still considers itself in the upper echelon of college football with Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia.
Past glory doesn’t mean much to the alumni or the subway alumni, who have watched the Irish crash and burn over the last decade-plus, getting blown out by Alabama in the 2012 championship game, by Clemson in the 2018 semifinals and by Alabama again in the 2020 semifinals.
Kelly was widely criticized for not getting it done when it mattered most, and Freeman, who is 27-9 in three seasons, is looking to change the narrative in what would be his first playoff appearance as head coach.
Naturally, Freeman said Monday he’s focusing only on Virginia, Saturday’s opponent in the regular-season home finale.
“Every game, this game is the Super Bowl,” Freeman said. “And no matter if we were in the playoff hunt or not, that’s the same mindset we have.”
Caution flags aside, the ball is in Notre Dame’s court. Ditto for Indiana.
As Gene Hackman said in “Hoosiers,” the classic ode to Indiana’s favorite sport, “We’re way past big speech time.”
