The Hoosiers. Every time we bring this team up, it just feels amazing. Curt Cignetti took a team with zero presence and a 3-9 run to its name and turned it into a monster this season. Indiana is on an undefeated 10-win run and has wiped the floor with any team that has crossed paths with them. Curt Cignetti and Co. are standing on a dynasty, averaging at least 40+ points in almost all of their games. Their defense has not allowed any opponent to cross past the 25-point mark (Maryland being the only exception). It kind of makes you wonder why, even after all of this, the team is still ranked at the No.5 spot on the AP polls and the Playoff ranking list. However, with the OSU game right around the corner, things are about to change, and it looks like Nick Saban has ended up creating something that is going to fuel Curt Cignetti and Co. even further.

See, this entire discussion in regards to the strength of schedule (SOS) has become a new trending topic ever since people started to point out the Texas Longhorns and their No.3 rank on the lists. Steve Sarkisian and his boys have yet to face any good teams during their run. The only top team they did manage to come across suffered a massive loss (vs Georgia). Back on November 16th, Saban hinted at the same fate for the Hoosiers. However, it looks like Cignetti is going into this showdown with an open find. Back during a press conference, Cignetti mentioned, “Excited about this week’s opportunity against Ohio State. Obviously, an excellent football team, one of the favorites to win the national championship… It’s a big game for us because it’s this game coming up.” 

Now, is this nonchalant attitude a good thing, or has Cignetti tapped into the rat poison philosophy created by Nick Saban? With him calling OSU a “national championship” favorite, Cignetti is pretty much trying to rat-poison OSU. This entire underdog mentality is what got them the 10-win run in the first place.

Keep in mind that if Cignetti and Co. manage to win over OSU, then it will be their 3rd win against a good team. They have already proven themselves against the Huskers and Wolverines. However, if they lost to Ryan Day and Co. then the committee is not going to spare them.

This is where the SOS and the Longhorns dilemma comes in. Both teams face one good opponent and then lose, so are they even good? Regardless of what happens, we do know that Cignetti won’t be making this easy for Day and Co. The shot at grabbing the bye-week and skipping to the semi-finals is on the line with this showdown.

OSU vs the Hoosiers

Let’s get one thing out of the way: if you are Ryan Day, you better not be heading into this game thinking, “We got this”. As Steve Coughlin had mentioned back on SVPod, “And everyone I talk to, haven’t met one person that gives Indiana a chance, and everybody thinks Ohio State’s going to blow them out, and I’m not done on the tape, but I be careful there.” Hoosiers will come into this game with guns blazing.

The offense led by QB Kurtis Rourke ain’t something you should take lightly. These guys managed to pull a 50+ point game against one of the best defenses in the country (Nebraska). When OSU went up against Nebraska, they barely managed to go past 20+ points on the board.

While you might argue that against the Wolverines, Hoosiers scored 20 points (which has been their lowest in the entire 10-game run), at the same time, you also have to keep in mind that Michigan has a good D-line which does tend to spread its wings from time to time.

See, Hoosiers will do everything in their power to stop Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson‘s run game, and Ryan Day, on the other hand, has to do everything in his power to not run the football over and over again. If Chip Kelly manages to mix in a good pass-and-run game, then things will be complicated for IU. However, we still don’t know what Cignetti has cooked up for this showdown.