We are just weeks away from a tumultuous season wrap-up. The rankings’ reshuffling will continue till December 8th, when the list chisels out the final top-12 bracket. As the current seeding shows, Ohio State, Penn State, and Indiana will host home games against their respective first-round pairings. The emotion runs high, with teams already dropping their ticket information for the potential games and fans aching to know who will beat whom and dominate the chart in the weeks to come. While it’s a query subject to the time, CFB analyst David Pollack can see an edge for the Hoosiers and the Buckeyes over others for a unique reason.

The Hoosiers are making history for conducting the first 10-0 winning season in their last 50 years of history. Although arguments swirled over their light schedule, which did not contain enough tough opponents, the bottom line is that they are still going undefeated along with the Ducks. Credit goes to the ‘I win games, google me’ guy (Curt Cignetti), whether you are ready to accept it or not. But they will head to a real test next week as they travel to Columbus to face the No.2 Ohio State. The matchup garners a lot of hype around the nation, as it is dubbed the historic match for Indiana. However, other CFB teams need to be on the edge. As David Pollack said, extreme cold weather will make things easier for IU and OSU.

When Greg McElroy sarcastically asked him if he was ready to nail cold weather on the field, the snow would be too much to take for, Pollack said, ”It 100 per cent will have a bearing on outcomes of games and will also go into that styles of matchups, some of the teams like to chuck it. You know this when it gets colder, and the ba-l gets a little bit harder, the catch rate goes down, and the body warmth isn’t as good. Those things are gonna be real down the stretch that we have been discussing.”

However, the cold can particularly be of help to the defenses rather than offenses. When the ba-l is hard, and it takes a toll on the passing accuracy, defenses can easily create pressure on the QBs and pull out turnovers. Also, the slippery field condition gives the offensive players a harder time to create plays than the defense who just need to react to the offenses.

We see this in football games all the time. Famously, hot-weather teams do not like it in December and January when the playoffs come calling, and they have to visit a cold-weather team. Remember the Miami Dolphins in 2023? They were blasting teams off the park at home, but in the playoffs, they had to go away from home at the Chiefs in an extremely cold-weather game. The result? The Dolphins just couldn’t get going.

Even a windy day could make it impossible for teams to rely on the passing game. Fortunately for Alabama, Kalen DeBoer realized that against the LSU Tigers last week and just ran the hell out of his offense. Result? A comfortable thrashing of Brian Kelly’s team. Regardless of how it gives an edge to the home games at Indiana and Ohio State, the Hoosiers have a wide room to relax.

Indiana Hoosiers seem to be in a safe place ahead of week 13 game

Curt Cignetti might not see next week’s Ohio State game as the biggest one in history, as he said it is important just because it is the next game, but what would a slip in the scoreboard at Columbus do to them? Will it be the end of the game? Rece Davis has the answers.

“If you go and play well, you just happen not to beat a team that I think is capable of winning the national championship in their stadium, then I think Indiana is a lock,” Davis said on the Pat McAfee Show.

“I think it’s far more likely than not that they will {make the playoff} regardless {of} what happens in Columbus.”, he concluded.

Indiana has the full right to keep its chin up, irrespective of the brand bias narrative. They are getting back their lost gems. Reports suggested wide receiver Myles Price and running back Justice Ellison, who left the field after taking a nasty injury from Michigan, are back on their boots. Price amassed 28 receptions for 361 yards, dominating the week as the most experienced player on the team. Having him back might be a game-changer for the Hoosiers. ‘‘The guys who took some hard hits vs Michigan are practising this week,” reported the founder of Indiana Illustrated, Alec Lasley, on X.

What’s your take on the weather advantage for Indiana and Ohio State warning issued against the other SECs? Let us know in the comments.