BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football fans won’t have to wait much longer to make their travel plans.
The Hoosiers (11-1; 8-1 Big Ten) will find out where they are headed in the newly expanded College Football Playoff during the selection show that will begin airing on ESPN at noon.
While IU was idle last week, the program didn’t have to spend much time worrying about its postseason prospects thanks to the comments made by CFP committee chair Warde Manuel made when discussing the penultimate set of rankings.
“Any team that is not playing right now we don’t have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranks, so that is set in terms of how we see them,” Manuel said.
The team’s No. 9 ranking (and No. 10 seed) last week was a clear stamp of approval from the committee. The results from the championship game will impact IU’s final seeding, but there’s very little chance of them dropping out of the field.
More:Is Indiana football a lock for College Football Playoff? It sure sounds like it.
When is the College Football Playoff bracket announced?
- Date: Sunday, Dec. 8
- Start time: Noon ET
The College Football Playoff bracket will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 8 at noon ET. The full bracket is expected to be announced during the show’s 30 minutes, per a press release from the network.
More:Ranking Indiana football’s potential CFP opponents, from most exciting to least
What channel is the CFP selection show on Sunday?
The College Football Playoff selection show airs on ESPN beginning at noon ET and will run through 4 pm. Rece Davis will host the show and he will be joined by a group of analysts including Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway, Booger McFarland, Greg McElroy and Nick Saban. The network will also air a pre-show with analysis starting at 10 a.m.
More:Ranking Indiana football’s potential CFP opponents, from most exciting to least
Predicting where Indiana fooball will end up in the College Football Playoff bracket
Prediction: No. 7 Texas vs. No. 10 Indiana
Indiana came into championship weekend matched up against Georgia in the No. 7 vs. No. 10 matchup. That first-round game is off the table with the Bulldogs beating Texas in the SEC title game to lock up and locking up one of the four byes.
The Longhorns are one of IU’s likeliest potential opponents alongside Notre Dame and Penn State. The biggest decision for the committee on Sunday will be how far to drop the teams in the top 12 that lost their conference championship game.
Notre Dame was a more dominant team during the regular season, but had the worst loss of the three (Northern Illinois) and had the worst strength of schedule among that group (No. 58 going into the weekend).
The committee could just slide the Fighting Irish down and avoid penalizing Penn State and Texas, but there really should be a discussion about the Longhorns resume. Outside of games against Georgia and Texas A&M, they didn’t play a single SEC opponent that had a winning record in the conference and they played three of the bottom four teams (Oklahoma, Kentucky and Mississippi State).
Indiana’s weaker conference schedule has been the only road block from the school being able to host a game, and much of that same criticism applies to Texas.
More:Indiana football needed to beat Purdue to keep its CFP hopes alive. How the Hoosiers won was equally important.
College Football Playoff rankings explained
The selection committee ranks the top 25 teams in the country, and are responsible for assigning teams to the playoff bracket and their game sites.
The 12-team playoff this year will consist of the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded No. 5-8 will host first-round games.
Under the 12-team playoff bracket, the quarterfinals and semifinals will rotate annually among six bowl games (Cotton Bowl Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl).
The selection committee consists of 13 members with most serving three-year terms. The group includes current athletic directors from the power conferences along with a group of college football experts that includes various former coaches and players, administrators and one retired member of the media.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel is the chair of the committee this year.
The other members are Nevada athletic director Chris Ault, Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, former Ohio coach Jim Grobe, former Arizona State All-American offensive lineman Randall McDaniel, former Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, former Nebraska coach Mike Riley, Miami University (OH) athletic director David Sayler, former Nebraska All-American offensive lineman Will Shields, former journalist Kelly Whiteside, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yuracheck.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
