Indiana's Unexpected Rise to Top 5 in College Football

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00:00The great, uh, Jerry Palm, our good friend from CBS sports.

00:06You can follow him on X at J P P Palm, P a L M CBS at J P P Palm CBS.

00:13Uh, it's good to have you back on Jerry.

00:16Uh, let's talk first about.

00:18Uh, Indiana being number five in the country and they got it done.

00:25Anyway, you slice it against Michigan.

00:27It was Harry in the second half.

00:29Roark did nothing, but the defense stepped up the pun return.

00:32I thought saved the day for them and they got the extra three out of it.

00:37And they win it by five when they've been scoring 47 plus a week and their

00:42defense has been top five in college football, you can't even explain it

00:46to me, how this has happened.

00:47Other than Cignetti got a bunch of guys that are veteran players, third and

00:52four year guys that have won awards playing at every level and are experienced.

00:57And they got a good quarterback and they got all those players from

01:00JMU to can flat out play and he's a winner.

01:04That's just, that's all there is to it.

01:06Yeah, it's been tremendous.

01:09It looks like he brought in like a Sunbelt all-star team with him, which a

01:12lot of James Madison guys would be on.

01:14Uh, but it's, that's college football these days, right?

01:17You don't need years and years to build up.

01:20If you can get transfers in, you know, you can really put a roster

01:23together right away and he's done that.

01:26And Indiana is a weird team for the committee.

01:28They are number eight in the, in the college football playoff rankings last

01:32week, probably move up a little this week, but it's, it, they have the worst

01:37schedule you could possibly put together for a team and until last week they were

01:42annihilating everybody and Michigan gave them a fight first team all year to do

01:46that, but India, we're 10 games into the season for them and not one of their

01:50opponents has made it to bowl eligible yet.

01:53And only one could do it this week.

01:55So it's just, it's, you couldn't, like, if you intended to put together a

02:01schedule this bad, you probably wouldn't be able to do it, but the committee is

02:04giving them credit as they should for doing the best you can against that

02:08schedule, which is to light, light everybody up and now they get a week off

02:13to prepare for Ohio state, the one, you know, excellent team on their schedule.

02:17And, you know, this is where we find out about Indiana, you know,

02:20can they hang with Ohio state?

02:22Can they beat Ohio state at their place?

02:24If they can, they've got a shot to get a buy in the college football playoff

02:29to maybe even win the thing.

02:31But that's a big task going into Columbus and trying to beat Ohio state.

02:36There is a big task for everybody, no matter how good you are.

02:39So we'll see what Indiana has got for Ohio state in a couple of weeks.

02:42But you know, that's really the litmus test for them.

02:45That's where we find out just how good Indiana really is.

02:48So Miami lost to Georgia Tech.

02:51Are they still a playoff team?

02:54Yeah, because I think they're still going to win the league.

02:56Now they, you know, they may not be the home team in the

03:00in the conference championship game.

03:02SMU, of course, is undefeated in league play.

03:05But I still think Miami is the best team in that league.

03:08They play with fire a lot.

03:09That their offense, you know, really sputtered.

03:12Georgia Tech did a great job against that offense.

03:14And it wasn't up to its usual standard.

03:17And it needs to be because their defense is sketchy.

03:20So, you know, I don't know if Miami is a contender to win the college football playoff,

03:25but they're still, I think, the best team in the ACC.

03:29LSU and Georgia with huge losses on Saturday, are they out?

03:37Well, LSU is. That's three losses.

03:39And I don't think a three loss team is getting into the college football playoff

03:42unless that third loss comes in a conference championship game.

03:46Then maybe you have a shot at ten and three.

03:48Nine and three is not going to get it done this year.

03:51But Georgia, that's only their second loss.

03:53So they've still got a shot.

03:55And it's funny because when I was projecting out all the results,

03:58I need to do bowl projections.

04:00I ended up with Texas in first in the SEC and a six way tie for second at six and two,

04:07which Alabama emerged from.

04:09And I actually had to win the league because I don't really think that Texas is

04:13the best team in the league.

04:14I think it's either Georgia or Alabama.

04:16So anyways, but that league is a real pile.

04:19I mean, it's a pile of good teams.

04:22I don't know how many of them are completely elite teams.

04:25You certainly see signs of it from some of them.

04:27But this is a great league with great teams at the top.

04:31There's going to be at least four of them in the college football playoff.

04:34So an Ole Miss would be one of them with that defense, right?

04:39Maybe. I mean, that deep boy, they abused.

04:42They just abused Georgia's offensive line.

04:46Yeah, I mean, the defense is always been the thing that's been missing from Ole Miss.

04:51I mean, with Lane Kiffin, they're going to score a lot of points.

04:54But now they've got a defense that can keep them in games when the offense isn't going

04:59or they're playing an opponent like Georgia, where, you know, your offense

05:02probably isn't going to get going.

05:04And they have a defense now that can win games for them.

05:06We'll see if they get in.

05:08Their schedule is not that great.

05:10And for those teams in that pile up at, you know, with one or two losses,

05:14two losses in particular, it could be strength of schedule.

05:17It ends up separating some of these teams because you may not have

05:21a ton of head to head results or definitive head to head results

05:24that make the difference.

05:26Jerry, is it BYU and Colorado that you see on a collision course in the Big 12?

05:33It appears to be, yeah, those two.

05:34What a great year for BYU.

05:36Nobody picked them better than 10th before the season in this league.

05:40And now they're undefeated. Colorado right there.

05:42Yeah, it looks like one of those two is going to be the Big 12 rep

05:46and they'll probably be getting a bye.

05:49Who wins the Heisman Trophy?

05:52I like Ashton Gente.

05:53I don't know if he's going to win it, but if I had a vote, he'd get it.

05:56I mean, there's some great quarterbacks out there.

05:58There always are.

05:59But this feels like the kind of year where he can win this award.

06:02And especially if he breaks Barry Sanders all time rushing record award,

06:07then boy, I don't know how you don't give it to him.

06:09Is Cam Ward and Sanders

06:12obviously the top two quarterbacks going to the NFL draft?

06:14Which one do you like better?

06:16Hmm. I like Cam Ward.

06:20I think, you know, he he's got a lot.

06:22You can make all of the throws, but he's also very elusive

06:25in the pocket when he needs to be.

06:27And at Miami, he seems to need to be a lot.

06:29So the fact that he could create plays and extend plays,

06:32I think is going to make him a great player in the NFL.

06:35Let me just ask you real quick.

06:37I got 30 seconds tops.

06:39What's it like for Painter to coach without Edie in West Lafayette?

06:43Like, how is he dealing with that loss?

06:46Well, I mean, they also lost Daniel Jacobson, the seven foot four kid

06:50that was going to replace him out for the year with a tibia injury.

06:54But Purdue can win in a lot of ways and they'll win again this year.

06:59Slow down, Jerry.

07:01I watched I watched the Hoosiers play a couple of lifeless games

07:05against SIU and Eastern Illinois, whatever, at Assembly Hall.

07:10I wanted to puke.

07:11Anyway, I'm excited about Indiana football.

07:13Never won 10 games before and are up to number five.

07:17It's crazy. Jerry, thank you.

07:18Good to see you, my friend.

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