Indiana's loss to Notre Dame was College Football Playoff mistake that can't happen again

SOUTH BEND, Ind. ― The keepers of this magnificent sport say they’ll learn from the first show of shows, this new and unchartered college football postseason.

Let’s start by figuring out how in blue blazes Indiana got in the College Football Playoff in the first place.

There will be plenty of time to lavish championship hype on Notre Dame if it can beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal. But this is an autopsy, a postmortem of Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17.

So we begin with the obvious: there has never been a bigger miss than by the selection committee in the 11 years of the playoff.

"This team earned the right to be here," said Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, words that sound better after two excuse-me touchdowns in the last 90 seconds of the game, when everyone in the joint wanted out of sub-freezing temperatures and into the warm embrace of celebration.

It doesn't change the reality that Indiana's inclusion in college football's postseason tournament was a monumental mistake.

"I'm kind of glad it happened the way it did," Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said of the late collapse, where Notre Dame led 27-3 before mistakes on defense (and a missed onside kick) led to two Indiana scores. "It's a chance for us to humble ourselves and get back to work as we get ready for the next opportunity."

That next opportunity against Georgia will be a significantly heavier lift ― even if the SEC champions are forced to play backup quarterback Gunner Stockton.

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Because the difference between Georgia and Indiana is wider than the widespread arms of Touchdown Jesus. The CFP selection committee has made mistakes before, but never to this extreme.

Ohio State over Penn State in 2016 was bad. Notre Dame over Texas A&M in 2020 was worse.

But Indiana over just about anyone — Alabama, Miami, South Carolina, Ole Miss — was recklessly negligent. The worst part of this unfolding mess on the first night of the heralded and shiny new postseason: everyone but the committee knew it.

At what point Friday night did the 13-member committee start texting each other and admit they screwed the pooch? After Indiana’s first three-and-out, or its seventh drive that ended with no points, a punt or a turnover?

After Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love wasn’t touched on a College Football Playoff-record 98-yard touchdown run, or after it was apparent that Indiana’s No. 1 rush defense gave up 28 more yards than its season average on one play?

But for a sputtering Notre Dame offense that consistently settled for field goals and left points on the field, the emasculation could’ve been much worse.

"Part of life is learning how to deal with disappointment the proper way," Cignetti said. "And coming back a stronger person because of the experience."

To be fair to Indiana, there have been other playoff blowouts ― but rarely were there times when those teams didn’t deserve to play in the games, or didn’t play a schedule worthy of inclusion.

This is what happens when the selection committee becomes infatuated with a team and victories, when the four former coaches on the committee sit among the group and explain just how difficult it is to win 11 games against air. Or some other inane coaching cliche'.

Let’s review how this monstrosity developed, shall we? The committee had unbeaten Indiana ninth in the nation in the first ranking, an unusually high ranking for a team that hadn’t yet beaten a team with a winning record.

That ranking left Indiana with a three-game season: struggling Michigan, at Ohio State and Purdue. The committee essentially penciled in the Hoosiers from the jump.

Again, we all saw this. We all watched the Hoosiers beat up on the Big Ten undercard, and roll through a non-conference schedule that consisted of one of the worst teams in the Bowl Subdivision (Florida International), one from the Championship Subdivision (Western Illinois) and Charlotte.

Two of those three teams fired their coaches at the end of the season because, you know, they were terrible.

We all saw this, but the CFP selection committee saw a team worthy of hosting a playoff game as late as 11 weeks into the season. By the time Ohio State beat Indiana and dropped the Hoosiers to No. 10, Indiana only needed to beat a truly horrible Purdue team (which also fired its coach) to reach the playoff.

Indiana played one game of significance in the entire 2024 season — and lost by 23 points to an Ohio State team that didn’t even make the Big Ten championship game. The vaunted Hoosiers offense, the unit that was first or second in the nation in scoring all season long, scored 15 points against Ohio State.

Indiana scored on the first drive of the Ohio State game, and didn’t score again until its last drive. In between, it ran 30 plays for eight yards.

And we’re surprised when Indiana responds with this performance in its second game of significance?

I don’t blame Cignetti, who stumped for his team week after week with unmatched bravado. I don’t blame the players, who played the teams in front of them and took care of business.

But that doesn’t mean you’re one of the 12 best teams in college football. Because if it did, unbeaten Liberty would’ve made the four-team CFP in 2023.

Officials from the SEC and Big Ten spoke last week during the Sports Business Journal Forum about looking at all levels of the playoff process. From format, to campus games, and yes, to the selection committee.

Not only the metrics used by the committee, but if there’s a need for a committee at all.

“It’s one season, so I don’t like to be a prisoner of the moment,” said Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione. “But I think it’s incumbent upon us to always assess everything.”

At the very least, the selection committee will be around for the final year of the current CFP media rights deal in 2025. But beginning in 2026, there will be a new format and possibly a new way to choose the teams.

The keepers of this magnificent sport will work all offseason to find the answers for 2026.

Because another Indiana can’t happen again. 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Indiana loss to Notre Dame proves College Football Playoff wrong