College Football Playoff rankings: How far will Indiana fall with an Ohio State loss?

Where things stand now entering Week 13, the Big Ten is on track to get four of its teams into the College Football Playoff. That would be Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. While the Ducks are the closest thing to a lock in college football right now at 11-0 and only Washington before the Big Ten Championship Game, there is still plenty left to be decided regarding the other three teams.

For 10-0 Indiana, one more win probably gets them in. If it is over Ohio State, then it would have to be a close loss to arch rival Purdue because the Boilermakers are terrible. Ohio State needs one more win to get to 10-2. While a loss to either Indiana or Michigan may not help their case, there is no case to be had with a 9-3 mark. And for Penn State, they cannot lose to either Minnesota or Maryland at all.

Since Oregon has already beaten Ohio State, and Ohio State has already beaten Penn State, this one between the Hoosiers and the Buckeyes is the last game of massive significance left to be played in the Big Ten before the conference title bout. With the next College Football Playoff rankings slated to come out on Tuesday evening, let's assume chalk the rest of the way in the Big Ten, meaning IU loses.

What would happen to the Hoosiers if they lost on the road to Ohio State? How far would they fall?

How far will Indiana Hoosiers fall if they lose to the Ohio State Buckeyes?

Last week's College Football Playoff rankings had Indiana ranked No. 5 overall but seeded No. 7 because of the AQ spots reserved for the third and fourth-highest-ranked teams in leagues outside of the Big Ten and the SEC. For the sake of simplicity, let's say BYU losing to Kansas and Tennessee falling to Georgia do not drop Indiana any further than what they were last week. I have them as such.

Right this instant, I would say Indiana would fall behind the following teams after suffering its first loss: Notre Dame, Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia. Indiana is already behind Penn State, which is a team with no quality wins and one quality loss, which is what Indiana's resume would say as well. Notre Dame has a bad loss but could have upwards of three quality wins in their favor if they beat Army.

To me, it would be justified to have Notre Dame go past a one-loss Indiana team. I would then move the three SEC teams of note past them as well. They all may have two losses. Georgia's two are great, Alabama's are okay, and Ole Miss' are getting worse by the day. Georgia has three signature wins, Alabama has two and Ole Miss has one over Georgia. Next up would be comparing IU to Miami.

I would say the No. 10 ranking is the first spot where their fall could stop. Miami might be the better team on paper, but Indiana's loss to Ohio State would not be as bad as Miami's to Georgia Tech. Right now, Indiana would stop at No. 10, but I think there is a case where Indiana could be ranked No. 12 if Boise State continues to look the part out of the Mountain West. They only have one loss to Oregon.

After that, you would ask yourself if teams like SMU, BYU, Tennessee and Texas A&M deserve to be ranked higher than a one-loss Indiana team. We did see the Associated Press dump BYU considerably after losing to Kansas. Then again, losing to Kansas is far worse than losing to Ohio State. For the sake of simplicity and narrative, I would say Indiana would be ranked No. 10 after a loss.

As far as if they would still be in a playoff spot, they would probably be in as the No. 11 or No. 12 seed.