5 teams Indiana should be ahead of in next AP Top 25 as undefeated run continues

Build Curt Cignetti a statue! He has done something no other head coach has done in the history of Indiana Hoosiers football. Coach Cig has IU at 9-0 on the season and pretty much a lock to make the College Football Playoff at this point. While they have not played the toughest schedule, the Hoosiers have obliterated pretty much everyone they have played. They should get in, even with a 10-2 record.

For Indiana to miss the playoff, the Hoosiers would either need to lose out or barely beat hapless Purdue at the end of the season. With a win over Michigan or Ohio State, the Hoosiers are essentially a lock to get to at least 11 wins. They may not have the easiest path of getting to Indianapolis, but the odds are firmly in their favor to make the expanded playoff. This is why college football is the best!

With the AP Top 25 Poll coming out later this afternoon, as well as the first College Football Playoff rankings coming out on Tuesday night, I want to identify a handful of teams that Indiana should be ranked ahead of. They entered last week at No. 13, and I would totally expect that they will be comfortably inside the top 10. In all honesty, I might have then as high as No. 7 or even up to No. 6!

Here are five contending teams I would feel comfortable ranking Indiana ahead of them for Week 11.

5. Alabama Crimson Tide

The Alabama Crimson Tide are the least controversial inclusion. Undefeated Indiana was ranked ahead of two-loss Alabama last week. Even if the Crimson Tide would probably be favored over them in a head-to-head matchup, I don't think anyone in The Yellowhammer State would be pounding the table to have Alabama ranked ahead of Indiana heading into this week. They have a big game to win.

What this comes down to for me is Indiana has been the far more consistent team this year. Indiana pummels the opposition while on offense. Alabama has shown an ability to score a ton of points, but can just as easily give them up. Although the Crimson Tide have played in a wide array of games this season, I know what I am getting every single time Indiana takes the field. They look like a playoff lock.

Alabama will probably make it in, definitely at 10-2 and quite possibly at 9-3 with a close loss to LSU.

4. Penn State Nittany Lions

For as likely as the Penn State Nittany Lions are to make the College Football Playoff with their remaining schedule, you cannot rank them ahead of Indiana next week under any capacity. One team is scoring points at will against every Big Ten team it faces, while the other was unable to score a single offensive touchdown at home vs. a very inconsistent Ohio State team. Indiana is better now.

As far as how far will Penn State fall with its loss to Ohio State, I would say it is somewhere in the No. 7 to No. 9 range. Penn State will drop a few spots from No. 3, but will not fall outside of the top 10. Most people think this is a borderline playoff lock as is. While they still need to lose another game to become the James Franklin Driving School, they can go 11-1 and get in without going to Indianapolis.

Everything we have seen up to this point suggests that Indiana is the superior team over Penn State.

3. BYU Cougars

BYU was on a bye week ahead of its huge rivalry game with Utah in the Holy War. While the Cougars are looking more and more like the team to beat in the Big 12, that league is only sending its champion into the playoff this year. It could be BYU, it could be Colorado, it could be Iowa State, and it might even be Kansas State if the Wildcats are so lucky. All I have to say is Indiana is more menacing.

The Cougars have the better resume with wins over Kansas State and SMU out of the ACC. However, I would argue that the manner in which Indiana beats teams to a pulp cannot be overlooked for all that much longer. BYU will get a top-four seed in the projected playoff picture, but I would probably slot the Hoosiers a spot or two over them in the upcoming AP Top 25. I could be wrong, but I just feel it.

How BYU looks in Holy War will go a long way in me fully believing that they will be making the playoff.

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The State of Indiana is probably getting two of its Power Four teams into the playoff this year with the Hoosiers out of the Big Ten and the ever-present national independent that is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. On Saturday night's recap episode for False Start, my FanSided.com colleague and co-host Cody Williams argued that Notre Dame would be the sixth lock to make the playoff at this time.

However, just because I feel that both teams from the State of Indiana are probably getting into the playoff this year does not mean Notre Dame has earned the right to be ranked ahead of the Hoosiers. The Fighting Irish's best win is over Texas A&M, followed by Louisville. Their only loss on the year was at home to Northern Illinois, in what will go down as the weirdest anomalies of the entire campaign.

Notre Dame has the slightly better resume, but I would argue that Indiana is slightly more consistent.

1. Tennessee Volunteers

And since I wanted to do five teams, I am sure I will get the most pushback about this one. I don't trust Tennessee. I think the Volunteers are good, but like Cody said to me on False Start in the early hours of Sunday morning, I still don't really have a feel on what the Vols are or do well 10 weeks in. They play great defense and run the ball quite well with Dylan Sampson. The passing game is very frustrating.

The Vols may be coming off Nico Iamaleava's best game in conference play so far, but Kentucky is probably not heading to a bowl game. In the upcoming AP Top 25 Poll, I would expect for Tennessee to be ranked somewhere in the No. 6 to No. 8 range. That may be slightly better than where Indiana may be slotted. While the Alabama win is a huge deal, the Arkansas defeat is not helping them out.

No matter how you feel about these five teams, Indiana should be ranked firmly inside of the top 10.