Week 6 takeaways: Indiana ends up being bowl-eligible, Big 12 is up
In a week that brought much turmoil, with five Leading 25 programs losing to unranked teams, it’s time to understand that our College Football Playoff 12-team field will include teams with one, 2, perhaps even 3 losses this season. If a team with multiple losses can win its conference, it’s still in the CFP race.Indiana is having its finest start to the season, holding a 6-0 record for the first time in 57 years under first-year coach Curt Cignetti. As it ends up being the first team to become bowl-eligible, what are the Hoosiers doing right this season?The Big 12 has actually shown to be the conference most up in the air at the moment
. With five teams still undefeated in conference play, no program sticks out as the preferred to take the Big 12 title and CFP first-round bye.Our college football experts break down key takeaways from what was an unforgettable Week 6. Get ready for two-loss CFP
contenders Everybody around college football needs to re-train their brains to accept losses in the age of the 12-team College Football Playoff. Blueblood programs USC and Michigan currently have 2 losses(consisting of USC’s loss to Michigan), but in the new, expanded format, there are going to be two-loss teams consisted of in the field on Selection Day. Maybe even a three-loss group. (The selection committee has never ranked a four-loss group in its leading 12.)So while some groups have bad losses( Alabama and Notre Dame), and others have several losses(hey, Tulane!)any group that can still win its conference is technically still in the race. What hasn’t altered in the committee conference room, however, is the requirement. Even teams with several losses require statement wins and need to appear like a group capable of winning the national title.– Heather Dinich Cignetti, Indiana a design for programs looking for turn-arounds Indiana’s very first 6-0 start because 1967, under a first-year coach in Curt Cignetti, brings a natural component of shock.
The Hoosiers just do not do this, no matter who is leading their program. But what stuck out to me in viewing Indiana become the country’s very first– and, incredibly, just– bowl-eligible group is how unfazed the team looks. Indiana is incredibly well-coached by Cignetti and his staff. The offense is undeniably genuine, from quarterback Kurtis Rourke to pass receiver Elijah Sarratt to a barrage of backs to an offensive line that doesn’t get almost sufficient credit. Indiana is a device today, built by Cignetti, through mostly seasoned transfers who comprehend their roles, the plans and do not flinch.Programs that are attempting to flip their fortunes in the transfer portal/NIL age should design themselves after Indiana, which discovered a veteran, proven coach in Cignetti and armed him with the resources to completely change the lineup in one offseason. Indiana may not be a true CFP competitor– its second-half schedule consists of Ohio State, Nebraska, Washington and Michigan– but the group is not a fluke and is likely the envy of many.– Adam Rittenberg The O has actually left Oklahoma State With 10 returning starters on an offense that produced the Doak Walker Award winner in 2015, the Cowboys entered this season with hopes of competing for an area in the playoff.Instead, Oklahoma State’s offense has actually inexplicably collapsed during a three-game losing streak.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Ollie Gordon II led the nation with 1,732 hurrying lawns last year, as the Pokes advanced to the Huge 12 title game. This season, he ranks 209th, averaging just 3.8 lawns on
his 101 carries. The offensive line has actually been incapable of opening up running lanes for Gordon, while a terrible passing attack behind seventh-year quarterback Alan Bowman has failed to capitalize on packed boxes.Mike Gundy has a bye week to shake things up and attempt to restore the season. Otherwise, Oklahoma State might finish with its very first losing record considering that Gundy’s very first season as head coach 19 years back.– Jake Trotter All the best making Huge 12 forecasts Iowa State RB Carson Hansen has totaled 211 rushing backyards and two TDs as Cyclones stay undefeated. Reese Strickland-Imagn Images Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham has actually coached in only two Big 12 games, but he has actually seen enough to reach possibly the best description yet for his brand-new conference.”It’s the supreme league of,’Did you see that rating?'”Dillingham stated recently.If you wish to appreciate the unforeseeable nature of this brand-new 16-team edition of
the Big 12, simply check the conference standings. There are five groups that have yet to lose a conference game. Those groups were picked to finish sixth, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th in the league’s preseason media poll.Iowa State and BYU are still unbeaten and among the most significant beneficiaries
of all the Saturday turmoil at the top of the surveys, rising to No. 11 and No. 14 respectively in the new AP Top 25. Texas Tech is off to a 3-0 start in conference play after a late-night road win at Arizona. West Virginia started the year 1-2, however simply controlled Oklahoma State in Stillwater. And Dillingham’s Sun
Devils pulled off one of the very best wins of his tenure, a last-minute resurgence to beat Kansas.The battles of the Jayhawks (1-5) and Cowboys (3-3)have been genuinely surprising offered all the skill they returned for 2024, and TCU (3-3 )is heading in the wrong instructions. However that’s the nature of this conference: Uniformly matched teams, close games and upsets aplenty.As we approach the midpoint of the first Huge 12 season without Texas and Oklahoma, you can’t point to one program and confidently state it’s going to run the league going
forward. 7 weeks in, it sure appears like anyone can make it to Arlington and get the CFP quote.– Max Olson Not too early to start considering Aggies-Longhorns Photo it: One-loss Texas A&M hosting a top-five Texas group at Kyle Field on the final weekend of the regular season, resuming a 130-year-old competition on Nov. 30 with College Football Playoff stakes attached.We’ve still got a long way to go. However there could be a classic brewing when the Aggies and Longhorns meet for the very first time given that 2011 in Week 14. Texas A&M pulled itself back into the playoff discussion with its 41-10 beatdown of Missouri on
Saturday, the Aggies’biggest margin of triumph over a top-10 team in program history. Texas A&M led 17-0 after 3 belongings and outgained the Tigers 510 to 254. Quarterback Conner Weigman returned from injury to go 18-of-22 for 276 yards. And the Aggies defense, powered by Purdue transfer Nic Scourton, tallied 6 sacks and 8 tackles for loss, looking quite like a CFP-caliber unit in Year 1 under Mike Elko.Texas, on the other hand, invested its bye week at No. 2 in the AP Top
25. Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers looks set to return in Week 7 versus Oklahoma. Texas ranks 3rd in total defense through 6 weeks with a résumé win over Michigan already under its belt.Texas A&M has its work cut out for it in between now and Nov. 30, hosting LSU on Oct. 26 before trips to South Carolina (Nov. 2) and Auburn (Nov. 23). Texas still needs to get through Oklahoma next Saturday and a check out from the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs on the following weekend, too.But the end-of-season meeting between Texas A&M and Texas that currently has lots of energy behind it might be even juicier by the time Week 14 rolls around.– Eli Lederman