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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-08-01 09:26:49+00:00.
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.
Probably the two biggest surprise teams from 2024 are next up in the countdown, starting with Indiana (high = 15, low = 31) at #22, projected to be the 6th best team in the B1G. Curt Cignetti backed up his big talk upon arriving in Bloomington (look it up!) and managed to ride the second easiest schedule in the B1G on 11/22 into Columbus undefeated and ranked #5 in the country before dropping their only regular season game 35-18 to the eventual national champs, which was good enough to earn a CFP spot and an intrastate game in South Bend with eventual national runner up Notre Dame. Inspired by this surge in success, Cignetti has embraced the challenge of - taps earpiece - wait, what? – decided to embrace the cupcake nature of their lightning-in-a-bottle success and pray to God they can replicate it. Well, at least it brought the bison mascot back.
Roster outlook
The Bison isn’t the only thing that the Hoosiers are bringing back. They rank 44th in returning production, pretty much evenly split across both sides of the ball. Neither Kurtis Rourke nor his torn ACL are coming back. For that matter, neither are Indiana’s top 2 RBs (Justice Ellison or Ty Son Lawton). But 3rd string RB Kaelon Black returns, as do the Hoosier’s top two wideouts (Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper, Jr.). Cignetti is restocking via the portal, pulling in the 6th best class in the B1G (22nd in the nation). The biggest name there is Cal QB Fernando Mendoza, but they also brought in his fellow Bear WR Johnathan Brady, plus WR Tyler Morris (Michigan), TE Holden Staes (Tennessee), RB Roman Hemby (Maryland) and 2 new OL (including Ohio State RT Zen Michalski), plus two new DBs (Ole Miss S Louis Moore and NC State CB Devan Boykin) to fortify the defense. The other loss for Indiana is former co-OC Tino Sunseri (and seriously, wasn’t he Pitt’s QB like 3 years ago?), who’s the new OC at UCLA.
Schedule and outlook
It seems like only yesterday when the B1G made a big production out of mandating that member schools were only going to schedule Power 5 opponents and would not schedule FCS schools. What a difference 9 years makes. Indiana paying to back out of the Louisville game when they were expected to be rebuilding was at least understandable. Now that they’re a playoff team, buying out of a series against Virginia to add FCS opponents is what makes it damn near impossible for any impartial fan to respect them (or root for them). This year, their OOC is comprised of the murderer’s row of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State. None of those schools were in FBS when Barack Obama was last elected. That should REALLY test their mettle before opening B1G play hosting Illinois (who will at least have been tested by Duke), followed by road trips to Iowa and then Oregon. I tend to write most of these impartially, but if there’s any karma in this world, they’ll leave Autzen with a 3-3 record. Their next 3 games are all quite winnable (Michigan State, UCLA and at Maryland) before traveling to Penn State and then wrapping up with Wisconsin and Purdue. Indiana’s definitely bowling in 2025, but a return to the CFP seems unlikely. Or maybe that’s just my lack of impartiality showing…