Build a Curt Cignetti statue! He did something no other head coach has done in the history of Indiana Hoosiers football. Coach Cig has IU at 9-0 this season and pretty much a lock to make the College Football Playoffs at this point. Even though they didn’t play the toughest schedule, the Hoosiers obliterated almost everyone they faced. They should get in there, even with a 10-2 record.

For Indiana to miss the playoffs, the Hoosiers would either have to lose or barely beat hapless Purdue at the end of the season. With a victory Michigan Or Ohio Statethe Hoosiers are essentially a lock to get at least 11 wins. They may not have the easiest path to get to Indianapolis, but the odds are firmly in their favor to make the expanded playoffs. This is why college football it’s the best!

With the AP Top 25 Poll coming out later this afternoon, as well as the first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, I want to identify a handful of teams that Indiana should be ranked ahead of. They entered last week at #13, and I would fully expect them to be comfortably in the top 10. In all honesty, I could then reach #7 or even #6!

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

THE Alabama Crimson Tide are the least controversial inclusion. Undefeated Indiana was ranked ahead of Alabama, which suffered two losses last week. Even though the Crimson Tide would likely be favored over them in a head-to-head matchup, I don’t think anyone in the Yellowhammer State would pound the table for Alabama to be ranked ahead of Indiana before this week. They have a big game to win.

To me, what that comes down to is that Indiana has been the much more consistent team this year. Indiana hits the opposition on offense. Alabama has shown the ability to score a ton of points, but may as well give it up. Although the Crimson Tide have played a wide range of games this season, I know what I’m getting every time Indiana takes the field. They look like a playoff lock.

Alabama will probably, definitely get there at 10-2 and most likely at 9-3 with a close loss to LSU.

Even though the Penn State Nittany Lions are likely to make the College Football Playoff with their remaining schedule, you can’t rank them ahead of Indiana next week in any capacity. One team is scoring points at will against every Big Ten team it faces, while the other has failed to score a single offensive touchdown at home against a very inconsistent Ohio State team. Indiana is better now.

As far as Penn State falling with its loss to Ohio State, I’d say it’s somewhere between 7th and 9th. Penn State will drop a few spots from No. 3, but won’t move out of the top 10. Most people think this is a borderline playoff lock. Even if they still have 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’ve seen so far suggests that Indiana is the superior team to Penn State.

BYU was off a week before 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 to the playoffs this year. It could be BYU, it could be Colorado, it could be Iowa State and it could even be Kansas State if the Wildcats are so lucky. All I have to say is Indiana is more threatening.

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 any longer. BYU will get a top-four seed in the projected playoff picture, but I’d probably put the Hoosiers a spot or two ahead of them in the upcoming AP Top 25. I could be wrong, but I feel it.

BYU’s appearance in Holy War will have me fully believing they will make the playoffs.

Indiana State will likely have two of its Power Four teams make the playoffs this year with the Hoosiers out of the Big Ten and the pervasive national independent that is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. On Saturday night’s recap episode For False startmy colleague and co-host of FanSided.com Cody Williams argued that Notre Dame would be the sixth lock to make the playoffs at that time.

However, just because I think both Indiana State teams will likely make the playoffs this year doesn’t mean Notre Dame has earned the right to be seeded ahead of the Hoosiers. The Fighting Irish’s best win is against Texas A&M, followed by Louisville. Their only loss of the year came at home against Northern Illinois, in what will go down as the strangest anomalies of the entire campaign.

Notre Dame has a slightly better resume, but I would say Indiana is slightly more consistent.

And since I wanted to make five teams, I’m sure I’ll get the most pushback about this one. I don’t trust Tennessee. I think the volunteers are good, but like Cody told me False start in the wee hours of Sunday morning, I still don’t really have a feel for what Vols are or what they do well after 10 weeks. They play excellent defense and run the ball quite well with Dylan Sampson. The passing game is very frustrating.

The Vols may have just had Nico Iamaleava’s best conference game thus far, but Kentucky probably isn’t headed to a bowl game. In the upcoming AP Top 25 poll, I would expect Tennessee to be ranked somewhere between 6th and 8th. This may be slightly better than where Indiana could be located. Even though Alabama’s win is a big deal, Arkansas’ loss doesn’t help them.

Regardless of how you feel about these five teams, Indiana should be firmly ranked in the top 10.