College Football Playoff: How far did Indiana fall after losing to Ohio State?

More interesting was what the committee did with a handful of ranked teams that lost Saturday.

If the playoff were set to begin, Ohio State would host No. 12 Arizona State in a first-round game the third weekend of December. That is based on a projection the Buckeyes lose the Big Ten Championship Game to Oregon.

Of course, they could win the rematch with the Ducks, who beat them 32-31 in Eugene in early October. In that case, Ohio State would get a bye in the first round and open the CFP in a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl against the winner of the 8-9 game. This week that would be Tennessee or Georgia, who are both 9-2.

But the Buckeyes have not quite sewn up a berth in the Big Ten title game yet, either. They must beat Michigan this weekend or have Indiana and Penn State lose to clinch a trip to Indianapolis to face the Ducks.

If Ohio State is upset, the Buckeyes seem to be a good bet to make the CFP anyway thanks to a slew of upsets in the SEC last weekend.

Those results also have Indiana looking like it will be part of the first 12-team CFP if the Hoosiers avoid being upset by Purdue in the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket on Saturday.

Indiana’s ranking was one of the biggest points of interest this week after the Hoosiers suffered their first defeat last weekend 38-15 at Ohio State.

They dropped five spots, but other teams that lost last weekend got pretty much the same treatment: Alabama dropped six spots to No. 13, Mississippi dropped five spots to No. 14 and Texas A&M dropped five spots to 20.

Ironically, the 8-3 Aggies have the best chance of that trio to make the CFP because they could still play their way in by beating No. 3 Texas this week then downing No. 7 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

That could also cost Indiana its spot, but there is a lot of football to be played before all is said and done.

At No. 10 this week, Indiana is one spot ahead of Boise State (10-1) and two ahead of Clemson (9-2). Perhaps more importantly, the Hoosiers are behind two-loss Tennessee and two-loss Georgia, but they are ahead of all the 8-3 SEC teams despite a week’s worth of lobbying from that league Indiana isn’t worthy of the CFP.

Boise State is in line not only to make the field but get an automatic bid if the Broncos win the Mountain West Championship Game because they are ranked ahead of every team in the Big 12 and AAC, and the four highest-ranked conference champions get the four byes into the quarterfinals.

Clemson is the first team out this week, but the Tigers have some life left as they could get a quality win over No. 15 South Carolina this weekend and have an outside chance of sneaking into the ACC title game against No. 9 SMU if No. 6 Miami (Fla.) loses this weekend at 8-3 Syracuse.