Indiana Gets Votes in Coaches Poll after Bucket Win

Hoosiers will likely need to win their bowl game to finish in the top-25 rankings at the end of the year.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana's double-overtime victory over Purdue on Saturday caught the eye of a few voters in the national Coaches Poll on Sunday. The Hoosiers aren't in the top-25, but they are at least in the vicinity again.

Win a bowl game now in four or five weeks, and the Hoosiers could end up finding themselves inside the final top-25 polls.

In the Coaches Poll, Indiana, which beat Purdue 44-41 in double overtime to claim its eighth victory of the season, received 14 total points, which ranks them 30th in the country. 

The Hoosiers didn't receive any votes in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll.

The Hoosiers were ranked No. 24 in the AP poll three weeks ago when they were 7-2, and checked in at No. 25 in the Coaches Poll the same week. That appearance in the AP poll ended the nation's longest drought of 25-plus years. The Hoosiers fell right out though, after losing to Penn State on Nov. 16. They lost again a week later to Michigan.

Indiana is 8-4 on the season, the first time the Hoosiers have won eight games since 1993. They will have a shot at a ninth win in a bowl game. Bowl selections take place next Sunday, the day after several conference championship games.

Six Big Ten teams are ranked in both polls. In the AP poll, Ohio State is No. 2, Wisconsin is No. 10, Penn State is No. 12, Minnesota is No. 15, Michigan is No. 17 and Iowa is No. 18.

Nine Big Ten teams are bowl eligible, the six listed above, plus Indiana, Illinois and Michigan State.