Week 13 Games To Keep An Eye On With Indiana Football In The Playoff Chase

Games elsewhere that Indiana fans should be in-tune with when it comes to the Big Ten race and the College Football Playoff rankings.

Indiana defense tackles during the Indiana versus Michigan football game at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 9, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It’s a good thing No. 5 Indiana is headed to No. 2 Ohio State at noon ET on Saturday. It’s arguably the most important game in Indiana history, and it saves college football from itself in Week 13.

With rivalry games to come during the final week of the regular season starting on Black Friday, the penultimate week of the season takes on an anticlimactic quality. Army-Notre Dame is the only other game that has similar playoff implications for both teams playing. This is also the time of the season when the SEC loads up on cupcakes – odd that there are two different “seasons” for such things. The Big Ten loads up on its cupcakes in September.

And let’s face it. This is one weekend where the college football horse race as it relates to Indiana takes a distant second place to how the Hoosiers determine their own fate with a win or loss at Ohio State.

Here’s a look at what to watch around college football this weekend and how the games relate to Indiana’s fate.

Big Ten Watch

Purdue Boilermakers defensive end Will Heldt (15) tackles Penn State Nittany Lions tight end Tyler Warren (44) Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, during the NCAA football game at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. / Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

- No. 4 Penn State (9-1, 6-1) at Minnesota (6-4, 4-3), 3:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS: Over the years, the Golden Gophers have been relatively competitive with Penn State, winning six times in 16 meetings, including the last matchup played in Minneapolis in 2019. The Gophers had won four in a row before a loss at Rutgers last Saturday. It’s best for Indiana if P.J. Fleck’s crew rowed the Nittany Lions right out of Big Ten championship game consideration.

College Football Playoff Rankings Watch

- No. 13 SMU (9-1) at Virginia (5-5), Noon Saturday, ESPN2: The Mustangs have been hanging around just outside the qualifying spots for the playoff. It’s almost as if they’re being held in reserve for the SEC team above them that stumbles. SMU has won seven in a row, including three road victories. Virginia mortally damaged Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes two weeks ago and would love a repeat. Indiana should want it too to take one more contender out of the picture.

- Wake Forest (4-6) at No. 8 Miami (9-1), Noon Saturday, ESPN: Not a game that’s super important to Indiana as Miami is currently the projected ACC champion, but a loss by the Hurricanes would take them out of potential at-large range if it came to that.

- No. 9 Ole Miss (8-2) at Florida (5-5), Noon Saturday, ABC: The Rebels last won in Gainesville in 2008, which sounds bad, but with the SEC having so many protected games, the two schools have only played twice since then. Indiana should be in Florida’s corner, and the Gators have had their moments this season. The Gators forced Tennessee into overtime and ended LSU’s hopes of sneaking in the playoff back door last week.

- UMass (2-8) at No. 10 Georgia (8-2), 12:45 p.m. Saturday, SEC Network: The Minutemen could do Indiana a solid here, but don’t plan your weekend around it.

- UTEP (2-8) at No. 11 Tennessee (8-2), 1 p.m. Saturday: This game is so low on the totem pole it’s not being carried on over-the-air TV at all. That tells you everything you need to know about the quality of the game and the chance Indiana has to get anything from it from a shock UTEP victory.

Arizona State Sun Devils wide receiver Jordyn Tyson (0) breaks away from Kansas State Wildcats defensive tackle George Traglia (95) during the third quarter at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium. / Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

- No. 14 BYU (9-1) at No. 21 Arizona State (8-2), 3:30 p.m. Saturday, ESPN: Is there a sea change taking place in the Big 12? BYU has looked shaky in recent weeks and finally lost to Kansas at home last week. Meanwhile, Arizona State has won five of its last six games, but has no margin for error to have a shot at the Big 12 championship game with two Big 12 losses. Frankly, this game doesn’t affect Indiana much apart from setting a possible opponent in the playoff if it comes to that.

- No. 16 Colorado (8-2) at Kansas (4-6), 3:30 p.m. Saturday, FOX: The same goes for this game as Indiana is concerned, but Colorado has put itself in the pole position for the Big 12 championship game with only one Big 12 loss. Kansas, ranked at the start of the season, started 1-5, but has since been single-handedly destroying Big 12 playoff resumes with wins over Iowa State and BYU in its last two games.

- Kentucky (4-6) at No. 3 Texas (9-1), 3:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC: Since Texas lost at home to Georgia on Oct. 19, the Longhorns have been uneven. They had a big win over Florida, but tight contests against Vanderbilt and Arkansas. Kentucky did beat Ole Miss on Sept. 28 – but hasn’t won a game over a FBS team since. Doubtful that Indiana gets much help from its Bluegrass friends here.

- No. 12 Boise State (9-1) at Wyoming (2-8), 7 p.m. Saturday, CBS Sports Network: Like the Big 12 contests, this doesn’t affect Indiana much (Boise State is currently on-track for a bye as a conference champion) and even if it did? Wyoming isn’t likely to be the team to knock off the Broncos.

Mercer safety Chris Joines (14) lunges to try and bring down Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. / Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

- No. 7 Alabama (8-2) at Oklahoma (5-5), 7:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC: When a team moves into a new conference it has dreams of strolling in and dominating their new peers. Sometimes it works, as it has for Oregon in the Big Ten.

But sometimes it doesn’t and that’s where Oklahoma sits in the SEC. The Sooners have won only one game in the SEC and what was an on-paper battle of college bluebloods has taken on an underwhelming quality.

Not that winning in Norman will be easy for Alabama, but Oklahoma lost both of its SEC home games by at least 10 points. Indiana will be hoping Oklahoma finds its traditional form.

- No. 19 Army (9-0) vs. No. 6 Notre Dame (9-1) at Yankee Stadium, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, NBC: An Army win would vault the Black Knights into the playoff picture as they would be unbeaten with a quality win. It would also take Notre Dame down a notch or out of the CFP rankings range.

What helps Indiana here depends on what the Hoosiers do in Columbus. If Indiana beats Ohio State, an Army win helps the Hoosiers by knocking the Fighting Irish down a peg.

However, if Indiana loses to Ohio State and Army beats Notre Dame? Suddenly an unbeaten Army with a quality win Indiana won’t have is a real threat to the Hoosiers’ place in the pecking order. If Notre Dame wins and Indiana loses, the Fighting Irish will likely pass the Hoosiers regardless.

- Idle teams within range of Indiana: No. 1 Oregon.

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