Much is made of Indiana and Ohio State remaining undefeated this far in the season, yet not enough people are mentioning their wins against unranked teams like UCLA, Purdue, and Maryland. Meanwhile, Georgia and Kirby Smart face a ranked team nearly every week.
Both IU and OSU have three ranked teams, currently, on their schedule. And that's being generous to Illinois and Iowa who will likely drop out of the CFP rankings by the end of the season. The Bulldogs face however face six ranked teams. Could Indiana remain unscathed against the likes of Ole Miss, Alabama, and Tennessee? Unlikely. Would the Buckeyes be touted as a powerhouse after facing Alabama, Georgia, or even upstart Vanderbilt? Maybe, but neither team would be undefeated.
Beating up losing teams shouldn't get style points
As of this week, the combined win-loss record of Indiana's opponents is 58-64. That's right. Coach Cignetti was rewarded with $11 million a year for beating losing teams. Ohio State is hardly any better as the win-loss of their opponents is 65-57. Oh, and Georgia? The record of their opponents is 78-55.
Sure, Indiana has a solid win against Oregon. Ohio State beat Texas (SEC!). Georgia beat Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas and came within three of beating Alabama. They are also peaking at the right time to take down Georgia Tech as well. The next few weeks will tell the tale of course as anything can happen in college football. But the real "eye test" will be the playoffs.
Indiana will likely get beat by whoever they face, if they don't already get beat in the Big Ten Championship game. If the bracket stays roughly the same, Ohio State will face hard teams regardless and will likely crumble, if they don't choke again and lose to Michigan at the end of the season for what would be the fifth year in a row.
Georgia will just have to keep doing what they've been doing, winning football games. No style points are needed when the Natty trophy is being lifted for the third time, is there?