Contained in the Huge Ten Showdown That Might Make or Break CFP Desires

Earlier than Illinois and Indiana take the sphere on Saturday evening for essentially the most anticipated Huge Ten matchup of this younger season — a sport that carries Faculty Soccer Playoff implications — it’s value revisiting a cold fall morning greater than a decade in the past that was bathed in far much less pomp and circumstance, devoid of any hyperlink to nationwide relevance or reputation.

On Oct. 27, 2012, the Hoosiers limped throughout their western border and into Illinois having misplaced 5 consecutive video games. Three of these defeats got here in opposition to Ball State, Northwestern and Navy, and even the season-opening win over FCS-level Indiana State had been a battle, with Indiana finally prevailing by a landing. For second-year head coach Kevin Wilson, who later served because the offensive coordinator at Ohio State and the top coach at Tulsa, the marketing campaign would end with a desultory 4-8 document and a 2-6 mark within the convention. 

Issues have been arguably even worse at Illinois underneath first-year head coach Tim Beckman, who took over after three spectacular seasons at Toledo. The Illini have been handed a humiliating 28-point residence defeat to Louisiana Tech the month prior and dropped their subsequent three Huge Ten video games in opposition to Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan by 90 mixed factors. They’d go on to lose to Indiana, 31-17, and fail to beat a single league opponent all season, with seven of their eight convention losses reflecting double-digit margins on the scoreboard. 

My, how issues have modified. 

Indiana has outscored its opponents 156-23 by way of the primary three weeks of the school soccer season.  (Photograph by Michael Hickey/Getty Photographs)

When the ball is kicked this weekend at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana, the place the Hoosiers have gained their final 11 video games, the groups concerned must be seen as nearing the cusp of school soccer’s higher echelon due to an expanded playoff for which they’re unquestionably within the combine. 

Indiana, now in its second season underneath transformative head coach Curt Cignetti, previously of James Madison, is contemporary off its largest shutout victory (73-0 over Indiana State) since 1901 and has the second-best level differential within the nation at plus-133. Illinois, now thriving underneath charismatic program builder Bret Bielema, continues to be bathed within the afterglow of its first 10-win season since 2001, which, till now, was additionally the final time the Illini spent back-to-back weeks ranked within the high 10 of the AP Ballot. 

These in attendance for Saturday’s sold-out conflict between No. 9 Illinois and No. 19 Indiana shall be handled to the primary ranked matchup between the 2 colleges in 75 years. 

“I used to be shocked at that,” Bielema mentioned.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has the Preventing Illini off to a 3-0 begin. (Photograph by Alex Halloway/Getty Photographs)

Followers may also be shocked to study simply how influential this sport actually is in relation to the general CFP panorama, though the season is however a number of weeks previous. It’s rising more and more clear that the 2025 Huge Ten hierarchy consists of an aristocratic triumvirate on the high in No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Penn State and No. 6 Oregon — every of whom is feeling an increasing number of like a shoo-in for the 12-team discipline given the early wobbles for Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida — adopted by an increasing pack of challengers behind them.

The Huge Ten’s secondary group, spearheaded by Illinois and Indiana, which is searching for its second straight playoff look, consists of the likes of No. 21 Michigan, No. 25 USC, Nebraska and even Washington, with all however the Wolverines sustaining unblemished information getting into Week 4.

And whereas it’s definitely potential for a single league to ship 5 groups to the playoff in a given yr, which is one thing the SEC loudly campaigned for throughout a lot of final season, attempting desperately to prop up the résumés of three-loss applications Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Missouri on the expense of Indiana and SMU, the most secure prognostication for the Huge Ten in 2025 nonetheless consists of 4 complete bids — an automated berth bestowed upon the league’s champion, plus three at-large spots. That’s essentially the most lifelike situation based mostly on a gap month when eight SEC groups and two ACC colleges are ranked among the many high 15 of the newest AP Ballot, although inter-conference cannibalism is definitely coming.

“Final yr’s historical past,” Cignetti mentioned. “I do not evaluate [this year] to final yr. I am completely targeted on the right here and now and this workforce. So I believe we made good progress final week, and now we have to have an excellent week of prep so we are able to play our greatest Saturday evening. And I do not look down the street at who we play.”

Curt Cignetti is 14-2 as the top coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. (Photograph by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire through Getty Photographs)

However everybody else round faculty soccer can, and can, peek at who Indiana and Illinois are going through within the coming weeks because the playoff race takes form, and that’s the place the potential issues reside. The Illini have been graced with a Huge Ten schedule that doesn’t embody Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa or Nebraska. They’re slated to face No. 1 Ohio State at residence on Oct. 11, which is as troublesome a sport as anybody within the convention can have, however none of Illinois’ opponents from that time ahead are ranked within the AP Ballot. The one Huge Ten groups with simpler remaining schedules, in keeping with ESPN, are Nebraska, Maryland and Indiana. 

Which brings us to the Hoosiers, who’re as soon as once more polarizing due to a tissue paper-esque non-conference schedule. Cignetti’s workforce pounded Previous Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State by a mixed margin of 156-23 and was by no means examined past the primary quarter of its first sport. 

Indiana will journey for troublesome street video games in opposition to Oregon and Penn State — two groups it didn’t play en path to reaching the playoff final season — however will keep away from Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Washington and Nebraska. And in contrast to Illinois, which might at the very least declare an honest non-conference street win over Duke, the Hoosiers have performed the third-easiest schedule in faculty soccer up to now, in keeping with Professional Soccer Focus, forward of solely UNLV and UCF. 

“Look,” Cignetti mentioned, “final yr, earlier than the season began, we have been enjoying favourite in three video games. We have been picked seventeenth out of 18 groups [in the preseason conference poll]. So each Huge Ten sport that we went into, we have been an underdog earlier than the season began, perhaps except for Purdue. So final yr’s within the books. It is a new yr. This can be a good soccer workforce.”

Few individuals will quibble with Cignetti over that assertion, which is why Indiana is favored by 5.5 factors getting into Saturday’s sport regardless of touchdown 10 spots decrease than Illinois within the newest ballot. The Hoosiers rank third nationally in complete offense (591.7 yards per sport), third in speeding (307.7 yards per sport) and have discovered a switch quarterback in former Cal standout Fernando Mendoza, who’s one in all solely three gamers within the nation with 9 or extra landing passes and nil interceptions. Indiana additionally ranks among the many high 10 nationally in each complete protection (220.7 yards per sport) and scoring protection (7.7 factors per sport) underneath second-year coordinator Bryant Haines.

Practically all the identical superlatives may be hooked up to the Illini, who’ve reached their highest nationwide rating since Dick Butkus’ senior season in 1964. Their offense, overseen by stellar quarterback Luke Altmyer, has scored extra factors than any Illinois workforce in historical past by way of the primary three video games (135) and is one in all solely 4 items from the Energy 4 conferences and not using a turnover, inserting Illinois alongside Alabama, Houston and Rutgers in that class. The protection, coordinated by Aaron Henry, has but to permit a speeding landing whereas additionally rating tied for ninth nationally and tied for second within the Huge Ten in sacks with 10. 

Luke Altmyer is 17-8 as a starter at Illinois. (Photograph by Michael Reaves/Getty Photographs)

“You’ve bought to seek out gamers that suit your system,” Bielema mentioned, “and I believe Indiana is a living proof. They’ve completed a extremely, actually good job. Clearly, [Cignetti] introduced guys with him from JMU, however now you’ve seen the addition of another guys which have are available. I’d say that we most likely compete in opposition to Indiana in highschool recruiting and portal home windows as a lot as anyone else within the Huge Ten, simply the form of techniques we each run and the gamers that I believe we search for. That’s distinctive.”

And but, the Hoosiers will nearly definitely be underdogs after they journey to Oregon and Penn State for high-profile matchups later this season, identical to the Illini shall be underdogs after they host Ohio State in what might be this system’s solely different marquee sport between now and early December when the playoff bracket is revealed. 

So though Bielema and Cignetti are competing for gamers, and though their groups will compete in entrance of a nationally televised viewers on Saturday evening, in a sport with main Faculty Soccer Playoff ramifications for each side, they’re nonetheless clawing for respect in an expanded Huge Ten. 

To the victor go the all-important, résumé-boosting spoils.

Michael Cohen covers faculty soccer and faculty basketball for FOX Sports activities. Comply with him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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