Why Indiana should be the No. 1 team in the country if it beats Ohio State

The Ohio State Buckeyes will welcome Indiana, a top-five team, to Columbus. If Ohio State loses, the Hoosiers should jump to No. 1.

One senior writer for The Athletic, Chris Vannini, brought up a good point on Sunday via Twitter/X, and that is, that if Indiana beats Ohio State in Columbus, it should have a claim to be the team in the country.

There have been a handful of upset wins in college football this season, but few of been where a top-five team is at home and fails to come out on top. Both Georgia and Alabama have lost multiple games, and all those defeats came on the road.

It isn’t easy to go on the road in any environment and win, as the Buckeyes saw earlier on in their season against Oregon. It especially isn’t easy to do that against another top-five team in November.

Despite a weak non-conference schedule, Indiana has proven it is the real deal, having yet to lose a game this season. The Hoosiers don’t have a top-25 win though, so downing Ohio State would be the icing on the cake.

While Buckeyes fans, myself included, hope to see a resounding victory on Saturday, if that’s not what they get, then there’s no doubt Indiana would be leaving with the most impressive win in college football this season.