Indiana
College Football Playoff rankings: Ohio State and Indiana on top (again) as SEC teams dominate the top 10
The third College Football Playoff rankings propelled the event closer to an endgame guaranteed to roil the masses.
Are you ready for five SEC teams?
The conference took a giant leap toward gobbling almost half the bids to the 12-team event when the rankings were unveiled Tuesday evening.
Oklahoma vaulted three spots, to No. 8, following its victory at Alabama. But critically, the 10th-ranked Crimson Tide did not drop below the cut line for CFP inclusion despite sustaining their second loss.
Add No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Georgia and No. 6 Mississippi to the Sooners and Crimson Tide, and the SEC would have five participants if the field were selected today: one automatic qualifier (the conference champion) plus four at-large teams.
Last year, in the first year of the 12-team event, the Big Ten led all conferences with four bids (one automatic and three at-large).
With two Saturdays remaining in the regular season, plus championship weekend, there is time for tumult.
But at this point, the SEC has a firm grasp on the pole position — at the expense of everyone else:
— The Big 12 is staring at another disappointing outcome if No. 5 Texas Tech wins the conference championship.
Both No. 11 BYU and No. 12 Utah are precariously positioned given the lack of schedule juice remaining (e.g., no ranked opponents) and the potential for teams just below them to move up.
The likelihood of the Big 12 collecting a single bid, as it did last year (Arizona State), is increasing by the week.
— The ACC faces a comparable fate with No. 13 Miami as the conference’s highest-ranked team.
Notably, the Hurricanes are four spots below Notre Dame even though they have the same record (8-2) and Miami won the head-to-head matchup.
But committee chair Hunter Yurachek, the Arkansas athletic director who took over as chair last week when Baylor AD Mack Rhoades stepped down, said the teams were not close enough for the head-to-head result to be considered.
The difference in resumes, he said, is rooted in the quality of their losses: The Irish lost to No. 13 Miami and No. 3 Texas A&M, while the Hurricanes lost to two unranked teams, SMU and Louisville.
— And what of the Big Ten? The third installment of the CFP rankings wasn’t much more encouraging for the conference than either of the first two.
Yes, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana held their ground and are effectively locks for the CFP. But Oregon is No. 7, a tad too close to the current cut line (between No. 10 and 11) for comfort.
If the Ducks (9-1) lose at home to USC this weekend — or at Washington in the season finale — they could fall out of the field.
ESPN analyst Greg McElroy noted the precedent set by the committee’s treatment of Alabama, which fell six spots after losing at home to Oklahoma.
“If you’re Oregon, you better win out,” McEloy said, “because a six-slot slide will have you out of the field.
“They just did it to Alabama. They can do it to you.”
The Trojans (8-2) are currently on the outside looking in. Yes, they moved up two spots, to No. 15, after beating Iowa, but they are behind six teams with two losses.
A victory in Eugene would polish their resume, but would it be enough to climb five positions and gain a foothold in the field?
Put another way: It’s not difficult to envision the Big Ten as a two-bid conference when the field is announced on Dec. 7.
Add the ACC and Big 12 champions, plus No. 9 Notre Dame and the highest-ranked team from the Group of Five (currently Tulane), and that’s six teams.
If the SEC gets five, there would be one bid remaining for a third team from the Big Ten, a second from either the ACC or Big 12 or … yes, we’ll say it … a sixth from the SEC.
There are too many possible permutations to evaluate at this point.
But the most likely outcome, by far, has the SEC owning the day when the field is announced.
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Fernando Mendoza did not attend Indiana University’s visit to the White House commemorating the Hoosiers’ college football national championship on Monday. The Las Vegas Raiders quarterback said earlier this month that he would not attend if it interfered with any activities with his new team.
“I’m on the bottom of the totem pole here,” Mendoza said following a rookie minicamp practice. “I got to prove myself. I can’t miss practice. I don’t know anything official. I don’t have the calendar, but I just wouldn’t. As a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look, and I want to try to best serve my teammates. And I don’t know if that’d be accomplishing that goal.”
According to the team’s official offseason schedule, the Raiders did not have any formal practices or workouts on Monday. The team’s next organized activity is May 18, its first OTA workout.
“Fernando couldn’t be here today because, as I said, he’s now a member of the Las Vegas Raiders,” President Donald Trump said in his address. “Let’s see how good of a team they have, and I think he’s gonna do great. He’s a winner.”
Mendoza wasn’t the only absence. Center Pat Coogan and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds were among the other Hoosiers not in attendance for the event due to NFL obligations. Indiana had a program-record eight players selected in April’s NFL Draft.
Trump highlighted Mendoza’s accomplishments and contributions to the school’s first football national title. He celebrated Mendoza as Indiana’s inaugural Heisman Trophy winner and praised his fourth-quarter touchdown run in the championship game against Miami.
“He’s gonna be a good one,” Trump said.
Indiana was well-represented by returning members of the team. Charlie Becker, one of Mendoza’s go-to receivers during the College Football Playoffs, and Jamari Sharpe, whose late interception secured the title-game victory, both spoke on behalf of the school, as did head coach Curt Cignetti.
Mendoza is one of four members of the national champion Hoosiers who joined the Raiders this offseason. Running back Roman Hemby and wide receiver E.J. Williams Jr. signed as undrafted free agents in the days following the draft. Wide receiver Jonathan Brady earned a contract after impressing as a tryout player during rookie minicamp.
MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) — Police are investigating a triple shooting that took place on Muncie’s south side Sunday evening that left a woman dead and two men injured.
According to police, at approximately 5:27 p.m., Muncie Police Officers were dispatched to the 2700 block of South Walnut Street in reference to reports of several people being shot.
Officers arrived and located three gunshot victims: A 23-year-old female who died from “multiple wounds,” a 39-year-old male who is hospitalized in stable condition, and a 40-year-old male who was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital in critical condition.
Police say a suspect is in custody, a 21-year-old man.
Police did not provide any additional information.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Muncie Police Detective Division at 765-747-4867 or dispatch at 765-747-4838.
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Sports Seriously
The Indiana Pacers lost 63 games this season for a chance at a franchise-changing lottery pick. On Sunday, May 10, they lost that chance, too.
All Pacers president Kevin Pritchard could do was apologize for taking the risk.
Indiana’s pick landed at No. 5 in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery, one spot outside the top four protections attached to a midseason trade. The selection now belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers .
Shortly after the results were announced, Pritchard took social media and apologized.
“I’m really sorry to all our fans,” Pritchard wrote. “I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck.”
The Pacers entered the lottery with a 52.1% chance of securing a top-four pick after finishing 19-63, the second-worst record in the NBA. It wasn’t enough.
Indiana sent Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 first-round pick to Los Angeles in the midseason deal for Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown, along with the conditional 2026 first-rounder. The pick was theirs to keep only if it landed in the top four.
Zubac appeared in just five games for Indiana after the trade because of a fractured rib.
“This team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year,” Pritchard wrote. “We have always been resillient.”
Pritchard will have to be resilient if he looks at the replies to his statement. About half of the Pacers fans’ comments were not happy, and fans of other teams called him out for “tanking.”
There were also a large number of fans who were supportive of Pritchard taking that risk.
Tyrese Haliburton is expected to return next season after tearing his Achilles in last year’s NBA Finals. The Pacers will have him Pascal Siakam and a roster they think is built to compete. They just won’t have that first-round pick to add to it.
The 2026 NBA Draft begins June 23 in Brooklyn.
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