BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – He wasn’t here long, and he is one of several one-year Indiana wonders who have taken the Hoosiers to unprecedented heights in their 10-win 2024 dream season.

The brief and glorious ride that defensive tackle James Carpenter has been on in an Indiana uniform is close to its final act.

The final game of the regular season for Carpenter and his teammates is Saturday when Indiana hosts Purdue in a 7 p.m. ET kickoff.

It won’t be Indiana’s last game as the postseason beckons, but it might be the last chance for Carpenter to bask in the appreciation of home fans who have grown to love him and some of the other Hoosiers – new and old – who have taken Indiana to a possible College Football Playoff berth.

Carpenter will be out of eligibility after the 2024 season. Other prominent Hoosiers, transfers or not, such as quarterback Kurtis Rourke, running backs Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton, wide receivers Myles Price and Ke’Shawn Williams, center Mike Katic, defensive linemen Lanell Carr Jr. and Jacob Mangum-Farrar and safety Josh Sanguinetti, are among the senior-plus players who are nearing their post-college football futures.

For Carpenter, coming to Indiana and being an integral part of the Hoosiers’ 10-1 season has confirmed to him (and many of his transfer teammates) that they made the right choice to try their luck in the Big Ten after playing at a so-called lower level in the Sun Belt Conference.

“It’s really just having a chip on our shoulder. Most of us that have transferred here, we were under-recruited guys who didn’t get recruited by the schools we wanted to coming out of high school,” Carpenter said.

“So I think we’ve always kind of had that chip on our shoulder coming here, We saw a lot of stuff about how we were too small. We weren’t going to be able to play in the Big Ten. We’ve used that as motivation for us” he said.

That fuel has pushed Indiana’s defense to impressive heights. The Hoosiers have the best run defense in the nation, giving up just 76.1 yards per game. Indiana is third in total defense at 261 yards per contest. The Hoosiers also rank third nationally in first downs allowed (167).

Carpenter said that defensive coordinator Bryant Haines keeps things fresh by adding layers to the defensive base principles each week.

“Coach Haines and Coach (Pat) Kuntz (defensive line coach) have definitely added a lot of different stuff. Different fronts, different pass rush schemes, a lot of different blitzes and unique looks,” Carpenter said. “They put a lot on our plate, and we welcome that.”

Carpenter – who has 29 tackles, including five sacks and nine tackles for loss – also cited a good rapport with fellow defensive tackle CJ West, himself a transfer from Kent State.

As they have grown accustomed to one another, Indiana’s run defense and push up front in pass rushing situations have become that much tougher for opponents to handle.

“In camp, we usually build upon the base level stuff. Then, each week, we’re putting in a bunch of new blitzes, different looks,” Carpenter explained. “A bunch of guys have been in the system long enough, we work well together. So they can throw a lot at us, and we’re going to go out there and execute.”

At a minimum, Indiana will have a bowl game after its regular season finale against Purdue. However, Saturday might be the last chance for Carpenter to play at Memorial Stadium, a happy place for him as he’s concluded a college career near the top of mountain after he was barely recruited out of high school in Roanoke, Va.

Curt Cignetti believed in Carpenter. He was one of his first recruits at James Madison and brought him to Indiana, where both men have enjoyed career highs not known before.

Carpenter will walk on the Memorial Stadium turf on Saturday thankful for his time as a Hoosier.

“It’s definitely going to be a little bit of an emotional moment,” Carpenter said. “It’s been an incredible ride. It’s definitely going to hit me when I’m out there with my parents, but I’ll just save that for that moment.”

A moment Carpenter earned by covering himself in glory in his one season in an Indiana uniform.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s football rise into the national elite has been such a dizzying, intoxicating ride that it felt like it might never end.

Alas, No. 2 Ohio State dealt the Hoosiers a reality check with a dominant 38-15 victory Saturday at Ohio Stadium.

Most Indiana observers understood that a splash of water in the metaphorical face of Indiana football was likely when the College Football Playoff rankings came out.

Once revealed? It was a pretty cold splash that hit the Hoosiers late Tuesday night.

Indiana (10-1) fell to the No. 10 spot in the rankings. Six one-loss teams (Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Miami, SMU) and two two-loss teams (Georgia, Tennessee) are ahead of the Hoosiers. Indiana is rated the worst of the one-loss Power Four conference teams.

Because of the way the College Football Playoff bracket is constructed, Indiana is the last team in the 12-team field. Two teams ranked lower than Indiana would make the field as projected conference champions.

It’s a precarious position for Indiana as its margin for error has been exhausted. Still, there are plenty of happy and heartbreaking outcomes to consider as the college football season gets closer to its pre-Playoff climax.

Here’s a few scenarios to consider after the College Football Playoff committee set the latest pecking order Tuesday.

The best-case scenario

• If Indiana wants to go for the glory? Apart from the obvious win Indiana needs over Purdue, Hoosiers fans can hope for a Michigan win over Ohio State and a Maryland victory at Penn State. That would put Indiana into the Big Ten championship game against Oregon. A win in that game would give Indiana a bye into the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.

However, the risk in that is that if the Hoosiers were to lose, they could be out of the CFP field altogether depending on what happens elsewhere. High reward, but high risk, too.

For Indiana to get back into the playoff hosting picture? The Hoosiers probably need at least two of the following results: Georgia loses at home to Georgia Tech on Friday night, Tennessee loses at Vanderbilt, Miami loses at Syracuse, SMU loses to California at home or Notre Dame loses at Southern California on Saturday.

After the upsets that took place in Week 13? Stranger things have happened.

The most realistic good scenario

• If your best-case scenario is to beat Purdue, but lose the risk of incurring a second loss by missing the Big Ten championship game? It’s as simple as beating the Boilermakers on Saturday night. Given that Indiana are currently 28.5 point favorites, that is a solid probability.

However, Indiana is looking over its shoulder, too. No. 12-ranked Clemson lurks behind the Hoosiers and has a chance at a quality win when the Tigers host rival South Carolina Saturday. Though the Gamecocks are also lurking in the No. 15 spot, it would do Indiana a world of good to have South Carolina get Clemson off Indiana’s rear bumper.

The worst-case scenario

• This is simple: Indiana loses to Purdue. Barring a litany of upsets elsewhere, a loss to the Boilermakers would be a mortal blow to the Hoosiers’ CFP hopes.

Another worst-case scenario would be if Indiana beat Purdue, but Texas A&M beat Texas to make it to the SEC championship game and then pulled a major upset in that contest against Georgia.

That would put the Aggies in the CFP field as a bid-stealer and knock every other team down a notch. If Indiana was still on the bubble, this would cause it to burst.

The most realistic bad scenario

• Indiana beats Purdue, but not convincingly. A two-touchdown win or less is going to reflect poorly on the Hoosiers. Like it or not, style points matter.

If Indiana squeaked by the Boilermakers, in combination with a Clemson win over South Carolina and no upsets in front of them, it would be high time for Hoosiers fans to start to sweat.

Add in an Alabama win over Auburn and/or an Ole Miss victory over Mississippi State? The Hoosiers might survive it all, but the conference championship games and the reveal of final rankings on Dec. 8 would be a white-knuckle experience for Indiana.

The most ambiguous scenario

• Indiana beats Purdue, but once again, not convincingly. However, some of the teams ahead of Indiana also lose.

Any loss by either Georgia or Tennessee would be trouble for either team as it would be their third defeat. SMU has had a great season, but the Mustangs would take a hit if they lost at home to California. Similarly, Miami has just one loss, but the Hurricanes have won their share of close shootouts during the season.

Add in wins by Clemson, Alabama and Ole Miss? Perhaps toss in a Texas A&M victory over Texas that would put the potential bid-stealing Aggies in the SEC championship game? The CFP committee would have one heckuva Gordian knot to untangle going into the conference championship games.

A Top-5 showdown highlighted the Week 13 slate as Indiana and Ohio State squared off at The Horseshoe. Ultimately, the Buckeyes got a blowout victory over the Hoosiers, and all eyes turned toward Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings to see how the committee viewed that outcome.

Of course, Indiana wasn’t the only top-ranked team to fall last week. Multiple others did, as well, which likely helped the Hoosiers stay in the Top 10. According to committee chair Warde Manuel, IU has the resume to be the No. 10 team in the country.

Manuel pointed out it wasn’t all bad for Indiana in last week’s matchup. The Hoosiers had some good moments, notably the opening drive. Although they dropped five spots, Manuel said IU still did enough to be in the Top 10.

“We viewed Indiana – they played well at times against Ohio State,” Manuel said on the CFP rankings reveal show on ESPN. “And Ohio State pulled out a victory and really came on in the second half of that game. But we were impressed with some of the things that Indiana did. And they dropped five, but we still felt that their body of work was strong enough to remain in the Top 10.”

Indiana’s strength of schedule was a key point of conversation entering last week’s game. The Hoosiers’ schedule ranked No. 106 in the country through Week 12, according to ESPN, which was the second-weakest of the College Football Playoff Top 25. After the Ohio State game, though, IU’s schedule now ranks No. 51.

Of course, the numbers also back up Indiana’s case to be one of the top teams. The Hoosiers rank No. 9 in the nation in scoring defense and No. 2 in scoring offense. That’s why, after Saturday’s game, Curt Cignetti scoffed at a question about whether they should still be in the 12-team field before answering with a wink and smile.

“Is that a serious question?” Cignetti said in his postgame press conference, with a smirk. “I’m not even gonna answer that one. The answer’s so obvious.”