BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti didn’t spend much time celebrating his team’s historically lopsided win over Purdue. 

He was already looking ahead to a potential College Football Playoff appearance for the No. 10 Hoosiers (11-1; 8-1 Big Ten) during his brief opening statement after a 66-0 win over Purdue.

“They are not done yet,” Cignetti said, emphatically. “You know, they are not — they want more. They are going to get more.”

More is likely to be one of college football’s traditional powers in the opening round of the first ever 12-team playoff. There’s some incredibly exciting potential first-round matchups, here they are ranked from thrilling to least:  

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Ranking Indiana football’s most exciting potential first round CFP opponents

Georgia (10-2): Taking down a perennial title contender like Georgia in the heart of SEC country would erase any doubts about IU being the real deal. The Bulldogs have won two national titles in the last three years and have the fourth most wins in CFP history. 

The trip to Athens would be a first for the Hoosiers — the programs have never played each other — and haven’t played an SEC opponent on a non-neutral field since facing Kentucky in 2004. 

Indiana playing between the hedges at Sanford Stadium in the postseason was not a scenario anyone envisioned at the start of the year. 

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Notre Dame (11-1): Notre Dame and Indiana are in the same state, but the football programs have spent much of their existence on separate continents. The Fighting Irish almost have more national titles than IU has bowl appearances. 

The Hoosiers could break out of that shadow in a big way by eliminating them in the first round of the College Football Playoff. 

Indiana fans would probably take a bit of extra pleasure in getting a CFP win before Notre Dame does. The Fighting Irish have made a pair of appearances in the event (2018 and 2020), but lost those games by a combined score of 61-17. 

The fact that the teams have rarely played in the modern era of college football makes the potential matchup all the more exciting. The teams haven’t played since Notre Dame beat IU, 49-27, in 1991. 

It was the only game between the programs going back to 1958. 

Penn State (11-1): Indiana’s past and present could collide in State College. 

The Hoosiers former head coach Tom Allen landed on his feet as PSU’s defensive coordinator. The Nittany Lions finished the regular season with the fourth ranked defense in the FBS (266.8 yards allowed per game) and sixth in scoring defense (14.0). 

Indiana facing its former coach would create plenty of intrigue between two longtime Big Ten rivals especially since Cignetti’s brash style is so diametrically opposed to Allen’s LEO era. 

There’s an added irony to the teams playing in the first round since IU was excited about finally being free of facing Penn State on an annual basis in the Big Ten East division. The Hoosiers wouldn’t have any objections to continuing the series in the postseason. 

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Texas (11-1): This would be a fun matchup considering the head coaches from both teams are former Nick Saban pupils. 

It would also be a meeting of great offensive minds. 

Cignetti’s respect for Texas coach Steven Sarkisian actually played a role in Indiana’s success this season. That admiration is what led Cignetti to hiring IU’s current quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri when he was at JMU. 

“I spent that whole COVID fall studying Alabama when Sarkisian was there with Matt Jones and those receivers,” Cignetti said, back in December. “I really liked what they were doing. I was looking for new ideas in the pass game. Tino was Sark’s right hand man.”

On top of it being a great chess match, this isn’t a matchup that comes around very often. Indiana is winless in three games against Texas and the teams haven’t played since 1966. 

Ohio State (10-2): Indiana players would welcome a rematch against Ohio State. The Hoosiers didn’t feel like they played their best game in Columbus and are frustrated by the narrative that they can’t compete with the Buckeyes. 

Bouncing back with a win over OSU in the first round would be a heck of a way for IU to end a 30-game losing streak in the series, but from a fan’s perspective this lacks the same excitement over a game they didn’t see just weeks earlier in the exact same venue. 

Tennessee (10-2): Indiana would get a chance to avenge a 2020 loss to Tennessee in the Gator Bowl if they headed down to Knoxville, but that would provide little motivation for the guys in IU’s locker room since there isn’t anybody still on the roster that played in that game.

This would give the Hoosiers a chance to Big Ten some bragging rights over the SEC, but there’s just not as much juice to this game compared to the rest of the list. 

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.