I know Indiana faced Oregon, Iowa, Penn State, Illinois, Purdue last year in the regular season. They beat OSU in their championship.
Again, I do not take away from the Big 10 championship game. But prior to that game, when all the OTHER votes were taken in the CFP, Indiana probably had one of the weakest intra-conference SOS ratings of the Big 10 teams in the Top 25.
Here are the Big 10 teams that Indiana beat in the 2025 regular season:
Oregon - ranked #5 in the final regular season CFP poll (11-1)
Iowa - ranked #23 in the final regular season CFP poll (8-4)
Pedo State (6-6)
Illinois (8-4)
Purdue (2-10)
Michigan State (4-8)
UCLA (3-9)
Maryland (4-8)
Wisconsin (4-8)
Indiana literally beat 6 of the 7 worst teams in the Big 10 in 2025.
That, right there, is one of the worst INTERNAL Big 10 SOS's of the Big 10 teams that were legitimately considered for the CFP field.
And yet...Indiana won the national championship.
So my point is, if you USED this "data point" prior to Indiana winning the Big 10 championship over Ohio Taint, it would have been very unfavorable to Indiana. Who is to say that Michigan or USC couldn't have been ranked higher (at some point), particularly since Indiana played neither team?