Should Indiana Have Been Ranked Higher in the AP Preseason Poll?

The Preseason AFCA Coaches poll was released on August 4th and everyone knew the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll would soon follow. It took exactly two weeks for the AP Poll to come out, but just like the AFC Coaches Poll, the AP Poll has the defending champion Indiana Hoosiers ranked sixth.

https://t.co/T23NtgfCyw
Ohio State and Oregon are 1-2 in the preseason poll while the SEC leads conferences with nine ranked teams. pic.twitter.com/KIcOlA5YyB
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) August 17, 2026

But despite both polls having IU ranked sixth, there is one major difference between the two polls. The Coaches Poll had 14 first-place votes for IU, while the AP Poll only had eight first-place votes for the Hoosiers.

Both polls have Ohio State, Oregon, and Georgia ranked 1-3, respectively, but the AP Poll has Notre Dame ranked fourth and Texas fifth; however, the Coaches Poll has Texas ranked fourth and ND fifth.

IU's schedule stacked with Top 25 Opponents

Despite being undefeated National Champs last season, one of the knocks on Indiana was its schedule and how uncompetitive it was. Indiana had three cupcake opponents -- Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State -- to open the season before crushing No. 9 Illinois, 63-10. to begin conference play.

But outside of Illinois, the Hoosiers faced only one other ranked team -- No. 3 Oregon -- during the regular season.

That's not the case this season, though. IU has four Top 25 teams on its schedule, including top-ranked Ohio State on October 17th, followed by No. 16 Michigan the very next week. But it doesn't get much easier after that. The Hoosiers host No. 17 USC in November and then travel to Washington to take on the No. 17 Huskies the following week.

And don't sleep on North Texas either, who the Hoosiers play in Week 1. UNT won 12 games last year and finished the season ranked No. 25.

The bottom line is this: Indiana has a target on its back and one of the toughest schedules in the country.

It might not be the toughest, but it's definitely Top 25-worthy in terms of strength of schedule, despite ESPN having the Hoosiers' strength of schedule ranked No. 33.

Four Top 25 teams is a tough task for any team, and playing Washington on the road might be IU's toughest game of the year. I'm well aware of how good the Buckeyes are, but few teams have had success on the road against the Huskies.

Washington has lost just two home games over the last four seasons, and Husky Stadium is arguably one of the toughest places to play in all of college football.

Should Indiana be ranked higher?

Yes. Absolutely. No doubt about it.

As for where IU should be ranked, well, that's the million-dollar question. Indiana definitely doesn't deserve to be ranked ahead of Ohio State or Oregon, but they do deserve to be ranked ahead of Georgia.

And you can make the argument that it deserves to be ranked ahead of Notre Dame and Texas, too.

But I understand why the Irish and Longhorns are ranked ahead of the Hoosiers. Both teams return many starters from last season, including their quarterbacks.

And it's not like Arch Manning and CJ Carr are just your average college quarterbacks either. Both quarterbacks are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Preseason Heisman Betting Odds, and could very well go No. 1 and No. 2 in the 2027 NFL Draft.

And even though IU lost a ton of talent from last year's National Championship team -- quarterback Fernando Mendoza, wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., center Pat Coogan, cornerback D'Angelo Ponds, etc. -- the Hoosiers still have some All-American top guys returning and addressed the quarterback position via the portal with Josh Hoover.

So, at the very least, Indiana should be ranked No. 5 - but it should've been even higher.

Add us as a preferred source on Google