Indiana breaks College Football Playoff trend with win over Alabama

The Hoosiers silenced a growing trend of concern among college football fans

College Football Playoff: Indiana vs. Alabama | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For the second time in two years under the new 12-team College Football Playoff format, the lower seeds got off to a hot start in round two. But as the sun set on Rose Bowl Stadium, Indiana issued a statement that there is a new sheriff in town, metaphorically stripping the badge from Alabama in an embarrassing rout.

The No. 1. overall seed Indiana Hoosiers restored peace to an otherwise very chaotic CFP bracket with their 38-3 beatdown of the Crimson Tide. Two Group of Five teams got in. Miami barely snuck in and has now won two straight. Texas Tech suffered the first shutout in a CFP game in 10 years. The defending national champions and betting favorites, Ohio State, mustered just three points in a stunning loss to those Hurricanes.

However, there was one odd trend emerging through the first two College Football Playoff games of this weekend. If you remember last season, the four teams who earned the top seeds and byes all lost in round two. This season, Miami and Oregon won in the first round and kept the momentum rolling with their wins this weekend. Heading into the evening slate, the teams who had byes, the higher seeds in the bracket with an extra break, were 0-6 in the 12-team playoff era.

Obviously, Indiana put a definitive end to that little trend across 3+ hours as they ground Alabama down into a fine paste, to quote a Sickos Committee tweet from earlier in the week regarding the Army vs. UConn bowl game. Seriously, though, Curt Cignetti's crew absolutely dominated every phase of the football game in the beginning, middle and end. There was no mercy spared to the former dynastic SEC foe across the gridiron.

Indiana win answers important CFP question

Indiana Hoosiers players | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Given the 2024 second round results with all four bye teams losing, plus the losses from Texas Tech and Ohio State to start this weekend's slate, chatter certainly made its way around asking whether the bye was actually an inherent disadvantage.

In the NFL, where the No. 1 seed in each conference earns a bye, the rest is a needed one since the playoffs kick off so close to the end of the regular season. With college football and the CFP, there's breathing room, perhaps too much. Of course the math sides with a bye, you simply eliminate the chance not to make the next round. But if the ensuing result was a near-guaranteed loss, maybe it is worth examining why this phenomenon has emerged.

Six straight losses isn't a huge sample size but it isn't nothing. Texas Tech last took the field 26 days prior to their game against Oregon, whereas the Ducks had a first round game at home with a huge crowd playing a James Madison team that they hung 50+ points on. It was almost the perfect layup. So, the jury is still out, but had Indiana and Georgia both lost, real questions would have been asked about the byes. For now, the concern is quelled.