The College Football Playoff ranking committee seems to approve of the work done by Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke and the Indiana Hoosiers this season.
The Hoosiers (11-1) were placed ninth in the penultimate rankings on Tuesday, which would be good enough to earn a spot in the 12-team playoff later this month. Indiana moved up one spot from last week after a season-ending 66-0 win over lowly Purdue.
The nine conference championships this weekend will set up the final rankings on Sunday. The five highest-ranked conference champions (the top four will get the top four seeds and the fifth can be placed anywhere) will join seven at-large teams in the field.
Indiana currently would be the No. 10 seed and hit the road to face No. 7 Georgia in the first round.
Indiana, featuring transfer quarterback Rourke and first-year coach Curt Cignetti, has had its best season in school history.
Alabama (9-3) currently is the last at-large bid team at No. 11. Potential Mountain West champion Boise State is No. 10.
That means a potential bid stealer like Clemson, which faces No. 8 SMU in this week’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, likely would unseat Alabama rather than Indiana in the final rankings.
While its strength of schedule is not as strong as other playoff contenders, Indiana’s excellent win-loss record seems to be speaking loudest to the committee.
Earlier Tuesday, Rourke was named the second-team all-Big-Ten team quarterback. The native of Oakville, Ont. threw for 27 touchdowns and four interceptions this year.
