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By Ellis Williams
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Indiana coach Curt Cignetti criticized ESPN’s coverage of the SEC on his weekly radio show Wednesday, pushing back on the discussion surrounding the first College Football Playoff rankings.
The Hoosiers (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) opened at No. 4 in Tuesday’s rankings, the highest position held by a Big Ten team. They have a bye this week after needing overtime to win their past two games.
Cignetti made his comments during a conversation with host Don Fischer about the rankings and the reaction to them. He argued that coverage favored the SEC while giving less consideration to some two-loss Big Ten teams.
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“The SEC gets a lot of love from ESPN,” Cignetti said.
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That was Cignetti’s assessment of the coverage. He also acknowledged that the remaining games would help settle the debate and that disagreements would persist regardless of the size of the playoff field.
Indiana is ahead of every Big Ten rival in the initial rankings, including No. 8 UCLA, No. 12 Ohio State and No. 23 Oregon. Georgia is No. 2, leading five SEC teams in the top 10.
Among two-loss teams, Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss placed fifth, seventh and 10th, respectively, while Ohio State was 12th and Iowa was 19th.
Cignetti pointed to the Hoosiers’ loss to Ohio State when defending their place in the rankings. He described Indiana as having narrowly missed an opportunity late in that game rather than treating the defeat as evidence that it could not compete.
The Hoosiers have since won consecutive overtime games against Michigan and Minnesota. They beat Minnesota 23-16 on Oct. 31 to enter the break. Indiana scored a touchdown on its first overtime play, then kept Minnesota out of the end zone to finish the win.
USC was No. 20 with a 7-2 record in Tuesday’s CFP release. The Trojans are the next opponent on Indiana’s schedule, giving the Hoosiers another ranked conference matchup after the break.
Indiana hosts USC on Nov. 14 in Bloomington.
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