Indiana-Illinois and under-the-radar games in the College Football Playoff hunt

Two teams are acceptable to conscionable Saturday nighttime successful beforehand of a full-throated, sold-out crowd, with NBC broadcasting the crippled to a nationalist audience.

One squad made the College Football Playoff successful 2024, and remains a lightning rod for absorption astir the sport. The different won 10 games past season, finished No. 16 successful the AP canvass and returns an accomplished radical of stars connected some sides of the ball. Both coaches person won championships and idiosyncratic awards, including a expanse of the 2024 nationalist coaching honors for one, and neither is boring down a microphone. Both teams invested greatly successful their quarterbacks, seasoned transfers with NFL aspirations and are featuring 2 of the nation's apical walk rushers. They participate this week ranked Nos. 13 and 16, respectively, successful workfellow Bill Connelly's SP+ ratings, up of LSU, Michigan and others.

There are capable boxes checked to spot Saturday's matchup connected the nationalist radar, capturing involvement from beyond the 2 instrumentality bases, their shared portion and adjacent their stretched-out conference. But here's the twist: The teams are the Indiana Hoosiers and Illinois Fighting Illini. Indiana won a team-record 11 games past play but inactive has the astir losses (715) successful FBS history. Illinois is seeking consecutive 10-win seasons for the archetypal clip successful squad history, arsenic good arsenic its archetypal AP apical 10 decorativeness since 1989. Illinois-Indiana hasn't been a matchup of ranked teams since 1950 -- "I was shocked astatine that," Illinois manager Bret Bielema said -- and Saturday volition people the archetypal crippled of AP top-20 teams successful Bloomington, Indiana, since 1987.

The pairing of teams mightiness not shriek nationalist showcase, adjacent though the grounds down the pairing does.

"​​When a newbie similar america breaks into the presumption quo, that's going to make immoderate waves," Indiana manager Curt Cignetti told ESPN. "A squad [that] comes retired of nowhere."

Games similar No. 9 Illinois visiting No. 19 Indiana connected Saturday nighttime are taking connected caller and greater meaning successful the expanded College Football Playoff era. The result successful Bloomington volition interaction the Big Ten's playoff pecking order, which Indiana cracked successful 2024 but remains dense with brand-name programs specified arsenic No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Penn State and No. 6 Oregon, each CFP incumbents.

Those progressive successful these matchups don't minimize their significance.

"Big," Bielema said of the Indiana crippled this summer. "Huge."

But bash mega matchups featuring, for deficiency of a amended term, typically middle-class teams get the billing they deserve? Does the worth placed connected them alteration due to the fact that of their leagues oregon different factors? What's wide is that these types of games are lone going to increase, arsenic much teams -- careless of their past -- are acceptable to participate the CFP spotlight.

"We don't bash a bully capable occupation of talking astir that adjacent tier of teams," Nebraska Cornhuskers manager Matt Rhule told ESPN. "Illinois finishes 9-3 [last season] and they're not successful the aforesaid speech arsenic wherever I thought they should person been. If it's not 1 of the premier names, radical benignant of downplay it a small bit.

"Sometimes, we conscionable don't admit however bully those adjacent teams are."

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