SMU’s Rhett Lashlee described the league as “top-heavy” and said it lacked depth, pointing to how only six teams have won the league since 1964 (technically, it’s seven).

The Big Ten and the SEC, college football ’s twin superpower conferences, continue to duke it out on the playoff front.

Going into that environment and emerging with a victory could be a tone-setter for Indiana's season in large part because of the game that precedes that matchup and the one that follows it.