Where is the ceiling for the Indiana Hoosiers?

My, the Indiana Hoosiers can sure play some football, can’t they? I mean, I figured there was some potential back during the offseason look-ahead phase, but that was strictly on paper. What we’re seeing now is real, applied superiority, the likes of which IU football hasn’t seen in decades.

Up to this point, the Hoosiers had been seen as nothing more than a cute little underdog story, but after dismantling what had been a rank-worthy Cornhuskers team 56-7, we have to question if there’s anyone who—at least as of today—has proven themselves capable of taking them down.

Just a glance at their remaining games would be enough for some people to say yes, as there are two fellas on the horizon that have consistently owned the Hoosiers (and the Big Ten as a whole) in recent memory: Michigan and Ohio State.

But hey, what would you say if I told you that Indiana’s odds at success in not just one, but both of those games are far more favorable than meets the eye?

If IU will ever establish dominance over these two powers, it'll be this year

First up is Michigan, and considering the struggles that the Wolverines have exhibited so far this season, our analysis of them should take little time.

Simply put, Michigan hasn’t impressed the masses even remotely this season, with its best win coming by three points over a losing USC in Ann Arbor. Upon combining such a weak résumé with ugly losses to Texas, Washington and Illinois, the Wolverines look quite beatable—and upon combining all that with the fact that they have to go into Bloomington right after hosting Oregon, they look even more so.

However, it’s not like the Buckeyes come along a month later. Instead, they are the next opponents in line on IU’s calendar, and having to face Michigan and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks is never not brutal, right? Right…the only problem is that the Hoosiers don’t do that; rather, they have a beautifully placed bye week between the daunting pair, and that undoubtedly covers up a world of hurt.

Along with the bye, there’s the discussion surrounding what Ohio State has done to prove that it's miles above Indiana, and the consensus is not very much. Sure, you beat up on your competition leading up to the Oregon game, and gave the Ducks quite a scare in Eugene, but if your claim to fame is that you looked your best in a loss, I can’t really sit here and declare you some insurmountable obstacle.

The Buckeyes do have the hefty advantage of staying in Columbus for this battle, and while they won’t be coming off a bye, they will have taken on what is currently a 3-4 Northwestern team, so their knees shouldn’t exactly be buckling from fatigue. Yet with all of this said, we don’t really have to weigh either side’s odds at victory here anyway, as we’ll learn the last of what we need to know about the Bucks when they stop by Happy Valley in two weeks.

Outside of them are just two mediocre squads in Washington and Michigan State, along with an unsightly Purdue in rivalry week. With the Hoosiers doing enough for me to contemplate them surviving the Bucks, I’d like to think they’ve done enough to earn the nod in those matchups as well.

So, to make a long story short, Indiana only has two games left that I would say are universally difficult, and based on all we’ve seen so far, even they are manageable. Therefore, despite them having gained traction over the course of several weeks, now is the first time that the world has ever been able to quote me as saying the following about them during a CFB season: “Watch out for the Hoosiers.”