Go back to this time a year ago, mid-October 2024. Penn State football was off to a promising start under 11th-year coach James Franklin, 6-0 after a thrilling victory at USC. Who’s to say at that moment, but it looked as if the Nittany Lions might finally — mercifully — be in position to reach the College Football Playoff, which has been bumped from four to 12 teams. What a time in State College.

At that exact same point, Indiana ran its record to 6-0, too. Indiana? The Hoosiers had beaten the Marylands and Northwesterns of the world under first-year coach Curt Cignetti. Cute story. Indiana had played 125 seasons of football before that. It had never won 10 games. What could change?

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