Can't Wait For Saturday | Defending champs being treated unfairly in CFP

Sign up for our daily Illini football newsletter here Greetings from "Can't Wait For Saturday," your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He'll give you his views each day on the game he loves. *** Perhaps, the folks on the current College Football Playoff selection committee should take a trip down memory lane. And watch how Indiana blitzed through the tournament last season on the way to its first football title. Maybe then, the committee will think a bit before it punishes a team  in the standings for doing nothing wrong other than resting. Indiana took the weekend off, ahead of an important game against Southern California this week, and was docked five spots in the CFP standings. In a word: Blech. The Hoosiers, who have lost one close game this season, fell from No. 4 to No. 9. Two-loss teams Alabama. Texas and Tennessee are ahead of Indiana. It is fair to point out that all three of those teams are in the SEC, the preferred conference of CFP media rights holder ESPN. Very convenient. It should all work out. If Indiana gets past the Trojans, Washington and Purdue, it will be back to defend its CFP title. The current Hoosiers aren't as good as the 2025 model. Few teams have been. But they are better than No. 9 thanks to the best active coach in the game. I wrote earlier in the week that Indiana might prefer a first-round game at home instead of bye. Looks like the committee is going to make sure it happens. You know how college football fixed its replay decisions with more transparency? Might be time for the CFP committee to do the same.