An ESPN analyst even suggests Indiana should have Kurtis Rourke vs. Ohio State.

Could No. 5 Indiana miss its starting quarterback and lose the game against Ohio with a significant margin and reach the playoffs?

Well, that’s a difficult question, that’s all. College football playoffs the committee could respond.

Many people think an 11-1 Indiana team could make the team, especially after an easy win over Nebraska, a team that beat top-20 Colorado earlier in the season, but does that depend on what happens on Saturday?

While there are no real answers to these questions yet, it could be argued that Indiana’s best option is to keep their starting quarterback on the bench and eat the loss to avoid him getting hurt.

At least that’s what ESPN’s Joey Galloway thinks. His main point was that Florida State could have won the national championship if Jordan Travis had not suffered a season-ending injury. No one on Twitter/X supported this proposal, as it would deprive fans of a true battle for the top five.

Here’s the full clip.

There was no real discussion of the issue, just Galloway’s opinion. Rourke, who led the MAC in passing yards and touchdowns at Ohio State in 2022, has played well this season and has a 21:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

On top of that, if Ohio State knocks off Indiana and the Hoosiers don’t finish in the top 25 to finish the season, they might not make the team, especially if they pull off such a move. However, the take was thrown out.

We just hope all parties look past Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.

This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: An ESPN analyst even suggests Indiana should have Kurtis Rourke vs. Ohio State.